Republicans agree to remove foreign aid restrictions against abortions
Private family planning groups that receive U.S. support in foreign countries may soon be able to provide abortions and promote abortion rights. Congressional representatives agreed to increase the amount of money going to such groups and said they would not insist on maintaining current restrictions against abortion, with a clause that only allows the increase to go into effect after Feb. 15, 2001. That means that the next president will decide whether to reinstate the restrictions or do away with them entirely. According to The New York Times, abortion opponents are gambling that "if Gov. George W. Bush wins the presidency, he will reinstate the restrictions. Abortion-rights advocates anticipate that should Vice President Al Gore win, he will do nothing."

What Would Jesus Buy?A new business feature on Salon.com examines the world of Christian merchandising and finds it rife with product imitations and poor business ethics. The editor of Wittenburg Door criticizes Christians for reducing faith to buying a $10 T-shirt. "Christians are quick to point out pornography and drunkenness and a lot of other sins, but they are slow to recognize ... the sin of consumerism." The grandson of Charles Sheldon (author of the non-copyrighted In His Steps, which first posed the question, "What would Jesus do?") tells Salon that the real problem is not Christian consumers, but business people who promote fads and mimicry. "It's ironic to see that either they aren't asking the question 'What would Jesus do?'" says Sheldon. But Jeffrey Lambert of Zondervan Publishing says, "I think Jesus would be extremely pleased that these products are having such an impact on the world." ...