Today on Kresta - January 27, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Jan. 27

4:00 - Direct to My Desk – Give to Street People? Or Not?
Everyone panhandler asking for a handout is an immeasurably precious person made in the image of God whom we are all called to love. But is a quick donation, at best, cheap love? Or should we remember that Jesus ministered to social outcasts and the undeserving on numerous occasions, so why don't we? We look at whether Christians should always give money to street people who ask for it.

5:00 - A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy
Over the past thirty years, as Wesley J. Smith details in his latest book, the concept of animal rights has been seeping into the very bone marrow of Western culture. One reason for this development is that the term “animal rights” is so often used very loosely, to mean simply being nicer to animals. But although animal rights groups do sometimes focus their activism on promoting animal welfare, the larger movement they represent is actually advancing a radical belief system. For some activists, the animal rights ideology amounts to a quasi religion, one whose central doctrine declares a moral equivalency between the value of animal lives and the value of human lives. Animal rights ideologues embrace their beliefs with a fervor that is remarkably intense and sustained, to the point that many dedicate their entire lives to “speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.”