By Christy Barritt

High Black Voter Turnout Propelled Obama’s 2012 Win

According to data analysis by the Associated Press, President Barrack Obama won the 2012 election in large part because of the higher than average black voter turnout.

A demographer at the Brookings Institution looked at census data and election turnout, along with last November’s exit polling data, in order to draw these conclusions for the Associated Press. 

The AP’s results showed that blacks voted at a higher rate than any other minority group and, by most measures, outpaced whites.

The analysis also showed that Mitt Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate who didn’t inspire white voters or attract support from blacks or Hispanics. However, it also showed that if voter turnout in 2012 had been the same as in 2004, Romney would have narrowly won the election.

Evangelicals Most “Christlike”

Among those who classify themselves as a Christians, evangelicals are the most “Christlike” group. That’s according to a new study conducted by The Barna Group.

The results came after 1,008 telephone interviews during which 718 respondents self-identified as Christian. Christian respondents were asked 20 questions, 10 that compared their responses to Jesus and 10 that compared their responses to the Pharisees.

“The study is meant to identify baseline qualities of Jesus, like empathy, love, and a desire to share faith with others,” said David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group.

The study showed that 23 percent of evangelical respondents exhibited both Christlike actions and attitudes.

Other categories included “Practicing Protestant,” which ranked at 16 percent on the Christlike scale, “All Christians” at 14 percent, “Practicing Catholic” at 14 percent, “Non Evangelical Born Again Christians” at 13 percent and “Notional” at 13 percent.

Pentagon Asked to Court Martial Troops Who Share Faith

An atheist organization has asked Pentagon officials to court martial Christians in the military who openly express their faith.

In a meeting with high ranking Pentagon officials, the leader of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation said that he specifically wanted to target any Armed Forces superior who “promoted their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates” or “extended preferential treatment for any type of religion.”

Fox News reporter Todd Starnes said that the leader of the group has said that he wants to end proselytization on military bases and even went as far as to compare evangelism to “spiritual rape” by “fundamentalist Christian predators.”

The Pentagon confirmed that proselytization is not permitted on military bases. Punishments for doing so can vary and are taken on a case-by-case basis, but can include jail time or being dishonorably discharged.

Half of Americans Unaware of Planned Parenthood’s Actions

A new poll conducted for the National Right to Life Committee reported that 55 percent of Americans don’t know that Planned Parenthood is in the abortion business, nor do they realize that the company is the biggest abortion provider in the country.

According to the poll, 88 percent of registered voters are familiar with the organization, 40 percent know of someone who has received services there, and 63 percent have a favorable impression of the organization.

The same poll found that 55 percent of people did not know that Planned Parenthood performed abortions. Fifty percent of pro-life respondents said they didn’t know the organization performed abortions, and the 45 percent who knew gravely underestimated the number of abortions performed there.

“The polling reflects the results of Planned Parenthood’s campaign to publicly minimize and obfuscate its involvement with abortion,” said David N. O’Steen, National Right to Life executive director. 

Christy Barritt is an award-winning author, freelance writer, and speaker living in Chesapeake, Virginia. She and her husband Scott have two sons.
www.christybarritt.com