Posted: 11/02/07

Baptist Briefs

Land named to new term on commission. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, has been appointed to a fourth term on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky reappointed Land to a two-year term on the nine-person panel. The commission, a nonpartisan panel appointed by the president and members of Congress, researches the status of religious liberty in other countries and provides reports and recommendations to the White House and legislators. The president selects three members of the commission, while congressional leaders name the other six. The State Department’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom serves as a nonvoting member of the panel.

NAMB finalizes FamilyNet sale. Charles Stanley, founder and president of In Touch Ministries, and Geoff Hammond, president of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, signed documents Oct. 25 finalizing the sale of the mission board’s FamilyNet television network to In Touch. Negotiations between the two ministries began several months ago and were announced in a letter of intent from In Touch to NAMB in August. Under the agreement, NAMB will continue to have 30 minutes of programming on both the television and a satellite radio channel each week. Also, a NAMB representative will hold a chair on FamilyNet’s board of directors.

Veteran seminary professors recognized. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees honored John and Robina Drakeford, George and Linda Kelm, and James Leo and Myrta Garrett with the L.R. Scarborough Award, named for the seminary’s second president. Drakeford, who taught counseling and psychology and founded the seminary’s Baptist Marriage and Family Counseling Center in 1960, was recognized posthumously. George and Linda Kelm were leaders in developing and organizing the seminary’s archaeology program, the Charles D. Tandy Archaeological Museum and the Charles D. Tandy Center for Archaeological Research. James Leo Garrett Jr., longtime professor of systematic theology, became a distinguished professor at Southwestern in 1991 and has authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited 134 published works, including the authorship of his two-volume Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical and Evangelical.

Seminary to build Homemaking House. Southwestern Baptist Theological Semi-nary trustees unanimously approved construction of a Homemaking House, providing an instruction facility and student housing for the seminary’s homemaking concentration. The house will contain three primary teaching areas—a multifunction room for instruction with computer resources; a room for students to learn about working with and laundering textiles; and a kitchen, complete with appliances and a horseshoe-shaped counter for instruction in food preparation. Upstairs, two rooms will house seniors in the homemaking concentration, and another room will be available for guest housing. Trustees learned the seminary has received “a generous donation” for the construction of the building, and the house will be built as soon as all funds have been secured. The plan is for the house to be built and available in August 2008.

Posted: 11/02/07

Posted: 11/02/07

2nd Opinion: Knowing how the story ends

By Toby Druin

I am reading An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the war in North Africa in 1942-43. Atkinson was a writer and editor for the Washington Post for 20 years, and his account of the war is rich in detail.

I am about a third of the way through the book, but two things already have impressed me. The first is that the United States must remain the No. 1 super power in the world. We must maintain an army superior to that of any other nation— one with enough manpower to fight on two or more fronts with equipment second to none and the ability to deliver them immediately.

America’s isolationist bent prior to World War II encouraged Japanese imperialism and Hitler’s ambitions. Never should any nation or ruler doubt that the United States is willing and ready to defend itself and our allies from such arrogance.

The second realization was more spiritual. Through the portion of Atkinson’s book that I have read to date, the war has not gone well for the allies. By the time the United States entered the war in December 1941, Japan had marched through much of Southeast Asia, and Germany had control of much of Europe and already was doing battle with Russia.

When U.S. and British forces began the invasion of North Africa in November 1942, they were ill-equipped to do battle, both from a leadership and equipment standpoints. Atkinson writes that the United States learned how to fight a war in North Africa, and had it not been for the lessons learned there, the outcome of the war that would be carried to Europe a year later could have had a far different outcome.

Reading about the terrible losses of the allied forces in those first few weeks in North Africa, I found myself wanting to get to the good stuff—the times and the battles when “we” would begin to win. You see, I know how the war eventually turned out. I’ve read the book, you might say. It will end in the spring of 1945 with Hitler killing himself in a hole in the ground in Berlin.

It occurred to me as I was reading that this is a metaphor for the Christian life. We are at war with Satan, and more often than not, it appears as if he is winning—that Christianity is taking a beating. Satan has more attractive equipment, and we are constantly lured into the devastating traps of sin.

But I know how the story ends. Jesus defeated sin when he gave his life on the cross and was resurrected. He has promised he is coming back. Maybe it will be while I am still alive; maybe not. Either way, I know how it is all going to turn out in the end.

I’ve read the Book.

Toby Druin is editor emeritus of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 11/02/07

DOWN HOME:
To logo, or not to logo

Just the other day, I realized I hold coffee and hamburgers to a double standard.

Beth and Linda, good friends who work here at the Baptist Standard, carried bags of hamburgers into our lunchroom just as I finished leftover carryout Chinese—garlic chicken and brown rice, I think it was.

Even though I had just finished lunch, Beth and Linda made me hungry all over again. My mouth watered, and I think I heard my stomach growl, something like, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

For a moment there, I broke Commandment 10 1/2: “Thou shalt not covet thy coworkers’ hamburgers.”

My friends started unpacking their burgers. Meanwhile, I sat there, wondering why I harbored such a strong desire for a classic American hamburger. Were my Chinese leftovers excellent? Yes. Were they filling? Yep, for at least two hours.

So, why did I have such a strong desire for one of their burgers? Then it hit me (the answer to my question, not one of the hamburgers): They were packed in brown-paper bags.

The best burgers I’ve ever eaten come from hole-in-the-wall joints that pack their wares in brown-paper bags. No chi-chi white sacks with colorful logos for them. They let the quality of their burgers do the talking, the marketing and the “branding” for their fine dining establishments, whose flame-heated steel grills average 19.3 years old.

While I was looking covetously on Linda’s hamburger, I realized a contrary thought: As much as I desire hamburgers packed in plain paper bags, I despise coffee poured into plain styrofoam cups.

The incongruity of my double standard for hamburgers and coffee made me wonder aloud: “Why do I only want coffee in cups with logos on them and only want hamburgers in bags without logos on them?”

Ken, another friend and co-worker, provided the answer: “Well, that’s easy. The best coffee comes in logo cups, and the best hamburgers come in plain bags.”

How do you argue with logic like that? Like me, Ken has been attending Sunday school since before he was born. Together, we have consumed several thousands of gallons of “Sunday school coffee” from plain-white cups. Make that thousands of gallons of very bad coffee. He knows whereof he speaks.

Driving home from work, I pondered my double standard and came to the conclusion that it is well-founded and almost invariably true.

Then I thought about how people see Christ. We are branded with a logo, if you will, when we accept the label “Christian.” Does the product of our lives cause others to associate Christ with something positive, something desirable? Much more is at stake than burgers and coffee.

Posted: 11/02/07

EDITORIAL:
Look past gender toward priorities

The 2008 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting came off much more peacefully than prognosticators predicted. To pick a word from this space in last week’s paper, messengers in Amarillo “behaved.” More than that, they represented the best of Baptist ideals. Even when they disagreed, they did so agreeably, and the atmosphere in the assembly hall and hallways was warm and harmonious.

Many Texas Baptists contributed to this positive atmosphere, but none moreso than the president and presidential candidates. President Steve Vernon embodied a genial, caring and helpful Christian spirit. And presidential contenders Joy Fenner and David Lowrie elevated cordiality to new levels. They all set standards of grace.

Our guest speakers, Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey and pastor/author Rick Warren, helped us look beyond ourselves to greater issues. Coffey reminded the BGCT of its place in world Baptist affairs, and Warren helped us see how our present and momentary challenges are insignificant compared to a lost and hurting world.

The 2008 annual meeting will be remembered as the time when the BGCT made history by electing its first female president. Some people predict that decision will cost the convention $2 million to $5 million. Their thinking goes like this: Churches are fed up with spoon-fed “diversity” that produced the first Hispanic, African-American and woman presidents in the past four years. They’re particularly galled that a woman was elected president, citing this as the last straw of “liberalism,” the weight that broke their backs of participation.

You can understand this logic. Some churches and pastors have been put out with the BGCT for a variety of reasons. Our relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention, historic election politics, the Valley church-starting scandal and lack of confidence in the budget come readily to mind. So, anybody looking for a reason to leave can cite this election as grounds for departure.

But I don’t think the loss will be that great. Here’s why:

• BGCT Baptists are fair. The folks who have been irritated by the BGCT’s single-party politics got what they wanted—a wide-open election. We had two excellent, gracious candidates in Lowrie and Fenner. Texas Baptists who cared enough to show up and vote showed up and voted. The vast majority of Texas Baptists believe fair is fair, and they respect the decision of the majority.

• BGCT Baptists are biblical. Some say multitudes of churches will find election of a woman president theologically offensive. How’s that? We elected a convention president, not a convention pastor. Even the Southern Baptist Convention, which takes a strict stand on women in ministry, reserves the restriction to women pastors. Theologically literate Baptists know the concept of a convention is extra-biblical. It just isn’t there. A convention isn’t a church, and a president isn’t a pastor. So, most Baptists who don’t like the idea of a woman president also realize they can’t argue against it on biblical grounds.

• Women won’t stand for it. Fenner’s resume is terrific presidential material—20 years as executive director of a missions organization, 14 years as a foreign missionary, a lifetime of selfless service to Christ’s church. Women in all kinds of BGCT churches are not inclined to let their men punish the state convention for elevating one of their own to this honorable post. Fenner isn’t just an exemplary woman in ministry; she’s an exemplary minister. Women in our churches can be counted on to stand with their sister, who is a worthy role model for Baptist daughters from Booker to Brownsville.

Next year’s annual meeting will focus on the budget—elevating and appropriating it responsibly. In the meantime, let’s focus on the grandeur of our priorities, not the gender of our president.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 11/02/07

Faith Digest

Evangelicals advocate for Dalits. The National Association of Evangelicals has called on the U.S. government to take action to reduce persecution of the Dalits, the “untouchable” residents of South Asia. Board members of the evangelical association acknowledged their previous inattention to the Dalits’ plight and urged both the U.S. and Indian governments to do more to help them. About 250 million Dalits live in India, where they are about one-quarter of the population. The statement calls on the U.S. government to acknowledge discrimination faced by the Dalits, issue a State Department report and end agreements that worsen conditions for the Dalits.

Unitarians try to raise profile. Proud of their spiritual skepticism and “big-tent” religious diversity, Unitarian Universalists are not known as heavy-duty evangelizers. But with just 250,000 members nationwide and growth relatively stagnant at 1 percent a year, the Unitarian Universalist Association is trying to raise its national profile with an unorthodox ad campaign. The $425,000 ad campaign, which will run through the end of the year, has two parts. Traditional print ads in Time magazine carry the message: “Is God keeping you from going to church?” The more unusual “advertorials” appear in an online archive of Time religion stories under the tagline: “Find us, and ye shall seek.” The online archive features stories that focus on three areas—religion and science; religion in American democracy; and religion, sexuality and morality. Readers will be able to click on links to a webpage with essays written by Unitarian Universalist ministers about these topics.

Oklahoma lawmakers refuse free Qurans. At least 17 Oklahoma lawmakers have refused gift copies of the Quran offered in honor of the state’s centennial by the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council. State Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, voiced objection to the gift, characterizing Islam as a violent religion. “Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of theology,” Duncan said. At least 16 other lawmakers joined Duncan in declining a copy of the Muslim holy book with the Oklahoma centennial seal and the elected official’s name imprinted on it. Muslim leaders said the idea for the gift came from Centennial Bibles, which the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma gave to lawmakers earlier this year.

Pope denounces violence in the name of religion. Speaking to more than 300 religious leaders at an international peace conference in Naples, Italy, Pope Benedict XVI denounced all violence committed in the name of religion. “Faced with a world lacerated by conflicts, where violence is still justified in the name of God, it is important to reassert that religions must never become vehicles of hate,” he said. Among those listening to the pope’s remarks were the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, the chief rabbi of Israel and several representatives of Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.

Posted: 11/02/07

Falwell’s church continues fast-paced growth

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Thomas Road Baptist Church, the Virginia megachurch founded by the late Jerry Falwell, had the largest numeric growth recorded in a new list of the nation’s fastest-growing churches.

Outreach magazine reported the church in Lynchburg, Va., saw an increase in overall weekly attendance of 4,750 within the last year.

The church ranked No. 9 on the magazine’s list of fastest-growing churches. Researchers averaged numerical and percentage growth of attendees to determine the rankings.

Thomas Road was listed No. 8 in the magazine’s ranking of largest churches in the United States, with an average attendance of 17,445.

In a statement, the church reported more than 1,000 people have joined since Falwell’s death May 15. His son, Jonathan Falwell, now leads Thomas Road Baptist Church.

Outreach, a church leadership magazine based in Vista, Calif., compiled the lists in partnership with Ed Stetzer, director of research at LifeWay Research. The attendance figures are based on self-reported data from the churches cited.

The top five fast-growing churches listed are:

1. Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida, Hollywood, Fla.

2. Community of Faith, Cypress.

3. Valley Bible Fellowship, Bakers-field, Calif.

4. Community Christian Church, Naperville, Ill.

5. The ROC (Richmond Outreach Center), Richmond, Va.

The top five largest churches listed are:

1. Lakewood Church, Houston (47,000)

2. Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill. (23,500)

3. Second Baptist Church, Houston (23,198)

4. Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif. (22,000)

5. LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, Okla. (19,907)

Posted: 11/02/07

Robert Carter	J. Mac Rust	Arlen White	Eloise Trigg	Russell Fudge

Howard Payne honors alumni and supporters

BROWNWOOD—Howard Payne University recognized alumni and friends of the university with special honors during the recent homecoming alumni awards.

Robert Carter, a 1973 graduate and vice chairman of the National Financial Partners in Austin, received the distinguished alumnus award.

J. Mac Rust of Gordan, a 1995 graduate who owns his own legal practice in Stephenville, received an award as outstanding young graduate.

Arlen White of San Angelo, a 1975 graduate, received the medal of service. A medal of service also was awarded to Citizens National Bank of Brownwood.

Eloise Wood Trigg of Brownwood, a 1948 graduate who retired from Howard Payne after 32 years as an art professor, was named the “Coming Home Queen” for 2007.

Col. Russell O. Fudge, first director of the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom at Howard Payne, was honored as grand marshal of homecoming.

Posted: 11/02/07

Israel claims artifacts found
date to first Jewish temple

By Michele Chabin

Religion News Service

JERUSALEM (RNS)—Israeli archaeologists who have been inspecting maintenance work done by Muslims on the Temple Mount have discovered what they believe are artifacts dating back to the time of the first Jewish temple.

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority said workers from the Wakf Islamic Trust had uncovered “an apparently sealed archaeological level dated to the first temple period” near the Dome of the Rock, the third-holiest site in Islam.

Finds included fragments of ceramic tableware and animal bones. The finds are dated from the eighth to the sixth centuries B.C.

The discovery marks the first time Israeli archaeologists have been able to examine Temple Mount artifacts still in the ground. The Wakf, which maintains the mount, has for several decades denied excavation requests by international archaeologists.

In an ongoing project, archaeologists and volunteers have been salvaging thousands of Temple Mount artifacts found in tons of debris removed—illegally, Israelis say—by the Wakf during renovations on a mosque in 1999. Archaeologists strive to discover artifacts in their original position in the ground in order to gain valuable context.

The first temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. The second temple was finished around 516 B.C, expanded by King Herod beginning in 20 B.C. and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.

Israeli archaeologists said the characteristics and location of the finds may aid scholars in reconstructing the dimensions and boundaries of the Temple Mount during the first temple period.

Finds include fragments of bowls, the base of a juglet used for ladling oil, the handle of a small juglet and the rim of a storage jar. The bowl shards were decorated with wheel burnishing lines characteristic of the first temple period.

Gabriel Barkay, director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, called the Temple Mount “the most delicate and important and sensitive site in this country; and not counting the destructive acts of the Wakf, it’s hardly been excavated.”

Posted: 11/02/07

Texas Baptist Forum

Synergy of the Spirit

As Baptists, we have long believed and relied on the fact that the Lord speaks through the votes of his people.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside.” Albert Snyder Father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who sued Wesboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., after the church protested his son’s 2006 funeral. The church pickets soldiers’ funerals, claiming God is killing troops as punishment for homosexuality in America. (AP/RNS) “Faced with a world lacerated by conflicts, where violence is still justified in the name of God, it is important to reassert that religions must never become vehicles of hate. On the contrary, religions can and should offer precious resources for constructing a pacific humanity.” Pope Benedict XVI Speaking at a peace conference (RNS) “He never made me feel that my faith and my intellect were at war with one another. He always made me believe that God gave you a brain, and he expects you to use it.” Condoleezza Rice U.S. secretary of state, discussing her faith and her father, a late Presbyterian minister (Larry King Live/RNS)

In Amarillo during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, I believe God spoke to us in two profound ways. The Lord affirmed Joy Fenner and the significant role of women in ministry. He knows if we are going to claim our future, women must continue to play a vital role in helping us to wrap our arms around Texas and the world.

I also believe the Lord called on us to lay aside political maneuverings and to pull together as one people on one mission to reach Texas and the world for the sake of his kingdom.

We must embrace the reality of who we really are. Our presidential election did not reveal that we are a divided convention. It revealed we are a people who want to come together. We cannot make the mistake of interpreting this election through the eyes of a “win/lose” attitude. We must continue to seek the synergy of the Spirit that can only come as we approach our struggles with a “win/win” attitude.

There will be no losers in Texas if we heed his voice and choose to face the future together.

David Lowrie

Canyon

Generous spirits

Thank you, Texas Baptists, for your contributions of food and financial donations to the food drive segment of City Reach West Texas, held immediately prior to the BGCT annual meeting. And thanks to Marla Bearden and Gerald Davis for coordinating this event.

As one of the agency recipients of the food donated, we are grateful to you for sharing your bounty with those who, on the front lines of meeting needs and sharing Christ, are in a position to pass it on to hungry families and individuals across West Texas. 

To say that the need for help in our communities has grown in the last few years—indeed, the last few months—would be an understatement. 

Your gifts will help us all stretch our food supplies a little further. We are grateful.

May our Father honor your generosity and willingness to give by multiplying his blessings both to you and to those we serve.

Susan Edwards, director

Midland Baptist CRISIS Center

Midland

‘Texas Baptists’

Please tell the BGCT staff and the Baptist Standard staff to stop referring to the BGCT as “Texas Baptists.”

There are more Baptists in Texas that are not part of the BGCT than are part of it. You are misrepresenting who you are and who other Baptists are in our state.

The BGCT does not speak for all Baptists in the state of Texas and needs to quit insinuating that it does.

Micah Meurer

Amarillo

Children need adoption

Howard Batson’s sermon at the BGCT annual meeting was a moving reminder of our status as believers. I found myself deeply touched by the pictures of the two children who were adopted.

Texas Baptists need to be reminded there are over 1,000 children in the care of Texas Child Protective Services who need homes and would like to have the experience of their own “mama” and “papa.” If not adopted, these children will age out of a tragically strained foster care system.

Michael Chancellor

Abilene

CP roots

It is my understanding that the BGCT in the early 1970s recommended that the institutions create development programs since the feeling then was that the Cooperative Program would not keep up with growth.

That recommendation was heard by our ministry, and we have been working hard on development since. Our own analysis shows that in 1979 income from CP was 52 percent of our budget. Currently, it is around 9 percent.

We too have expanded services while knowing that there is no possibility of asking for increased CP funding. We are grateful for every CP dollar we receive and more importantly the relationship that is behind the funding.

God has blessed us with other income sources, but our CP roots are so vital to the fruit desired by Texas Baptists.

Jerry Bradley, president

Children At Heart Ministries

Round Rock

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Due to space considerations, maximum length is 250 words.

Posted: 11/02/07

Memphis church gives new
meaning to ‘I Surrender All’

By Lucky Severson

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (RNS)—Nineteen-year-old Edacious recently came to New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, to surrender—and not just to Jesus.

There was a warrant for her arrest on marijuana charges, and she had come to church to turn herself in. Hundreds of others with outstanding warrants also showed up.

Called Fugitive Safe Surrender, the program is coordinated by the U.S. Justice Department and is the brainchild of Pete Elliott, a member of the U.S. Marshals Service.

“People have asked me why a church, and it’s simple,” Elliott said. “Churches give hope.”

“I’ve been in law enforcement going on 25 years now,” he said. “I feel the most comfort in my life when I’m at church. I feel the most peace when I’m at church. And I felt that individuals in the community that were wanted were basically no different than me.”

A week before the surrenders, Memphis religious leaders and law enforcement officials announced that for four days, fugitives—people wanted by the law for whatever reason—would be allowed to turn themselves in at a well-known church. The church was staffed with prosecutors, judges and court personnel.

“And most importantly, volunteers from New Salem (were on hand) … to greet people and to welcome them as they come in, so that they come in to an environment that is nonhostile,” said U.S. Attorney David Kustoff.

Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell said the program would be able to clear up several warrants, “which will make them law-abiding citizens and return them to the community in a productive way and will certainly assist us in law enforcement in clearing up this huge backlog.”

Officials estimate there are 37,000 outstanding warrants in Memphis alone. About 1,500 turned themselves in during the four days of the Memphis event—far more than the sheriff’s department could have rounded up over a similar period.

Fugitive Safe Surrender began in Cleveland two years ago. Memphis is the sixth city to try it, and in each case the program has exceeded expectations. At least five other cities hope to offer the surrender program.

But the program has sparked controversy. A plan to introduce it in New Jersey was blocked because of concerns it would violate church-state separation.

Felony suspects who showed up at New Salem were taken into custody, but most of those turning themselves in were wanted for minor offenses.

A surprising number said that until the event at church, they felt they had no place to surrender. They were wary of the police and sheriff’s department and were afraid of going to jail. Many fugitives view the Memphis Justice Building—201 Poplar Street—as a place where people get lost in the criminal justice maze.

“201 Poplar is a threat to most of them,” said Frank Ray, pastor of New Salem. “And the reason is that you can go there, and what they did here (at church) in 30 minutes or an hour, two hours, it may take three days. That you can go there and surrender yourself—it may be three days before they’ll even hear your case, and you’re going to be stuck in prison for that many days and some people have even got lost in the system.”

Offenders who turned themselves in had outstanding warrants for traffic offenses or probation violation, and many said they were doing it to start over—“to get my life back,” as one person put it. Jobs, food stamps, education often are out of reach for people with outstanding warrants.

New Salem was chosen as the surrender point because its pastor is active in the community and fugitives apparently trust the church more than they trust the police.

“There’s been somewhat of a division between the justice system and the community, especially the religious community,” Ray said. Of the fugitives who surrendered at the church, many said they came in precisely because it was a church.

After the warrants are verified, those surrendering were fingerprinted and photographed. Most cases were heard on the same day, and the outcomes may be more lenient than they would be at 201 Poplar.

“We try to fashion a settlement that will let these people get this over with today and go home with their cases disposed of,” said Mary Thorsberg, assistant district attorney.

Elliott’s idea for the program sprang from an incident in Cleveland when a police officer, a friend of his, was shot and killed making a routine traffic stop. The officer didn’t know the driver was wanted under a fugitive warrant.

“There’s always the possibility of a violent confrontation, for whatever reason, even on the smallest warrants,” said David Jolley of the U.S. Marshals Service. “It may be that the person just didn’t want to go to jail that day, or they had something in their possession they didn’t want the officer to find.”

Elliot observed, “For every fugitive that peacefully and voluntarily surrenders, that’s one less dangerous confrontation our law enforcement officers have to have on the streets.”

Posted: 11/02/07

Kinder, gentler Moses pictured
in new Ten Commandments movie

By David Briggs

Religion News Service

HOLLYWOOD (RNS)—The image of Charlton Heston as Moses has been carved into the minds of generations.

Few who have seen the Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster can forget Heston’s majestic, commanding presence as he comes down from Mount Sinai and thunders to a wayward people, “Those who will not live by the law shall die by the law.”

Now there is a new Moses for a new generation.

Christian Slater is the voice of Moses in a new animated film, The Ten Commandments.

The new, animated version of The Ten Commandments features a more compassionate Moses with the voice of Christian Slater, urging people to be faithful because, “God loves you.”

The love story in this movie is not the romantic triangle of Rameses, Moses and Princess Nefertiri that DeMille added to widen the audience for his 1956 movie. It is the love between God and God’s people, a side of Jehovah that often has been missing in biblical epics.

“God is not just this angry ogre,” Executive Producer Brad Cummings said. The film, he stressed, tries to “highlight his desire for a relationship with us.”

The decision to depict the God of Exodus as a loving parent who cares for his children is a welcome addition to popular portrayals of Old Testament stories where God is shown as judgmental, legalistic and wrathful, some observers say.

Those earlier portrayals often reflected the misinterpretation that Jesus reveals God as compassionate and loving, but the Old Testament shows nothing but a God of wrath, they insist.

But modern biblical scholars increasingly assert that there is a lot of language of human and divine love in Hebrew Scriptures, said Ronald Brauner, a professor of Judaic studies at the Siegal College of Judaic Studies in Beachwood, Ohio.

The eternal, steadfast love of God is spoken of throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, he noted. Even the suffering Job says to God, “You have given me love and constant care.”

What is clear throughout the texts is “the love of the Divine Being to those people the Divine Being has created,” Brauner said.

In the Book of Exodus, the covenant between God and the Israelites—“my treasured possession among all the peoples”—described in chapter 19 also is a “manifestation of love,” Brauner said.

A goal of the new movie is to counter the stereotype that “God is angry in the Old Testament and thank God for Jesus in the New” Testament, Cummings said.

In the film, God speaks in the soothing tones of Elliott Gould.

Slater (Moses) avoids the stentorian speech of Heston’s character for a more casual tone, speaking at various points in the film about God’s love and desire to care for the people under His protection.

The idea of God’s love “is really there. It’s in the Bible,” said screenwriter Ed Naha. “You just have to look for it.”