Religion Today Daily Headlines - October 26, 2012

Religion Today Daily Headlines - October 26, 2012

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

  • LSU Apologizes for Editing Out Cross in Picture of Students
  • Planned Parenthood Spends $12 Million for Obama
  • Romney Erases Obama Lead with Women Voters
  • BBC Poll: Every Country But Pakistan Wants Obama for Four More Years

 

LSU Apologizes for Editing Out Cross in Picture of Students

Administrators at Louisiana State University have apologized for censoring photographs of male students who had painted crosses on their chests at a football game, the Daily Caller reports. "We erred in our judgment and we have communicated our apologies to the group of young men represented in the photo, whose school spirit is second to none," said Ernest Ballard, director of media relations at LSU. Following the football team's Oct. 13 win, school officials sent out a photo of the Painted Posse -- Christian students who paint their bodies with school colors and small crosses for home games -- in a weekly email newsletter, and students were shocked to see that the crosses had been edited out of the otherwise untouched photo. Administrators later admitted to altering the image to prevent other students from being offended -- a decision they now regret, according to Ballard. "We did not intend to offend anyone by the editing of this photograph and in the future we will not make this kind of edit," he said. According to a statement on their Facebook page, the students accepted the apology. "We, the members of the Painted Posse, do not agree with the university's recent decision to airbrush crosses out of the photo of some of our members. We ... acknowledge the efforts of the LSU administration and look forward to serving the university as both fans and students."

Planned Parenthood Spends $12 Million for Obama

Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider, has spent $12 million on this year's presidential election through its political action committees -- the most it has ever spent in an election, Baptist Press reports. About half of the money has gone for TV ads in battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Virginia, according to the Associated Press. Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, said she has "taken a break from [her] day job" to campaign for President Obama. In a video released by the Obama campaign on Oct. 19, Richards said, "Our daughters' and our granddaughters' future depends on" working to re-elect the president. In the second presidential debate, Obama mentioned Planned Parenthood five times, advocating continued federal funding for the organization. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has called for the de-funding of Planned Parenthood. The abortion provider and its affiliates received $487.4 million in government grants, contracts and reimbursements in 2009-10, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and Planned Parenthood centers reported performing 329,445 abortions in 2010.

Romney Erases Obama Lead with Women Voters

A new Associated Press-GFK poll shows Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has wiped out President Obama's earlier huge advantage among women voters, CBN News reports. A month ago, Romney was trailing by 16 points, but the new poll shows each candidate now registering 47 percent support among women. And on the issue of the economy, Romney has now pulled ahead among women voters. A month ago, women favored Obama over Romney on the economy 56 to 40 percent, but now the split has shifted to 49 percent for Romney and 45 percent for Obama.

BBC Poll: Every Country But Pakistan Wants Obama for Four More Years

A newly released global poll by BBC World Service has found that President Barack Obama is the clear favorite worldwide over GOP candidate Mitt Romney, the Christian Post reports. The poll, which surveyed dozens of countries and asked 21,797 people for their opinions, found that Obama, who was warmly accepted by the international community four years ago, still remains very popular with foreigners. In fact, every country polled showed people would prefer four more years of Obama rather than a Romney presidency -- with Pakistan being the only exception. Obama received the widest support in France, where 72 percent of respondents said they would vote for him. He enjoyed more than 60 percent support in Canada, Kenya, Nigeria, Australia, Panama, Germany, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and more than 50 percent support in Indonesia and South Korea. Only in Pakistan did respondents say they would prefer Romney to win, and the vote was much closer than the other countries polled. The survey, however, was conducted from July 3 through Sept. 3, meaning it is not reflective of any effects the presidential debates might have had on international opinions.

Publication date: October 26, 2012

Religion Today Daily Headlines - October 26, 2012