Posted 7/03/03

CBF clarifies what it means to be a partner

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

CHARLOTTE, N.C.–What does it mean to be a “partner” ministry with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and how much financial dependency should go with that title?

Currently, the CBF devotes 28 percent of its budget to fund partners–including 13 theology schools, the Baptist Joint Committee, Associated Baptist Press, Baptist Center for Ethics, Baptists Today and the Baptist World Alliance. A budget priorities task force has recommended reducing partner funding to 20 percent of the CBF budget, presumably channeling more money to global missions and ministries run by CBF's Atlanta staff.

That means the total amount of money partners receive would be 30 percent less than before, on the heels of a mid-year budget cut in 2002-2003.

Funding for these partners has become a front-burner issue as the CBF faces the budget challenges confronting almost all non-profits in the current national economy.

The situation remains fluid as well because the CBF and its partners have much looser connections than most denominational bodies have with schools and publishing houses and missions agencies. None of the partner ministries are owned by the CBF, and the CBF has not asked for any authority to name members to the various ministries' boards of directors.

In his address to the CBF general assembly June 27, Coordinator Daniel Vestal called on the CBF to strengthen relations with its partners, but he also called for clarification on what it means to be a partner.

“For us, partnership is more than a word,” he said. “It represents one of our core values and defining characteristics. … Our mission statement says that 'we prefer to cooperate in mutually beneficial ways with other organizations rather than to establish, own and control our own institutions.'”

That doesn't mean the CBF doesn't believe in institutions, Vestal added. “Theologically, we believe in them. But many of us are afraid of them. Perhaps it's because of our past. We have seen how people can worship institutions more than God or be more committed to preserving them than being committed to the mission for which the institutions were created.”

The CBF was birthed as a dissident movement out of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant body–and one that has honed institutional life to a fine art. In fact, one of the foremost drivers in creating the CBF was the desire of moderate Southern Baptists to create alternative ways of funding missions and ministries they once had supported through the SBC.

But the CBF made an intentional decision not to structure itself like the SBC, due in part to leaders' observation that blind loyalty to institutions prevented some people from abandoning the SBC even though leadership of those institutions changed radically.

The main component the CBF offers internally is its global missions program, which draws about 56 percent of undesignated budget funds. The percentage going to global missions increases when designated gifts are factored in.

From that base, however, the CBF has developed a variety of support ministries within its Atlanta resource center and built relationships with other autonomous ministries for theological education, publishing, ethics, religious liberty and wordwide partnership.

The recent report of the budget priorities task force, while not officially adopted or binding, could help determine the allocation of future money among the causes competing for CBF dollars. The document has not been put to a vote at a general assembly.

In addition to proposing the cap on partner funding, the task force identified six areas for highest-priority funding–most-neglected and unevangelized people, church starting, developing partnership missions with local churches, supporting theological education, nurturing congregational health, and fostering congregational leadership. Except for theological education, all the top priority areas relate to the CBF's own Atlanta-based programs.

It also identified four areas least important and, presumably, the first suggested for budget cuts–collegiate ministries, marriage and family, chaplaincy and Baptist identity.

In the new budget, Baptist identity includes funding for ethnic and regional networks, interim pastor support and allocations to the Baptist Joint Committee, ABP, BCE, Baptists Today and the BWA.

Vestal hinted at the coming struggle over partner funding in his Charlotte address: “Who exactly is a partner, and how should they be funded? What are the reasonable expectations from partners, and what are the different kinds of partners? This next year, our Coordinating Council will be working hard to clarify and strengthen our institutional partnerships.”

Those words, combined with the sagging gifts to the CBF budget and the report of the task force, have generated concern among leaders of the CBF partner ministries.

“Baptists Today is grateful for a voluntary, mutually beneficial partnership with CBF,” said John Pierce, editor of Baptists Today. “However, I am concerned about the continual decline in financial support.

“There seems to be a disconnect between CBF's stated priorities and an appreciation for the role we play in fulfilling those priorities. In his report to the CBF Coordinating Council, Daniel Vestal stated that CBF's primary focus is on serving churches, developing leaders and supporting missions. Then partnerships were listed as a low priority. However, Baptists Today helps the Fellowship achieve their highest priorities. … Key church leaders routinely tell us that the information provided through Baptists Today enables them to make wise choices about supporting mission causes that are consistent with their values.”

Rebecca Wiggs, immediate past chairman of the board for ABP, echoed Pierce's concern that the value of CBF partner ministries might be understated.

“In a perfect world, we would get no money from CBF,” she said, citing the news service's desire to report objectively on all Baptist entities, including the CBF. However, she added, “I think CBF must see ABP as a vital part of its overall ministry by keeping Baptists informed.”

Wiggs, an attorney from Jackson, Miss., said she hopes CBF leadership “understand that the whole CBF constituency does desire for a partner like us to be funded. … I hope (CBF) continues to be an organization that exists to support its partners instead of the other way around.”

Ideally, CBF should be “more of a flow-through organization rather than one that starts needing more money to support its own infrastructure,” she added. “I don't like the trend toward supporting more internal CBF organizations as opposed to where the people want to go.”

Robert Parham, executive director of BCE, said the CBF's partner organizations “are the most visible and tangible evidence of the investment that churches and individuals make in CBF with their financial gifts.”

While grateful for those gifts, he said, BCE in turn “provides an excellent return on their investment by building constituency and providing resources to local churches. Imagine what we could do with more funding.”

Brent Walker, executive director of the BJC, also expressed appreciation for CBF financial support as one of the “primary avenues through which churches and individuals have supported the BJC's ministry.”

At the CBF Coordinating Council meeting prior to the general assembly, the partnership question drew comment from several council members.

“I operate on the philosophy that if you don't have money, you can't spend money,” Chuck Moates, chairman of the budget priorities task force, told the Coordinating Council. All the CBF priority areas are “significant and very important,” Moates said, “but when you are faced with a scenario of having limited dollars to spend, where do you want to spend the money?”

Added CBF Moderator Phill Martin of Dallas: “We want to be good partners, but we want to be fiscally responsible for CBF national.”

“We are paying partners at our detriment,” said Philip Wise, chairman of the budget committee and pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Tim Brendle, another member of the budget priorities task force, pushed the issue further, suggesting the partners need to be more proactive in raising money for all of the CBF.

Partners ought to be “promoting together our budget, rather than this being a cash cow,” Brendle said.

Posted: 7/11/03

ANOTHER VIEW:
Parents must take steps to help children combat obesity

By Branda Polk

According to a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association, 15.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is rising at a rate that parallels the adult population. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 60 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.

Childhood obesity is causing a myriad of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and joint pain that once were experienced only by adults. If we don't address this issue with our children now, statistically, they will become obese or overweight adults.

This is a critical issue for the whole family, and parents have a responsibility to help their children to grow, mature and develop disciplined habits. Consider the following suggestions for establishing healthy habits for yourself and your children.

Pray for your children.

Ask God to guide you as you parent through this challenging period. Pray for strength as you set a healthy example in your choices.

Evaluate and educate yourself.

Take a look at your own habits. Do you choose healthful foods and exercise regularly? Your habits are passed to your children. Educate yourself on healthy food choices and living an active lifestyle. Be diligent to set a positive lifestyle example in your home.

Set limits and boundaries.

Limit time spent on sedentary activities like watching TV or playing computer games to one hour or less per day. One study shows metabolism is slower while watching TV than sleeping. Set limits on the types of food that will enter your home. If chips, cookies, ice cream and other processed empty foods are around, they will be consumed. Set limits on the number of times your family eats in fast-food restaurants. Make cooking healthful meals at home a priority.

Provide healthy food.

Avoid having foods that are off limits to one person and fair game for another. Junk foods are of little or no benefit to anyone, no matter what a person weighs. Consider making healthful snacks easy to choose. Provide fresh fruit and vegetables, non-fat yogurt and light popcorn for snacking. Involve your older children in menu planning and cooking. Include lean portions of meat, whole-grain side dishes, and lots of vegetables and fruit with lunch and dinner meals. Provide whole-grain cereals and bread, skimmed milk, peanut butter, fruit and juice for a quick, healthy breakfast. Your discipline as a parent with the foods you choose will directly impact the success your child has in developing healthful eating habits.

Encourage action.

Turn the TV off and go for evening walks or bike rides as a family. Play a team sport. Sign up for dance lessons. Swim. Take hikes. All of these fun activities increase physical fitness and burn extra calories. The more fun movement you encourage, the more your child's health will improve.

Avoid strict or extreme diets.

Children and younger teens are still growing and physically maturing. Strict and extreme diets may deprive your child of vital nutrients needed to continue developing. Focus on creating healthy habits, and let God control their growth. If a specific eating plan is necessary, consult a professional dietitian for direction based on your child's needs. Avoid rewarding or punishing with food. God designed our bodies to require food for fuel to function. Establish other incentives for good work or behavior. Establish other penalties for disciplinary measures.

Set a good example.

Avoid degrading yourself if you need to lose weight. Your child looks to you as a life example and learns even when you don't know it. Your children love you exactly as you are, and when you use negative words about your health or appearance, they personalize it. Use your wellness journey as a model for how a godly family will live. Show your children that we can all make improvements and trust God to help us, strengthen us and walk with us along the way.

Branda Polk is a certified fitness instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach in Memphis, Tenn. Her column is distributed by Baptist Press

Posted: 7/11/03

DOWN HOME:
Eye in sky tracks wayward animals

You may remember that we “lost” our dog, Betsy, a few weeks ago.

Actually, she lost us. Normally a stay-close-to-home dog, she ran out through a broken slat in our backyard fence late Friday night and stayed gone the better part of a weekend.

We think she must've spotted a rabbit out near the drainage ditch behind our house, chased the critter until she got lost and wandered around, looking for home. Joanna, Lindsay, Molly and I spent a heart-breaking weekend looking for our aging pooch, and by Sunday afternoon, we had pretty much given up on ever seeing her again.

That's when a neighbor in the next subdivision to the west called and said, “I think we found your dog.” She had seen one of the zillion flyers we posted throughout our part of town and figured Betsy was the dog we described.

After that, the only problem was getting Betsy weaned back to normal dog food. The people who found her must've treated her royally, because she didn't want any part of her regular meal for about a week. She's such a finnicky eater, she reminds me of when Molly was a toddler.

Well now, a Japanese firm is set to fluff the fur of dog- and cat-lovers who want to avoid the trauma we endured.

Secom, a company the Reuters news service calls “Japan's largest home and office security provider,” now offers the ultimate in high-tech pet-tracking.

For a mere 5,000 yen ($43) registration fee and 800 yen ($7) per month, pet owners can strap a global positioning system transmitter around Fido's or Fifi's neck and never wonder where they roam.

Satellites “11,000 miles above Earth” monitor the whereabouts of the participating pets. If a puppy or kitty runs off, the owner logs on to a website and locates the cavorting canine or frolicking feline to within 164 feet.

The system is supposed to be available in the United States sometime this summer.

Why didn't I think of that?

But I've got a better idea. Betsy's only gotten lost once in 11 years. But at least once a week, I misplace my glasses and/or car keys. So, why not hook them up to a global positioning system too? Of course, the range of accuracy would have to be much narrower than 164 feet, but I'm figuring it could catch on.

You're in a rush to get to work and can't find your keys. You log on to my website, and my satellite tells you to look under the magazines on the coffee table in the den. Ta-da! This could be the “Put the Knox Girls Through College Keys- and Eyeglasses-Finding System.”

Sometimes, like Betsy, I chase off on misguided tangents and lose my way. Fortunately, my heavenly Father's universal/eternal positioning system always works. He knows where I am, calls me by name and guides me home.

Posted: 7/11/03

EDITORIAL:
Each Baptist should support at least 1 missions cause

No matter what Baptist brand you wear, you've heard a discouraging word lately.

Due to a shortage of funds, the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board has reduced by 100 the number of missionaries it will appoint in 2003 and 2004. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Global Missions program wouldn't be able to appoint any new missionaries this year and next if not for two anonymous gifts totalling $9 million. And the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Church Starting Center already has distributed all its funds for the year.

Several factors account for this missions malaise.

The International Mission Board's receipts from the Cooperative Program unified budget are on target; however, the board has experienced a $10 million shortfall in the 2002 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $125 million. Like many other organizations, the board has suffered from declining investment income. And its troubles have been compounded by rapid deployment of new missionaries in recent years, spiking the missions payroll at the same time external conditions have depressed annual income.

The view isn't any rosier across the theological/political street. The Fellowship expected to end its fiscal year June 30 with a $650,000 shortfall in undesignated receipts below expenditures, even while keeping expenses at 85 percent of budget. Annual budget income was expected to reach about $15 million, well short of an $18.2 million basic budget goal. And without the anonymous $9 million in designated gifts, appointing new missionaries would be out of consideration.

Similarly, repeated budget trimming–necessitated by defection of churches to a competing convention–has taken its toll on the Baptist General Convention of Texas' budget. The BGCT's Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions have declined. The slumping economy also has come into play, sapping the BGCT's New Church Fund with reduced return on its investments. Consequently, the Church Starting Center ran out of cash in May. The center still will work with churches, associations and others to help create congregations, but much of the seed money has dried up.

Texas Baptists aren't surprised to receive this news. From Booker to Brownsville and Texarkana to El Paso, Texas churches, businesses and families are struggling. Economic woes have spread so broadly we can feel each other's pain. We pray and hope the recent upturn on Wall Street will mean good conditions across the Lone Star State. We need an economic rebound–for our families and churches as well as our larger causes.

The other key variable in this missions miasma is not directly economic but carries a tremendous financial impact: A quarter-century of discord has eroded trust in and support for the denomination. Some Baptists have been disaffected by the Southern Baptist Convention, while others remain staunchly loyal. The same can be said for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Some Baptists support one group and not the others. Many have pulled back support for all three. Each decision has eroded support for missions.

That is a crying shame, whatever kind of Baptist you claim to be. The world needs more missionaries, not fewer. Texas needs more churches, not fewer. No matter what your views on politics or theology or any religious -ism happen to be, the missions enterprise can use more of your support and more support from your church. Every Baptist ought to find a like-minded missions endeavor and give sacrificially to see it completed.

While collecting an offering at a recent Baptist gathering, author/speaker Tony Campolo made an announcement that applies to Baptist missions funding. “I've got good news and bad news,” he said. “The good news is we have all the money we need. The bad news is it's in your pockets.” Campolo's wisdom touched that crowd, and they nearly doubled the offering's goal.

Even during tough economic times, when we think about missions and the funding shortfall, we've got good news and bad news. The good news is God's people have all the money necessary to fund the Great Commission. The bad news is we're still sitting on it.

Information gathered by the Barna Research Group illustrates church members hold the financial keys to the missions kingdom:

More than one-third–37 percent–of church-going adults (those who attend once a month or more) do not contribute any money.

Among church members who actually contribute, only 3 percent to 5 percent tithe.

The average adult who attended a Protestant church only contributed $17 annually.

Two-thirds of Protestant pastors believe their churches are not living up to their giving potential.

People hold a strong perception that churches do not need money as much as other charities do.

If all Baptist under-givers would incrementally begin to support missions causes only nominally, we could finance all the missionaries who want to go to the field and start churches as fast as we can find property and call pastors.

Of course, talking to Baptist Standard readers about this is like preaching to the proverbial choir. You already support missions. But Standard readers are influential in their churches. Present the cause for missions in your church. You can help others understand they can participate in God's plan for reaching Texas and the world for Christ. You can be a financial ambassador for the missions cause of your choosing. And you don't have to wait until the fall or Christmas to send money to support missions. You can do it now. Don't wait.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 7/11/03

Campbell: Patterson's pick
shows BGCT study was right

HOUSTON–Paige Patterson's election as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary proves the validity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Seminary Study Committee, according to the chairman of that committee.

Bob Campbell, who chaired that committee in 1999 and 2000, currently serves as president of the BGCT. He is pastor of Westbury Baptist Church in Houston.

The BGCT committee studied all six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and concluded all, to one degree or another, had moved away from the basic theological tenets and church polity practiced by a majority of Texas Baptists.

At the time, the committee recommended greatly reducing BGCT funding for all the SBC seminaries except Southwestern.

With Patterson's election at Southwestern, “the SBC seminaries have all changed their educational procedures from open, conservative, biblical, evangelical, Baptist scholarship and education to a closed, restrictive, fundamentalist, neo-Baptist indoctrination,” Campbell charged.

“If there was ever any doubt about the nature of the 'new' SBC and its seminaries, all doubt should be totally erased with the election of Patterson. It is more imperative now than ever before that our Texas Baptist universities and seminaries be recognized by all BGCT churches as the best place to receive a solid Baptist education.”

Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University, Truett Seminary at Baylor University and Hispanic Baptist Theological Seminary “must receive the BGCT's full support with prayerful loyalty and financial assistance,” Campbell said. “More and more Texas Baptist churches and other national and international ministries will now rely on the consistent, conservative, traditional, Baptist education produced through our BGCT-operated schools.”

Posted: 7/11/03

CBF: Governments are the Babylons
of Revelation, Campolo warns at BJC luncheon

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP)–Human governments are the Babylons referred to in the Book of Revelation, and America's Babylon is the temptation for religious charities to accept government money, Baptist sociologist Tony Campolo said in a May 27 speech.

Campolo, a former professor at the American Baptist-related Eastern University in suburban Philadelphia, spoke at the annual luncheon of the Religious Liberty Council of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. The luncheon took place during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's general assembly in Charlotte, N.C.

“Whenever the church finds itself in a particular political-economic system, then of course that system must be referred to as Babylon,” Campolo said in reference to the allegory of the “whore of Babylon” in Revelation 17.

“The system is out to seduce the church, and that is exactly what is going on right now with 'faith-based initiatives,'” Campolo continued. “It has become the most dangerous seduction that I've ever seen come down the pike.”

Campolo referred to President Bush's bid to place thoroughly religious groups–such as churches and mosques–on an equal footing with secular groups in receiving government grants for performing social services. Many religious leaders have endorsed the idea as a more effective way of providing social services that work, while many others have viewed it as a violation of the Constitution's ban on government support for religious groups.

Churches and religious charities that think it's a good idea to take government money are looking to the wrong place for their funding, Campolo said. “The people of God have the resources to do what needs to be done, and we don't need to be looking to the government.”

The risk is greater to the church's freedom than it was to the state's integrity, he added. “We will lose our prophetic edge” if churches take government money. “Separation of church and state is crucial if the church is going to influence the government.”

But churches can't offer a meaningful critique of government if they are in debt to it, he continued. “Whoever pays the fiddler calls the tune.”

Campolo, a sociologist by training and a popular Christian speaker on social-justice issues, also used the opportunity to opine on several areas of public policy.

Discussing new restrictions on Americans' freedom, Campolo questioned why more Christians in the United States aren't speaking up for Muslims. “Following Sept. 11, the religious freedom of Muslims is being seriously threatened” in the United States, he said.

Campolo condemned new laws and Justice Department policies that make it possible for government police–such as FBI agents–to spy on religious services and groups without probable cause.

“They're sending spies into mosques, and we're not saying a word,” he said. Campolo pointed out that, during the Soviet era, American evangelicals often expressed outrage over reports of KGB agents spying on churches and keeping intelligence files on Christian leaders, sometimes imprisoning them.

“If it was outrageous to send spies into churches, then it is also outrageous to send spies into mosques,” he declared.

At the same time, he called on the U.S. government to pay particular concern to the peril a Shiite Muslim theocracy in newly liberated Iraq would create for that country's religious minorities–including hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians.

Campolo particularly took to task American Christian leaders who have made incendiary public statements about Islam in recent years.

“I can tolerate difference of opinion, except when they're stupid,” Campolo said. “Do these people understand how this plays out for our Christian missionaries in Muslim countries?”

A better approach, he suggested, would be for American Christians to persuade leaders in Islamic countries of the value of religious freedom.

“We've got to resist that seduction of Babylon,” he said, “but we've also got to ensure that the New Jerusalem has the right to exist in every Babylon around the world.

Posted: 7/11/03

Court says Mormon Church can't
regulate speech on public access

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has let stand a lower court's ruling that the Mormon Church may not regulate speech on a Salt Lake City park it owns because of the park's past as a public street.

On June 23, the justices declined, without comment, to hear an appeal from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In October, a three-judge panel of that court ruled city officials violated the First Amendment by selling a section of a downtown street to the LDS Church for use as a religious park.

Terms of the sale said the area would remain accessible to the public but allowed church officials to regulate speech, such as barring distribution of “anti-Mormon” literature and disallowing sunbathing or other forms of clothing church officials deemed immodest.

The site formerly was a block of Salt Lake City's Main Street that divided the church's main administration complex from the historic Mormon Temple and other religious sites. The city sold the block to the church in 1999. Since then, the church turned the space into a pedestrian plaza featuring religious statues, plants, benches and a reflecting pool.

However, the city retained an easement that allowed the general public pedestrian access to the site after the sale. When city officials and church representatives later drew up the official deed, they added language clarifying that public access did not include making the site a forum for free speech.

But the 10th Circuit panel ruled in October that parts of the plaza that were once city sidewalks remain a “traditional public forum” for speech.

“The purpose of the easement is to provide a pedestrian throughway that is part of the city's transportation grid, and in this respect it is identical to the purpose the sidewalks along that portion of Main Street previously served,” the judges said.

But the Mormon Church said the plaza no longer resembles a city street and therefore is not a public forum. Attorneys for the LDS Church argued, among other things, that allowing the city to control a plaza filled with religious imagery could be viewed as state establishment of religion, which the First Amendment bans.

“A reasonable observer could well perceive a message of endorsement of religion in the city's direct control and regulation of a plaza filled with the religious displays and symbolism of the LDS Church,” according to a motion filed in the case.

Several religious groups filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the Mormons' claim. They included the Colorado Baptist General Convention, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the United Methodist Church and the Islamic Society of Colorado Springs.

But some Christian leaders in Utah supported the court's ruling. Southern Baptist minister Kurt Van Gorden has been arrested on the plaza twice by LDS security guards for passing out literature that church officials deemed “anti-Mormon.”

Posted: 7/11/03

Polls find agreement with
court but not with gay unions

WASHINGTON (RNS)–A majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriages, but six in 10 believe consensual gay sex should not be illegal.

The data on same-sex marriages came from a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll.

The poll found opposition to gay marriage, while significant, is eroding. Fifty-five percent of Americans oppose gay marriage–down from 68 percent in 1996. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they favored the right of gay men and lesbians to marry.

In May, another Gallup poll found Americans were evenly split at 49 percent in supporting or opposing “civil union” laws that give gay couples some of the same legal rights as married couples.

Younger people seem to be more accepting of gay marriage–61 percent of people between ages 18 and 29 support gay marriage, while only 37 percent of those ages 30-49 support it.

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws June 26, more than six in 10 Americans polled said consensual gay sex should be legal, while 37 percent said sodomy should be criminalized. In 1977, when Gallup first asked about legalized sodomy, only 43 percent of Americans said it should be legal.

Fewer Americans, however, believe homosexuality is morally acceptable. A slight majority–54 percent–said “homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle.” Forty-three percent said it was not acceptable.

A Gallup poll conducted in May asked Americans to rate whether certain activities were “morally acceptable.” Forty-four percent said homosexual acts were morally acceptable, ahead of abortion (37 percent) and human cloning (8 percent) but behind divorce (66 percent) and having a child out of wedlock (51 percent).

Americans were evenly split on whether gay couples should be able to adopt children–49 percent said they should have adoption rights, while 48 percent were opposed. Respondents also were evenly split at 46 percent on whether newspapers should publish announcements for same-sex unions.

Posted: 7/11/03

Supreme Court's sodomy
ruling draws sharp reaction

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 decision to overturn state bans on sodomy has drawn sharp rebuke from cultural and religious conservatives.

“It is clear from this that the court has taken sides in the culture war,” said Justice Antonin Scalia, summarizing from the bench his dissent in the Lawrence and Garner vs. Texas case. “This effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation.”

Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, said, “Once again judicial activists have used their fertile imagination to create rights that simply don't exist in the Constitution. In doing so, they have imposed their own moral judgments in place of state legislatures and have thereby undermined the democratic process.”

Connor went on to warn that the “radical homosexual lobby” will use the decision to extend “a blanket privacy protection over one's choice of sexual partner to one's choice of marital partner as well–regardless of sex.”

While gay-rights activists and civil libertarians have denounced such blanket statements as hyperbole, some of the conservatives' nightmares may already be coming true.

In the recent decision, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn a Texas law that banned “sodomy”–a term for any kind of non-vaginal sexual intercourse–for homosexuals but not for heterosexuals. Five of the six justices in the majority claimed the law violated the 14th Amendment's guarantees of due process and privacy and implied that the law also violated that amendment's equal-protection clause.

The court's ruling was unexpectedly broad, explicitly embracing the right-to-privacy argument and implicitly embracing the equal-protection argument.

The decision means all bans on consensual, adult sodomy–for gays and heterosexuals alike–violate the right to privacy that the majority of the court believes exists in the 14th Amendment.

In the case, two Houston men were arrested, convicted and fined in 1998. The men appealed, claiming the statute under which they were convicted violated their rights to privacy and equal protection.

The recent decision already has had legal ramifications. On June 27, the day after the Lawrence decision was announced, the Supreme Court invalidated a sodomy conviction that a Kansas teenager received for having sex with a younger boy. Kansas law imposed a harsher penalty on same-sex violators of the state's age-of-consent law than it did on opposite-sex violators.

On the same day, a New Jersey judge asked for additional written arguments, in light of the new court decision, on a case in which seven gay couples are suing the state for the right to marry.

And a Massachusetts court is hearing arguments in a case many experts believe will expand that state's marriage laws to include homosexual marriage, given the Supreme Court's new ruling.

“Our victory last week was just the beginning,” said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, in a July 2 press release. “We're on stronger ground than ever before to fight for gay couples, parents, employees and students–to win fairness in every area of life.”

But conservatives are fighting back on the issue of gay marriage. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., announced June 29 he will support a constitutional amendment, already pending in Congress, that not only would ban recognition of same-sex marriage on the federal level but also invalidate any state or municipal law that confers either marriage or its corresponding benefits on gay couples.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to say June 30 if President Bush supports the proposed amendment, which has been introduced in the House but not yet in the Senate.

Where the Lawrence decision may have its most immediate effect is in custody battles and other day-to-day struggles in the lives of gay and lesbian Americans. According to several gay-rights groups, courts and government agencies repeatedly have cited sodomy laws in denying homosexuals custody rights, state certifications and other legal advantages. In those cases, the court has assumed that homosexuals are, by definition, lawbreakers.

Posted 7/11/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
Walking the aisle

By Brett Younger

For years, some people have assumed that a real worship service hasn’t taken place unless it ends with a constantly interrupted invitation hymn. After a long sermon, a preacher with a booming voice says something along the lines of: "This is the time of commitment. If you feel God pulling at your heart, then you need to come forward. If you feel something in your heart and you’re not sure what it is, you need to come. No matter what you’re feeling, you need to come, as we stand and sing."

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me.

"If you would like to rededicate your life, this is the time for that decision. You may have rededicated your life 50 times; come again. Maybe you rededicate your life every revival; come now. Maybe you rededicated your life last Sunday, but had a bad week; come again, as the choir hums."

"If you are a male, then you may be called to full-time Christian service, or if you are really brave then you should be a missionary. Come as the pianist plays only the black keys."

"I know that many of you wish this invitation was over. Maybe your leg has fallen asleep from standing so long. Even so, I think that there is someone here who needs to come forward." (A husband whispers to his wife, "Do you think you could rededicate your life? I’m missing the kickoff.") "Let’s have every head bowed and every eye closed." (At this point almost every head is bowed and more than two-thirds of the eyes are closed.) "If you are a member of the church, pray for those who are not. If you are not a member, then know that there are people near you who are telekinetically pushing you to the front. Raise your hand if you feel like you need to make a decision. Raise your hand if someday you might make some decision. Raise your hand if you want to encourage me. If no one comes on this verse, then we’ll close the invitation." The less-spiritual members of the congregation offer a sigh of relief. For some, the measure of worship is whether anyone joins the church.

"Walking the aisle" has its roots in the 1830s, when Charles Finney began utilizing the "anxious bench," where those in need of salvation were to sit. The job of those who had already made decisions was, one can only assume, to stare the anxious into the kingdom. This practice evolved into the bizarre evangelical custom of shaking the preacher’s hand as the primary expression of the desire to become a Christian. (The early church thought of baptism as the primary expression of the desire to become a Christian.) Most churches that ask people to walk the aisle will keep doing so (and with some good reasons), but even as we invite those who are weary to come home, we should know how peculiar it is.

Brett Younger, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, still hopes people will walk the aisle on Sunday.

Posted 7/15/03

More than 400 youth evacuate
camp due to Hurricane Claudette

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

More than 400 youth evacuated the Texas Baptist Encampment Palacios By the Sea July 14 due to the threat of high winds and flooding as the eye of Hurricane Claudette neared the site.

Hurricane Claudette has sustained winds of near 75 miles per hour and could gain strength before it reaches the Texas coastline. Forecasters predict storm surge flooding between five and eight feet, accompanied with as much as eight inches of rain.

The campers relocated to First Baptist Church in Katy, where they are continuing the weeklong One Camp, affiliated with several Baptist associations, including Coastal Plains Area, Gulf Coast and Guadalupe.

Jeff Kluttz, director of One Camp, said he hoped previous forecasts of the hurricane moving toward Brownsville would be true so the camp could stay the entire week. But with the storm approaching, "we had to make a decision based on the best information we had," he conceded.

"A lot of churches we cater to are small churches, and this is the only (youth) thing they do all year," Kluttz commented. "We didn’t want to cancel camp."

With the help of the Katy church, the camp largely has continued as originally planned, he said. The Texas Baptist Men Dallas Associational feeding unit is en route to provide meals for the youth, and the Hill Country shower unit is on the way to supply showering facilities.

"It’s really been amazing how everyone jumped in and helped," Kluttz added. "We’ve been able to go right on doing camp."

Kluttz said he hopes to be back at the encampment by lunch July 16 if it is not badly damaged or flooded.

TBM South Texas and Bluebonnet units are on alert waiting to be called by the Red Cross to assist in disaster relief around the state.

Posted 7/16/03

TBM mobilizes in aftermath of Claudette

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Several feeding, victim relief, clean-up, retiree builder and chainsaw Texas Baptist Men units are en route to Southeast Texas July 16 to serve victims of Hurricane Claudette.

Winds up to 80 mph and as much as eight inches of rain severely damaged some areas of Southeast Texas. Initial reports indicate missing walls and roofs as well as substantial structural damage to buildings and homes. Fallen trees toppled power lines. Some towns still do not have electricity.

The East Texas feeding unit is on the way to First Baptist Church in Bay City, the South Texas feeding unit is headed to First Baptist Church in Port Lavaca and the Bluebonnet feeding unit is going to First Baptist Church in Victoria.

Chainsaw and clean-up units from around the state are traveling to Goliad.

The retiree builders are assembling a team to repair a hole about the size of a car in the roof of Central Baptist Church in Port Lavaca.

"We to hope to feed the people until they get their power back on and help do the clean up," said Bob Dixon, off-site coordinator of this TBM relief effort.

At First Baptist Church in Katy, the Dallas Association feeding unit and the Hill Country shower unit continue serving more than 400 campers who evacuated the Texas Baptist Encampment Palacios By the Sea the night before the hurricane caused millions of dollars in damages.

It is not known how long the units will operate and the Red Cross is surveying the state to see if there is need for more units in other places.