As Emily Belz reported Wednesday, Maine voters this week repealed that state’s law legalizing same-sex marriage.

For supporters—and opponents—of traditional marriage, the vote is important for a number of reasons.

First, money didn’t make the difference. According to Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, groups such as Stand for Marriage Maine (supporting traditional marriage) were outspent by a margin of 2-to-1.

The passing of Proposition 8 in California (which overturned court-ordered gay marriage) galvanized proponents of same-sex marriage, and Maine was seen by many as an opportunity to stop any momentum gained on the West Coast. According to Brown, “Same-sex marriage activists saw Maine as their best chance to win a direct marriage vote.” But despite resources, energy, and plenty of media attention, the momentum to maintain traditional marriage was not slowed.

Maine’s vote was the first time in history that voters overturned action taken by a legislature on this issue. This in a state not considered conservative by a long shot.

Brown calls the vote “a decisive and historic victory for marriage.” No doubt supporters of same-sex marriage will downplay its significance.

But consider this from an October Associated Press article leading up to the vote:

“Supporters of same-sex marriage, in Maine and elsewhere, are cautiously hopeful of a landmark victory, which they believe would have an impact in other states including California. But they acknowledge that defeat—by an electorate known for its independence and moderation—would be crushing.”

As Brown put it, “The voters in a deep New England state have now joined 30 other states in directly affirming marriage as the union of one man and one woman. If we can win in Maine, we can win anywhere.”

Newsweek reports on the “personhood movement” within the pro-life community:

The idea that life begins at conception has always been at the center of anti-abortion-rights ideology but rarely pursued as a legislative goal. Instead, activists set their sights on smaller, more obtainable restrictions on abortion, such as requiring ultrasounds or parental consent for minors. The personhood amendment can be understood as a backlash to that approach. “We’re saying let’s get down to business,” says Cal Zastrow, cofounder of Personhood USA. “We don’t want restrictions. We want to abolish the murder of children, and a personhood amendment does that.” The rise of personhood as a political strategy reflects a rising frustration among activists, who say the incremental approach has done little to reduce abortions in the United States.

One vote that isn’t grabbing headlines as much as the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races is in Maine today, where voters will decide whether to strike down the state legislature’s decision this year to legalize gay marriage in the state.

The Maine vote is important because it may be the first time gay marriage supporters prevail in a voter referendum on the issue. The polls have been evenly split on the question.

Right now, traditional marriage advocates point to the fact that the majority of citizens still support traditional marriage, and that voters have always opposed court rulings that legalize gay marriage, as exemplified in Prop 8 in California.

The issue is a hot on Twitter right now – gay marriage supporters have one of the top trending topics marked with the hashtag #VoteNoOn1 – voting “no” means you support the legalization of gay marriage.

In an interview with Details magazine, openly gay actor Ian McKellen admits that when he stays in hotels he finds the in-room Bible and tears out the page condemning homosexuality:

I’m not proudly defacing the book, but it’s a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible. And I’m not really the first: I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages—Leviticus 18:22—that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.

Apparently he and his fans leave Paul’s letters addressing this issue alone, including passages from Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Timothy. But the man who’s best known for playing Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and his followers can tear out all the pages they want because . . .

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

For the past eight years, Abby Johnson has worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas, the last two years as its director. But then she saw an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. “I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it,” Johnson told KBTX-TV (link includes a video interview with Johnson).

She also began to disagree with the organization’s new business model of pushing for more abortions: “The money wasn’t in family planning, the money wasn’t in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that.”

Johnson, who resigned on Oct. 6, has joined forces with Coalition for Life and has been praying with the group on the sidewalk in front of her former employer’s place of business. Planned Parenthood has reacted to Johnson’s leaving by slapping a temporary restraining order on her and Coalition for Life. A hearing on the order is set for Nov. 10.

HT: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.

WORLD Washington Bureau reporter Edward Lee Pitts has been closely following healthcare reform this week on Capitol Hill. He reports:

Healthcare reform advocates took two major steps forward this week, but conservatives fear those steps could represent two giant leaps backward for those with pro-life, limited government, and anti-tax interests.

Concerning the inclusion of abortion funding in healthcare legislation, Lee writes:

. . . the biggest burden the House bill places on the nation may be its treatment of abortion.

“Language in the bill still does not do enough to prevent federal funding from going to abortion services,” worries Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

Stupak and as many as 40 other House Democrats fear that the creation of new federal insurance subsidies for low-income earners would go toward purchasing healthcare plans that include abortion coverage.

Current law prohibits federal funding for abortion through Medicaid, the federal employee health plan, and military plans. But the new health bill creates new federal funding avenues that are not covered under current law—and theses new streams have the potential to reach a greater number of Americans than the already restricted plans.

To stop this, Stupak is pushing for an amendment that adds the abortion prohibition to the new federal subsidies. He says that pro-life Democrats combined with Republicans could derail the House bill. Stupak is continuing to negotiate, but Pelosi may try to get the House bill through under a procedure that does not allow amendments.

“Anyone voting to forbid amendments to this bill is in effect voting to set up a federal government program that will directly fund abortion on demand,” warns Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. “Prominent Democrats who have claimed that the federal government could pay for abortion with ‘private’ funds have been engaged in a big snow job.”

The fight over the pro-life amendment could come as early as next week.

Read Lee’s report in its entirety here.

As the country trends toward conservatism, more and more people are becoming skeptical about the effects of global warming. WORLD’S Alisa Harris reports:

The Pew Forum survey, published Oct. 22 and conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 4, reveals that belief in global warming has sharply declined over the last year. In April 2008, 71 percent of Americans saw “solid evidence” for global warming. Now only 57 percent of Americans do. They also were more skeptical about blaming humans for global warming. A year ago, 47 percent said that human activity causes rising global temperatures, but this year only 36 percent make that claim.

And while 44 percent saw global warming as a very serious problem in 2008, only 35 percent do so today. The decline is across the board and includes independents, whose belief in the solid evidence for global warming dropped 22 points.

Read Alisa’s report in its entirety here.

President Barack Obama won the majority of Catholic votes last November, but Democratic healthcare reform may not win the backing of some of the most influential Catholics in the country. Earlier this month, representatives for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter to Congress, expressing disappointment over congressional healthcare proposals, and warning that if a final healthcare package allows taxpayer funding for abortion “we will have no choice but to oppose the bill.”

Cardinal Francis George—the Catholic archbishop of President Obama’s hometown of Chicago—told The Wall Street Journal yesterday that every healthcare bill coming out of congressional committees so far has allowed taxpayer funding for abortion. Such provisions violate what the cardinal called his top priority for healthcare reform: “Nobody should be deliberately killed.”

“Three babies aborted every day due to Down’s syndrome,” is a horrendous headline for me to read, but especially so after my spending last Friday night in a ballroom with 300+ Down syndrome young adults decked out in formal wear. They brought me more concentrated joy than I’ve experienced in a long time. But, according to this story, they are lucky to even be alive.

The Telegraph reports:

An increasing number of pregnant women are being told their babies have the condition because of a growing number of women putting off having children until their 30s and 40s and improvements in screening, doctors say.

And around nine in ten women who are told they are going to have a baby with the problem opt for a termination.

More women are having children later in life, increasing the possibility of Down syndrome. Further, embryonic screening for the syndrome continues to “improve and advance,” meaning that there are fewer undetected cases of Down syndrome.

When expectant couples hear a diagnosis of Down syndrome, 9 out of 10 of them respond by terminating the pregnancy through abortion.

Peter Elliott, Chairman of The Down Syndrome Research Foundation, who has a 24-year-old son David with Downs Syndrome, said: “Why are the abortions at such a high rate unless they have been given the impression the situation was terrible and it warranted an abortion?”

“I don’t think the choice is presented to the parents in the light of the true situation where the children have a good life and are in fact viewed as a blessing to the parents, not a curse, and I don’t think these parents getting the abortions know much about Downs syndrome at all.”

One of my favorite essays on this subject is by columnist George Will, wherein he comments on his own son Jon, born with Down syndrome:

Because Down syndrome is determined at conception and leaves its imprint in every cell of the person’s body, it raises what philosophers call ontological questions. It seems mistaken to say that Jon is less than he would be without Down syndrome. When a child suffers a mentally limiting injury after birth we wonder sadly about what might have been. But a Down person’s life never had any other trajectory. Jon was Jon from conception on. He has seen a brother two years younger surpass him in size, get a driver’s license and leave for college, and although Jon would be forgiven for shaking his fist at the universe, he has been equable. I believe his serenity is grounded in his sense that he is a complete Jon and that is that.

I love that line: “Jon was Jon from conception on.” These are real people, being destroyed because they are not “right” and “correct” and “normal.” But this is a false idea of the good, the beautiful, and the true.

As Dr. Mohler has written:

The Christian worldview explains why the face of a child with Down’s syndrome is more beautiful than the cover girl in the fashion magazine. The unity of the good, the beautiful, the true, and the real calls us to look below the surface and to understand that the ontological reality of every single human being is that we are made in the image of God. The imago Dei is the beauty in each of us, and the rest is but of cosmetic irrelevance.

Jamie Dean just wrote an article on the U.S. Census Bureau’s efforts to reach out to Hispanics. The question, “Are you a U.S. citizen?” won’t be on the form, and the Census Bureau is trying to convince people that the information they give will be private and confidential. A group of Hispanic pastors, The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, is still leading a census boycott to pressure Congress to pass immigration reform.

Another group of Latino pastors announced yesterday that they were countering that boycott. The LA Times reports that Latino pastors from 1,200 Latino Protestant congregations in Southern California have started a pro-census campaign with the slogan, “We all count in God’s eyes: Make yourself count!” Also, 200 Latino Protestant churches will help develop census materials, the pastors will receive training in how to promote participation, and the churches will help their church members fill out the forms.

The Times quotes Rev. Alexia Salvatierra saying, “We feel God calls us to participate as fully as possible in society.”Is this a good argument for participating in the census?