WASHINGTON (RNS)—When a pandemic caused shutdowns across the globe in March 2020, Stacie Grahn thought it was the literal end of the world.

“I thought: ‘This is it. We’re all in our homes. Is this when we’re all going to disappear?’” Grahn said in a phone call from British Columbia. “With the vaccine, I thought: ‘Is this how they’re going to separate us? Is this going to be the mark of the beast we have to take?’”

For those like Grahn who are taught the rapture can happen at any second, the End Times are more than fodder for apocalyptic fiction. Fear-saturated stories about the saved being transported to heaven while the world faces havoc and hellfire can generate lifelong panic, paranoia and anxiety, reorienting people’s lives around what’s to come instead of what is.

These religious beliefs have societal implications, too. Why care about the refugee crisis or climate change if the world is doomed?

Rapture a relatively recent concept

Belief in the Second Coming of Christ is as old as the church, but the concept of the rapture is a relatively recent early 19th-century phenomenon, most often embraced in evangelical or fundamentalist circles.

In the late 20th century, it was reinforced through popular media, including Hal Lindsay’s 1970 bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth, which interpreted world events as signs of the end times, as well as the 1972 thriller A Thief in the Night and, in the 1990s, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ wildly popular Left Behind series.

But, as Grahn could tell you, these ideas aren’t relics of the past. Grahn’s grandmother first introduced her to the rapture at a young age via videos of End Times ministries and preachers like JD Farag. Anything her grandmother planned was with an asterisk.

“We can plan that, but the Lord could be coming back,” Grahn recalled her grandmother saying.

Prepping for disaster

Unlike Grahn, Nikki G, 46, came to view the rapture as gospel later in life. In 2010, she uprooted her life to join the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Mo. As a survivor of several high-control religious groups. she asked to go by her first name due to safety concerns.

Nikki was attracted by the fervency of the group, which has been hosting 24/7 worship and prayer since 1999 and has a distinct End Times flavor.

“We believe that the church will go through the Great Tribulation with great power and victory and will only be raptured at the end of the Great Tribulation. No one can know with certainty the timing of the Lord’s return,” the organization’s website says.

As a result of the apocalyptic messaging she heard in these groups, Nikki said she rejected materialism, began canning food and strategized survival tactics. But prepping to survive until the rapture took a toll on Nikki.

“It’s very dehumanizing,” Nikki said. “You’re not present. You’re always in the future. You are disassociated from your body, your nervous system and yourself, and ultimately you become the theology. … I was no longer Nikki, when I was in all of that.”

She experienced nightmares, flashbacks and insomnia years after leaving.

Anecdotal evidence of anxiety and fear

Therapist Mark Gregory Karris said, while there’s little research on rapture-related trauma, anecdotal evidence suggests people can experience anxiety, fear and disrupted life plans because of such teachings. He said it especially is true among those who emphasize the immediacy of the rapture, the torment of those left behind and the need to be good enough to win God’s approval. Some who ingest these beliefs see future plans as futile, even faithless.

That was the case for Diana Frazier, 39, who grew up in an Assemblies of God church in Poulsbo, Wash.

“I remember sobbing multiple times as a little kid, thinking I will never get to get married, I will never get to have children. There’s no point in having any kind of dream for my future because I’ll be in heaven,” she said. “And then I would have guilt and shame, even as a little kid, because I’d know I was supposed to be happy about that.”

As a teen, Frazier participated in a youth group-sponsored hell house, a riff on haunted houses that portrayed sinful scenarios—like drunken car crashes and an abortion clinic—that led to hell.

Afterward, participants were invited to say the “sinner’s prayer.” Inundated with images of the terror she’d face if she wasn’t chosen by God, Frazier constantly was vigilant, ready to respond to disaster. But there was a cost.

“Humans aren’t meant to survive like that. Walking around with a fire extinguisher going all the time when there’s no fire is exhausting.”

Frazier paused her education after receiving her associate degree, in part because she thought Jesus would arrive at any time. Even when she had doubts, the risk of leaving her church community felt too high. She’d be forsaking her friends, her family and, later, as a parent, potentially jeopardizing her kids’ salvation.

“I’d be literally losing everything, for what? To go to college? Get a career?” she asked.

Fear of being ‘Left Behind’

April Sochia, 41, grew up in a Baptist community in the Adirondack Mountains of New York state and began to fear the rapture after reading the Left Behind series in college.

“I felt great pressure to force my kids to say the sinner’s prayer, because it was their ticket to heaven,” she said. “If the rapture happened, they had to say the sinner’s prayer, but it had to be genuine enough so they wouldn’t get left behind.”

According to Nikki, who now works as a certified trauma recovery coach, it’s common for people who believe in the rapture to evaluate and judge themselves constantly, seeking to be right with God so they won’t be judged harshly in the end times.

Andrew Pledger, 23, was part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement as a child in Walkertown, N.C., when his 4-H Club took a field trip to a local farm. Before the farm tour started, Pledger went to the bathroom. When he came out, no one was there.

“I remember just dread and fear going throughout all of me,” he said. “I couldn’t hear anyone’s voices, they were just gone. I remember running around the yard screaming and yelling for my mother … those five minutes of that fear and rapture anxiety, it was a lot.”

Though Pledger no longer believes in the rapture, his body remembers. Just over a month ago, a plane flew low over his current home in Greenville, S.C., and the sound—so familiar in the rapture genre—shocked him into fight or flight mode.

“It’s so frustrating, the cognitive dissonance of, I don’t believe in the rapture anymore, but I experienced that,” he told RNS.

Concept ‘read back’ into the New Testament

Therapist Karris said much like people experience phantom limbs, people can experience “phantom ideas” even after rejecting the idea of the rapture.

“That’s why it lasts so long, because we’re talking about it being in the tracks of the nervous system,” he said.

Of course, belief in the rapture doesn’t always translate into trauma. For some, the promise of being chosen by God and escaping the world’s troubles is profoundly reassuring.

Still, the fact that some experience severe consequences shouldn’t be downplayed, Karris asserted.

Tina Pippin, a professor of religion at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., said the rapture isn’t strictly biblical. It’s a concept that’s “read back” into New Testament passages, which get “sort of appropriated or misappropriated,” Pippin said, in Scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 4, which says that those who are “alive and are left” will “meet the Lord in the air.”

With 39 percent of American adults believing humanity is living in the end times, Pippin said, it’s important to assess the far-reaching implications of apocalyptic beliefs.

“The rapture is not just a theological position, it’s also a political one, and I think a really dangerous one,” said Pippin, who criticized those who ignore or even welcome global tragedies as precursors to Jesus’ return.

As awareness around rapture anxiety grows, many who’ve been impacted by rapture teachings are reassessing their beliefs and finding physical, emotional and spiritual healing.

During the height of the pandemic, Frazier stepped away from her church community. She still believes humans are “all divinely connected” and hopes to return to school to become a therapist.

For Grahn, the rapture panic she felt during the pandemic was the beginning of her faith unravelling. She no longer believes in Christianity or the rapture and holds space for religious trauma survivors on social media through her @apostacie accounts.

Her grandmother is still awaiting a heavenly ascent.

“I wouldn’t bring it up with my grandma. … They believe, as much as we know Christmas is on Dec. 25 every year, they believe it will happen at any moment,” said Grahn. “To them, it’s heaven or hell. They’re not going to give that up or take that chance.”

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (BP)—The Mariupol Baptist church where Trent Blackley last performed is rubble, the city hard hit by Russian military forces who have killed 8,500 Ukrainian civilians in the war on Ukraine.

“It was good that we got to Ukraine while we could,” said Blackley, director of the North Texas chapter of the Singing Men of Texas and lead vocalist and accompanying guitarist for the Texas Country Boys ensemble.

“One of the churches we were in was in Mariupol, and that’s the city that just got totally devastated, right on the sea of Azov. We’ve seen some before and after pictures of their worship center. It’s rubble now.”

Blackley was last in Mariupol in 2017 with the Texas Country Boys, which grew from the larger Singing Men of Texas. Blackley continues to minister to Ukrainian refugees, this time in a Singing Men of Texas concert tour of Poland April 17-28 with Southern Baptist evangelist Michael Gott and Gott’s wife Jan.

Gott last evangelized in Mariupol “just a few weeks before the Russians began attacking that city,” he told Baptist Press. “And we saw the very hall where we held the concert bombed or at least destroyed by the rockets, and now it’s all under the control of the Russians.”

It was “breathtaking” to see “how God gave us unique opportunities just before the curtain fell,” Gott added.

Founded in 1975 and composed primarily of Baptist ministers of music, the Singing Men of Texas have sung numerous times in Ukraine in partnership with Gott since 2010. England, Romania, Brazil, China and Spain are among the group’s international travels, in addition to concerts across the United States.

Blackley has kept in touch with Ukrainian pastors who have hosted performances there.

“So many of them, it’s every situation you can imagine. Some of them are there, and they’re leading their communities to respond to people’s needs in the community,” Blackley said of the pastors.

“And then there are others—a lot of the younger ones—that have gone to Poland, and they’re working there in ministry, or some that we know of that are in Texas. So we’ve been able to keep up with them, mostly through social media.”

Perform concerts, proclaim the gospel

The 90-member North Central chapter of the Singing Men, the largest chapter in the state, will take a group of 113 on the Poland tour, including wives. The men will sing most songs in English, with Ukrainian and Polish subtitles.

Gott will preach brief evangelistic messages translated in Polish at the end of each concert and distribute more than 1,000 Polish New Testaments with the Psalms donated by the Eastern European Mission.

Eastern European Mission distributed 2 million Bibles in Eastern and Central Europe in 2022, the group’s president Bob Burckle said, continuing its ministry that began in 1961 by smuggling Bibles and other Christian materials to the Soviet Union.

“Our mission statement is, ‘The Bible, we want everyone to get it,’” Burckle said. “And there’s a double meaning in the English language. We physically want to get the Bible into people’s hands. … You read it and you get it in your head, and then from the head, you get it in your heart.”

Thousands have written professions of faith at Singing Men of Texas and Gott outreach events, Blackley and Gott both noted.

“What we’ve found is music is just a very powerful tool to bind our hearts with other people,” Blackley said. “The fact that we come in and rent a hall there in their city, and they can come and enjoy a great concert in one of the finest music halls in their town, seems to be very attractive to them.

“Because of the experiences we’ve had over these last 12 or 13 years, we’ve seen God move in a really powerful way when we’ve combined our music with a simple gospel message from Michael Gott,” Blackley said.

“And that’s really been kind of the catalyst for everything we’ve done, even stateside. We’ve had great response from guys who want to see God at work.”

“House of the Lord,” “Jesus Brought Me Out,” Swing Down Sweet Chariot,” and “Sing the Story” are among a repertoire the group will sing, including various genres of Christian music.

In Lodz, the last concert on the Poland tour, the group will sing in a choral festival including several local choirs. The program will include “Agnus Dei,” the lone song the Singing Men will present in the Polish language.

“I think perhaps it’s easier to sing it than to speak it,” Blackley said.

Uneasy but open to the gospel

Blackley was in Poland in October 2022 with the Texas Country Boys. He found refugees in various states of recovery.

“Those that had kind of landed on their feet and had connections there within Poland, they were in good spirits and taken care of,” Blackley said. “And those who came across with nothing, not knowing anyone, they were still trying to figure things out.”

Many in Poland remain uneasy about the war.

“From the Polish people … there was just a very uneasy feeling, because they hoped that they weren’t the next to incur some wrath from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Blackley said. “But I do believe that that made them extra open to the gospel message.”

The Gotts arrived in Poland in advance of the tour to handle logistical details. There, they met many Ukrainian refugees.

“Some of these people are just a step away from breaking into tears because they are living with incredible stress,” Gott said.

He and Jan met a Ukrainian mother and wife who worked as a server in a restaurant, sending money back to family members in Ukraine where her father, brother and a cousin are fighting in the war.

The Gotts met an attorney with four children whose husband visits her monthly from Ukraine, where he’s in the armed forces. In Poland, the mother and her children live in a two-bedroom apartment.

“We wanted to see this apartment for ourselves to understand the stress these people are living under,” Gott said. “And yet, I want to tell you without any apology, that the Polish people have gone out of their way to help Ukrainians, and they’ve given them every benefit.”

Blackley solicits prayers for the success of the ministry.

“We’re thankful for people all across Texas and across the United States that join us in prayer, as we sing to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in music and spoken word,” he said.

William “Bill” King Robbins Jr. of Houston, philanthropist and Baptist deacon, died April 13. He was 91. Robbins was born Nov. 29, 1931, to Helen and William King Robbins Sr. After he graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, he earned Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from Baylor University and a Juris Doctor degree from Baylor Law School. In his early years, he served as an officer and director of various international subsidiary companies of Union Carbide Corporation and as legal counsel for Humble Oil and Refining Company, now Exxon Corporation. A Korean War veteran, Robbins was the founder and CEO of Houston-based North American Corporation, which engages in consulting, finance and investments, along with oil, gas and energy activities. He and his wife Mary Jo created the Robbins Foundation to support Christian missions causes, education and health care internationally. At Baylor University, their philanthropy supported institutional initiatives and scholarships to the Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership within the Hankamer School of Business, as well as supporting Robbins Chapel within Brooks College. In March, Baylor dedicated the Mary Jo Robbins Clinic for Autism Research and Practice, named as part of a leadership gift by Bill Robbins in his wife’s honor. The clinic is housed within the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, named in recognition of a 2014 gift from the couple. “We are praying for Mary Jo, their family and so many in our Baylor community who had formed deep friendships with Bill over so many decades of support,” Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone said. “We mourn his passing, but we honor his life of service and the tremendous faith that guided and inspired him. The impact he leaves behind at Baylor is nothing short of transformational. He has supported, guided and exhorted our faculty and administration in the areas of healthcare and leadership, and the legacy that he and Mary Jo have created is truly humbling. Bill was renowned as a business leader and healthcare expert, but, most of all, he was known as a man of faith. What a powerful legacy.” At Baylor, Robbins was a member of the Endowed Scholarship Society, the Bear Foundation, the Old Main Society, the 1845 Society and the Heritage Club. He also was a life member of the Baylor Law Alumni Association. He served on the advisory councils of the Honors College and the Hankamer School of Business Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership. He also was on the Robbins College of Health and Human Services board of advocates and the Baylor University Foundation board. He formerly served on the Baylor University board of regents and on the board of trustees at Baylor College of Medicine. He also supported Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Hillcrest in Waco and the Baylor Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas. Survivors include his wife Mary Jo Huey Robbins; children Cynthia K. Robbins, Jackson Gorman and wife Cheryl Scoglio, and Crystal Baird; and two grandchildren. Visitation is scheduled April 20 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the family and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Grand Chapel at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home in Houston. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on April 21 at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston. Memorial gifts may be made to the Robbins Foundation, 4265 San Felipe, Suite 300, Houston, TX 77027 or to Tallowood Baptist Church, 555 Tallowood Rd, Houston, TX 77024.

Police raided an unregistered Baptist church in southern Uzbekistan during a worship service and detained 10 worshippers after beating and using electric shock prods on some individuals, the Forum 18 human rights organization reported.

Uniformed officers reportedly stormed the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Karshi during Sunday morning worship services on April 9, when Western Christians observed Easter and one week before Orthodox Easter.

In an April 17 email, Alan Donaldson, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, stated a contact in Uzbekistan was “not aware of attacks on any Baptist church” but noted reports of an attack on a separatist or secessionist church.

German Baptist musicians visiting

Forum 18 reported officials who arrived during the April 9 service in Karshi identified themselves as representatives of the local district committee, saying they were acting in accordance with a circular from the Religious Affairs Committee and the Culture Ministry prohibiting events involving foreign groups.

Church members said the raid followed the congregation’s unsuccessful attempts to rent local halls for Easter presentations featuring visiting Baptist musicians from Germany. The German Baptist musicians were singing at the church when the police stormed the sanctuary.

Forum 18 reported police “brutally beat” some church members and “also used electric shock prods and other implements to incapacitate the brothers and sisters,” while fellow worshippers wept and prayed.

“Local Baptists said 10 church members, including young people were taken to the police station. Video images show police officers holding one church member … [a]round the neck as he was on the ground and as they put him in a police van,” Forum 18 reported.

Police officials refused to answer any questions when contacted by the Norway-based human rights organization.

The day after the raid in Karshi, police also raided a Council of Churches Baptist congregation in Denov, in Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya region, that also featured the German Baptist musicians, Forum 18 reported.

“They said the meeting was illegal and forcibly dispersed those present,” the human rights organization stated.

Last year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended the Department of State include Uzbekistan to its Special Watch List “for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act,” but the State Department did not follow that recommendation.

WASHINGTON (BP)—The U.S. Supreme Court on April 14 placed a temporary hold on a week-old decision that suspended the federal government’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, a drug used to end pregnancies.

Associate Justice Samuel Alito ordered a stay of the federal court ruling out of Texas Wednesday night, April 19.

Alito, who is assigned motions that arise from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, said a response to the emergency request by the Biden administration for the hold must be filed by noon Tuesday, April 18.

While Alito’s order is not based on the merits of the lower court’s decision, it means the April 7 nationwide injunction halting distribution of mifepristone will not take effect until after April 19, if then.

The order is “standard operating procedure” for an emergency application, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing pro-life doctors and associations in their challenge to the FDA.

“It gives the court sufficient time to consider the parties’ arguments before ruling,” ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley said in a written statement.

Jennifer Dalven, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, called Alito’s administrative stay “the only sensible action here, which was to hit pause on a profoundly dangerous decision.”

Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed in 2000 to address safety concerns in approving mifepristone, the first drug in a two-step process commonly referred to as medical or chemical abortion.

He delayed its implementation for seven days to permit the Biden administration time to pursue “emergency relief” from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

After the Department of Justice urged the appeals court to block the federal judge’s order while the lawsuit is under consideration, a three-judge panel of the circuit court ruled April 12 the statute of limitations had expired regarding a challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The panel rejected, however, a FDA request to block Kacsmaryk’s prohibition on actions taken by the federal agency in 2016 and thereafter.

Those FDA actions beginning in 2016 included increasing mifepristone’s use from seven weeks to 10 weeks of a pregnancy, reducing the number of in-person visits with a doctor from three to one and allowing distribution of the drug by mail.

The Fifth Circuit decision “puts important safety precautions back in place for vulnerable women and saves more preborn lives,” said Hannah Daniel, policy manager for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, after the ruling.

Mifepristone, often known as RU 486 and authorized by the FDA under President Clinton, causes the lining of the uterus to release the embryo, terminating the pregnancy. Misoprostol, a drug approved by the FDA to treat ulcers, is typically taken one to two days later and causes the uterus to contract and expel the embryo.

Medical/chemical procedures as a percentage of all abortions have increased dramatically the last two decades. They rose between 2001 and 2020 from five percent of all abortions to 53 percent, the Guttmacher Institute reported in December.

The case is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

Additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp.

Julio Guarneri, incumbent president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and lead pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, will be nominated for a second one-year term as Texas Baptists’ president.

Michael Evans, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield and a former BGCT president, will nominate Guarneri at Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering, July 16-18 in McAllen.

“In times of transition, we need the kind of steady leadership that Julio Guarneri provides,” said Evans. “We need a praying man of God leading the convention at a time like this.”

A search committee currently is accepting nominations for the next executive director of the BGCT. David Hardage retired at the end of last year after more than a decade in that role.

Evans praised Guarneri as a man of “honesty and integrity” who can provide consistency and stability during a period of change, Evans noted.

“Julio Guarneri has a steady and calming spirit that makes people around him feel comfortable,” Evans said.

“He doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind and his heart to help you know where he stands. At the same time, he is conscientious and respectful of other people’s opinions. He listens well to others and allows God to lead.”

Guarneri—who served two years as first vice president before his election as BGCT president last November—acknowledged the search for a new executive director was a factor in his decision to allow his nomination for a second presidential term.

“Continuity is good during a year of transition in our executive leadership,” he said.

Beyond that, since this year’s annual meeting falls in mid-summer to accommodate the once-every-five-years Family Gathering schedule, Guarneri’s first term as president will last only eight months rather than a full year.

“There are things that I think are important to continue,” he said, pointing particularly to the challenge of responding to changing demographics in Texas.

He specifically emphasized Texas Baptists’ GC2 focus on fulfilling the Great Commission and Great Commandment Christ gave to his followers.

While churches generally understand their role in sharing the gospel and showing love in Christ’s name, he said, Texas Baptists can continue to grow in their understanding of how the convention  and the institutions they support work cooperatively to achieve those goals.

Guarneri has called on Texas Baptists to “practice Pentecost” and join in seven weeks of prayer. Specifically, from Easter to Pentecost Sunday on May 28, he is urging Texas Baptists to follow the example Jesus set in the Model Prayer, by praying “your kingdom come.”

“We cooperate together as a convention because we are about the business of the kingdom,” he said.

Guarneri has served Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen—a multicultural congregation in the Rio Grande Valley—since 2010. Previously, he was pastor of Iglesia Bautista Getsemani in Fort Worth.

He also served on staff at Segunda Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi, was founding pastor of Shalom Baptist Mission in Corpus Christi, and was pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Taft.

He was born in Mexico but graduated from high school in South Texas and earned an undergraduate degree from Texas A&I University in Kingsville. He also holds a Master of Arts in Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in leadership studies from Dallas Baptist University.

Guarneri chairs the board of Buckner International.

He and his wife Monica have four children—Josh, Rachel, Mia and Stevan—and two grandchildren—Daniel and Antares.

NEW ORLEANS (BP)—A federal appeals court has blocked a nationwide injunction suspending the two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill but prohibits its distribution by mail and places other limits on its access.

In an opinion issued late April 12, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans halted a federal judge’s April 7 stay of the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first drug in a two-step process commonly referred to as medical or chemical abortion.

The panel, however, upheld for now the lower court’s prohibition of a series of FDA actions beginning in 2016 that pro-life advocates said reduced safeguards for women’s health.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced April 13 the Department of Justice would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Reaction to ruling

Southern Baptist public policy specialist Hannah Daniel said the ruling “puts important safety precautions back in place for vulnerable women and saves more preborn lives.”

“Chemical abortion drugs not only end the life of a precious child but also put the health, safety and welfare of women at serious risk,” said Daniel, policy manager for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

“Though this case is far from over, this is a moment worth celebrating as women will be better protected from the predatory abortion industry and more lives will be saved.

“The ERLC will be closely monitoring this case as it continues to develop rapidly and remains committed to building a culture of life that cares for both women and their children.”

Erin Hawley, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said the FDA “put politics ahead of the health of women and girls when it impermissibly failed to study how dangerous the chemical abortion drug regimen is and when it unlawfully removed every meaningful safeguard that it previously implemented.”

She described the Fifth Circuit ruling as “a significant victory for the doctors we represent, women’s health, and every American who deserves an accountable federal government acting within the bounds of the law.”

ADF represents the pro-life doctors and medical associations that brought the lawsuit.

The leader of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said she was “furious” with the decision.

“This baseless case is a politically motivated attack to further restrict access to abortion that will place care out of reach for patients—and we will not stand for it,” federation President Alexis McGill Johnson said.

Jennifer Dalven, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, called the ruling “a loss, both for people who need abortion care and for all Americans who may need access to critical life-saving drugs.”

“Make no mistake about it: Unless the Supreme Court steps in, this decision will prevent many people from getting abortion care and force them to remain pregnant against their will. And the implications of this decision go far beyond abortion and have the potential to deny people access to other critical, life-saving drugs,” Dalven said.

“Everyone should be deeply concerned about the effect this decision will have on their health and lives and those of their loved ones.”

Amarillo judge cited safety concerns

In granting a stay April 7, Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo said the FDA failed to address mifepristone’s safety issues “based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions.”

He delayed his stay’s implementation for seven days to permit the Biden administration time to pursue “emergency relief” from the Fifth Circuit Court. On April 10, the Department of Justice urged the court to block the federal judge’s order while the lawsuit is under consideration.

The Fifth Circuit panel found the statute of limitations had expired regarding the pro-life challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone in 2000.

Yet, it rejected the request by the FDA and Danco Laboratories, which manufactures and distributes mifepristone in the United States, to block Kacsmaryk’s prohibition on actions taken by the federal agency in 2016 and thereafter.

Impact of appeals court decision

As a result, the Fifth Circuit decision includes the following effects for now:

• Mifepristone’s use is returned to the first seven weeks of a preborn child’s gestation instead of the 10-week limit the FDA instituted in 2016.
• In-person visits required with a physician are restored to three after they were decreased to one in 2016.
• Only doctors may prescribe and administer the abortion pill in contrast to a 2016 change.
• Women must appear in person to receive mifepristone, ending a 2021 FDA decision permanently allowing the drug to be dispensed by mail.

In January of this year, the FDA announced retail pharmacies would be able to carry and dispense mifepristone for the first time. The decision was another in a series of actions taken by President Biden and his administration in an effort to minimize the effect of the Supreme Court’s reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. In June 2022, the high court returned abortion policy to the states by overturning Roe, which legalized abortion throughout the country.

About 32,000 fewer abortions were reported in the six months after the Supreme Court’s June opinion in contrast to the period before the decision, according to a study issued April 11 by the Society of Family Planning.

Pro-life medical associations challenged approval of mifepristone in a 2002 citizen petition, but the FDA waited until 2016 before denying it. When pro-life organizations submitted another petition in 2019 to contest changes made in 2016 that weakened requirements for the drug’s use, the FDA failed to respond until it again issued a denial more than two years later.

The FDA “stonewalled judicial review—until now,” Kacsmaryk wrote.

On the same day as Kacsmaryk’s ruling, a federal judge in Washington state issued a conflicting decision. Thomas Rice of  Spokane ordered the “status quo” should remain in effect regarding mifepristone’s availability.

Rice’s ruling applied to the District of Columbia and 17 states: Arizona; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Maine; Maryland; Michigan; Minnesota; Nevada; New Mexico; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont; and Washington.

How the drug works

Mifepristone, often known as RU 486 and authorized by the FDA under President Clinton, causes the lining of the uterus to release the embryonic child, resulting in his or her death. Misoprostol, a drug approved by the FDA to treat ulcers, is typically taken one to two days later and causes the uterus to contract, expelling the body.

Medical/chemical procedures as a percentage of all abortions have increased dramatically the last two decades. They rose between 2001 and 2020 from 5 percent of all abortions to 53 percent, the Guttmacher Institute reported in December.

The FDA spent four years considering the application for mifepristone’s distribution in this country and says the drug is safe for women to use.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, however, reported in 2021 a new study it conducted found “chemical abortion is consistently and progressively associated with more postabortion [emergency room] visit morbidity than surgical abortion.”

An analysis of Medicaid claims information from 17 states that pay for abortions showed the “rate of abortion related ER visits following a chemical abortion increased 507%” between 2002 and 2015, according to CLI, a pro-life, research organization.

The case is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

Brandon Porter, associate vice president for convention news at the SBC Executive Committee, and Managing Editor Ken Camp contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—While Catholicism continues to lose more Latinos than any other religious group, it still remains the largest faith of U.S. Hispanic adults, even as an increasing number identify as religiously unaffiliated, a new Pew Research Center survey found.

Former Catholics have cited the clergy sexual abuse scandal, a lack of LGBTQ inclusivity and the rule that women can’t be priests as reasons for leaving the church, with Pew finding the share of Latinos identifying as Catholic dropping from 67 percent in 2010 to 43 percent in 2022.

The Pew survey, which released its report April 13, surveyed 3,029 U.S. Latino adults in August last year and asked respondents about their religious upbringing to learn “how that compares with their current religious identity.”

Among the 65 percent who said they were raised Catholic, 23 percent said they no longer identified as such.

“They’ve left the Catholic church, but they now identify with some other faith or no faith at all. That’s a pretty steep decline,” Pew researcher Besheer Mohamed told Religion News Service.

Still, Latinos remain about twice as likely as U.S. adults overall to identify as Catholic, and considerably less likely to be Protestant. Meanwhile, the share of Latinos who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” stands at 30 percent, up from 10 percent in 2010 and from 18 percent a decade ago in 2013, according to Pew.

Additionally, U.S.-born Latinos are less likely to be Catholic (36 percent) and more likely to be unaffiliated (39 percent) than older Hispanics and those born outside America.

The number of religiously unaffiliated Latinos is on the rise, but as Mohamed noted, overall “it’s still a minority,” considering the 70 percent who continue to identify with a religion. Beyond that, even the unaffiliated are not “completely secular,” Mohamed said.

The Pew study found a substantial minority (29 percent) of Latinos who don’t have a religion continue to pray at least weekly.

Protestants are the second-largest faith group after Catholics, accounting for 21 percent of Hispanic adults, a share Pew reports has been relatively stable since 2010. During this time, Latino Protestants have been more likely to identify as evangelical or born-again (15 percent) than to say they are not (6 percent), according to Pew.

Religion has been referred to as the “largest demographic divider among Hispanic Americans,” according to a 2020 analysis from the Public Religion Research Institute, which found Latino Protestants are more conservative, Republican and supportive of former President Donald Trump than Latinos who are Catholic or religiously unaffiliated.

With U.S. Latinos regarded as the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group, Republicans, conservative pastors and right-wing organizations have centered faith in their outreach to Latino voters, particularly those who identify as evangelical.

Pew found 28 percent of Latino Republicans say they’re evangelical Protestants, compared with the 10 percent of Latino Democrats who say the same. Latino immigrants also are more likely than U.S.-born Latinos to be evangelical (19 percent vs. 12 percent). Evangelicalism was found to be particularly widespread among Latinos with Central American origins.

In the survey, about 31 percent of Central Americans identified as evangelical Protestants, a higher share than among Puerto Ricans (15 percent) and Mexicans (12 percent).

When looking at Latino evangelical Protestants, half identified with the Republican Party or said they were independents who lean toward the GOP, with 44 percent identifying as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents.

Among Latino Catholics, in contrast, 21 percent said they were Republicans, while 72 percent identified as Democrats. Religiously unaffiliated Latinos are also heavily Democratic (66 percent Democratic vs. 24 percent Republican), according to Pew.

Jonathan Calvillo, an assistant professor of Latinx studies at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, previously told RNS that “religious nones will likely support more progressive political positions, while evangelicals will lean more conservatively.”

Calvillo noted even as Latino Protestants don’t always lean Republican, the voices that speak for them are often more conservative, leaving him to wonder: “To what extent are Latino Protestants being pushed in this direction?”

TAMARAC, Florida (BP) — Lenin de Janon, la voz de Adrián Rogers en el mundo de habla hispana, falleció el 12 de marzo a la edad de 89 años. Nacido en Ecuador, de Janon pronunció durante 26 años los sermones en español desde la emisión de Rogers, Love Worth Finding.

Rogers, que falleció en noviembre de 2005 a los 74 años, fue tres veces presidente de la Convención Bautista del Sur y pastor de la Bellevue Baptist Church del área de Memphis desde 1972 hasta la primavera de 2005.

La voz de de Janon en EL AMOR QUE VALE (EAQV) se escucha en emisoras de radio de numerosos países y en una floreciente audiencia internacional a través de su aplicación, la internet y las redes sociales.

Un oyente de Perú -entre las 7,000 reacciones en Facebook, 1,200 comentarios y 1,900 veces compartido, a su muerte – expresó su gratitud a Dios por Rogers y de Janon “por ser los motivadores y empujadores para tomar grandes decisiones en mi vida espiritual”.

Desde Venezuela, un oyente describió la transmisión en español como “¡muy nutritiva, se entiende muy bien y su estilo de enseñanza es muy especial, y por eso creo que no habrá otra igual! Las enseñanzas del Dr. Adrián Rogers con la voz del Pastor Lenin son únicas e inigualables!”.

Por su parte, un ex misionero de la Junta Misionera Internacional contó que utilizó los sermones de EAQV en clases de predicación expositiva para estudiantes de seminario en la Ciudad de México.

De Janon sirvió 33 años como misionero en el ministerio internacional de radio HCJB, con sede en Ecuador, durante los cuales comenzó a locutar los sermones de Rogers a finales de los años noventa. Además, había sido pastor de la Iglesia Tabernáculo de la Fe en Quito durante 27 años cuando se trasladó a Memphis, Tennessee, donde tiene su sede Love Worth Finding.

Como misionero de HCJB, de Janon viajó por todo Ecuador y el resto de Latinoamérica para realizar campañas de evangelización, reuniones de iglesias, conferencias de pastores y matrimonios, formación de líderes y plantación y construcción de iglesias. A de Janon también le gustaba pintar al óleo y, como entusiasta de los deportes, estaba relacionado con los equipos de fútbol profesional ecuatorianos como comentarista radiofónico y locutor de estadios, incluso siendo pastor.

Años antes, de Janon vagaba deprimido por las calles de Quito después de que una novia rompiera su relación y él se automutilaba el brazo con una navaja. Joven comunista que seguía los pasos de su padre, de Janon había recibido el nombre del dictador ruso Vladimir Lenin. Sin embargo, en sus horas de crisis personal, captó su atención un artista que charlaba mientras realizaba un colorido dibujo con tiza y utilizaba luz ultravioleta en el santuario de una iglesia a oscuras. De Janon se acercó al artista y aprendió que era un misionero del HCJB, un encuentro que despertó su interés por la Biblia. Un año después, se bautizó en la misma iglesia.

David Rogers, hijo de Adrián Rogers, y su familia eran misioneros de la Junta de Misiones Internacionales en España cuando supo que los ministerios Love Worth Finding se estaban asociando con HCJB para producir EL AMOR QUE VALE en español.

“Primero se lo oí decir a mi padre, y más tarde pude escuchar con mis propios oídos y ver con mis propios ojos el talento de Lenin como intérprete y comunicador”, relató Rogers. “En años posteriores, pude conocer a Lenin en persona en las instalaciones de Love Worth Finding en Memphis y beneficiarme de su experiencia lingüística cuando busqué su consejo en algunos proyectos ministeriales en los que estábamos trabajando en España”.

Tras regresar a Estados Unidos en 2007, David Rogers viajó a varios países de Latinoamérica para presentar el curso de su padre, “Lo que todo pastor debe saber”, que de Janon había ayudado a doblar al español.

“Una y otra vez, me encontré con pastores de habla hispana que sabían y amaban la predicación de mi padre en la voz de Lenin de Janon”, dijo Rogers. “Algunos de ellos ya conocían y apreciaban a Lenin y su obra. Pero debido al perfecto doblaje y al impecable trabajo de interpretación de Lenin, varios de ellos se sorprendieron al aprender que mi padre no hablaba español y que no era realmente su voz la que estaban acostumbrados a escuchar en el programa EL AMOR QUE VALE.”

Rogers, ahora director de atención espiritual de un ministerio de asistencia sanitaria en Nashville, y su esposa Kelly también sirvieron junto a de Janon y su esposa Nellie en un nuevo ministerio en español en Faith Baptist Church en Bartlett, Tennessee. “Nos beneficiamos de la perspicaz enseñanza bíblica de Lenin y observamos el cálido ministerio de cuidado pastoral de él y su esposa Nelli”, dijo Rogers.

Maritza Isabel, directora del programa de lenguas extranjeras de Love Worth Finding, que trabajó con de Janon a lo largo de los años, dijo que el ministerio no buscaba “un locutor” para transmitir los sermones de Adrián Rogers. “Queríamos un pastor”, dijo, “porque creíamos que sólo alguien con el llamado a ser pastor, el llamado a compartir el Evangelio, a compartir la verdad de Dios tendría la pasión para hacerlo bien”.

Con la tecnología actual, la emisión en español “no tiene fronteras”, dijo Isabel, y llega a regiones remotas a través de rudimentarios teléfonos móviles. También señaló casos de EAQV que se utilizan para aprender español. “No sólo están aprendiendo el idioma correctamente”, dijo, “sino que están aprendiendo principios bíblicos en el vocabulario evangélico”.

Los viajes de de Janon en nombre del alcance en español de Love Worth Finding llevaron un llamamiento a toda América Latina, dijo Isabel. En una conferencia de prensa en la capital hondureña de Tegucigalpa, un joven pastor le invitó a hablar una noche en su pequeña iglesia, lo que provocó un atasco de coches que se dirigían al lugar.

“La gente se acercó para saludarle”, cuenta Isabel. “El servicio se prolongó hasta medianoche porque no queríamos rechazar a la gente. Querían tomarse una foto con él, querían darle las gracias”.

A pesar de llevar el nombre de “un dictador que destruyó la vida”, dijo Isabel, “Dios eligió el nombre de Lenin y lo convirtió en un nombre que hoy es apreciado y está relacionado con la palabra de vida”.

Además de su esposa -descrita por Isabel como “una fiel voluntaria de oración” para el ministerio-, a de Janon le sobreviven tres hijos, Eddie, Melanie y Mike, y cuatro nietos.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (BP) – Un proyecto de ley sobre inmigración que avanza en la asamblea legislativa de Florida atentaría contra la libertad religiosa de las iglesias para atender a los inmigrantes en ese estado, afirman pastores y otros líderes evangélicos.

El proyecto de ley 1718 del Senado, presentado por el senador republicano Blaise Ingoglia, acusaría a las iglesias de un delito grave de clase tres de contrabando si proporcionan transporte a inmigrantes indocumentados, ya sea a sabiendas o no de la situación de los mismos.

En un seminario web organizado el 30 de marzo por la Mesa Evangélica de Inmigración y World Relief, Gary Shultz Jr, pastor principal de la First Baptist Church de Tallahassee; Jody Ray, pastor de misiones de la Chets Creek Church en Jacksonville; y José Vega, ministro de Chets Creek para los internacionales, todos dijeron que el proyecto de ley afectaría negativamente sus ministerios a los inmigrantes, incluidos los alcances benignos como llevar a los miembros de la comunidad a un servicio de culto o comidas.

El proyecto de ley afecta negativamente al corazón mismo de la identidad de Chets Creek como iglesia, dijo Ray.

“Justo dentro de un mes vamos a poner la primera piedra de un edificio multimillonario cuyo único propósito es el ministerio de compasión hacia los refugiados y la población inmigrante aquí en Jacksonville”, dijo, “Así que el ministerio a los inmigrantes es realmente el núcleo de lo que es la Chets Creek Church”.

“Y cualquier ley que obstaculice nuestra capacidad de atender a los necesitados sería una violación de nuestra libertad religiosa, la capacidad de llevar a cabo nuestra llamada misional. Así que el proyecto de ley 1718 del Senado tiene el potencial de obstaculizar eso y como una iglesia aquí en Jacksonville, obstaculizar la pieza central de lo que hacemos”.

Además de su culto dominical en inglés, Chets Creek celebra cultos dominicales en español, birmano, la lengua jemer de Camboya, portugués y la lengua africana kinyarwanda, explica Ray. La iglesia imparte clases de ciudadanía y de inglés como segunda lengua.

Los participantes en el seminario web pidieron al gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, y a la Legislatura de Florida que se opongan al proyecto de ley o lo modifiquen para proteger los ministerios eclesiásticos de la responsabilidad. Su petición es pastoral y no partidista, dijeron los líderes, y expresaron su esperanza de que la violación del proyecto de ley de la libertad religiosa sea un descuido.

El proyecto de ley 1718 del Senado tipifica como delito, en virtud del artículo 787. 07 de los Estatutos de Florida, para incluir a cualquiera que “transporte a o dentro de este estado a un individuo que la persona sabe, o razonablemente debería saber, que ha entrado a los Estados Unidos violando la ley y no ha sido inspeccionado por el Gobierno Federal desde su entrada ilegal desde otro país; y oculta, alberga o protege de la detección, o intenta ocultar, albergar o proteger de la detección, en cualquier lugar dentro de este estado, incluida cualquier estructura temporal o permanente o a través de cualquier medio de transporte, a una persona que la persona sabe, o razonablemente debería saber, que ha entrado a los Estados Unidos violando la ley y no ha sido inspeccionada por el Gobierno Federal desde su entrada ilegal desde otro país”.

Schultz mencionó los ministerios de First Tallahassee para las personas sin hogar, los refugiados, los embarazos en crisis, los supervivientes del tráfico sexual y las personas que pueden recibir clases de inglés como segunda lengua.

“En todo eso estamos tratando de hacer lo que Jesús nos manda hacer, que es hacer discípulos de todas las naciones, para ministrar a las personas que necesitan escuchar el Evangelio, que Dios ha traído a nuestra puerta y a nuestra comunidad. También estamos tratando de hacer lo que Jesús nos mandó hacer y amar a nuestro prójimo como a nosotros mismos”, dijo Schultz. “Este proyecto de ley en particular plantea algunas implicaciones preocupantes de lo que podríamos tener que hacer y no ser capaces de hacer en el cumplimiento de esos mandamientos bíblicos.

“Y de ninguna manera yo, como pastor, querría tener que decir a mi personal pastoral, a nuestros diáconos o a los miembros de nuestra iglesia que podría haber ramificaciones legales por ministrar o transportar a personas necesitadas. Y estamos llamados a amar a la gente no sólo con el Evangelio, espiritualmente, sino también físicamente, y a ayudar con cuestiones como el transporte, la asistencia sanitaria, la ayuda financiera y otras cosas que podrían ser cuestionadas por este proyecto de ley.

Además de pastores bautistas del sur, participaron en el seminario Dale Schaeffer, superintendente del distrito de Florida de la Iglesia del Nazareno; Steve Gregg, pastor asociado de Creekside Community Church, una congregación de la Evangelical Free Church of America (Iglesia Evangélica Libre de EE.UU.) en Gainesville; Gabriel Salguero, pastor de The Gathering Place, una congregación de las Asambleas de Dios en Orlando, y presidente de la Coalición Nacional Evangélica Latina.

El Presidente y Director General de World Relief, Myal Greene, moderó la mesa redonda, destacando entre los muchos socios de World Relief a la Comisión de Libertad Religiosa y Ética de la Convención Bautista del Sur.

“Como organización guiada por los principios de las Escrituras”, dijo Greene, “estamos comprometidos tanto a servir como a acoger a los inmigrantes, incluidos los que no tienen estatus legal y que a menudo se encuentran entre los más vulnerables, respetando simultáneamente la ley y el papel de las autoridades gobernantes que las Escrituras nos dicen que Dios ha establecido para mantener el orden”.

Los pastores afirman que, si el proyecto se convierte en ley, seguirán ejerciendo su ministerio con ciertas salvaguardias, ninguna de las cuales los protegería de la ley.

“Ciertamente tendríamos que considerar y tendríamos que comunicar”, dijo Schultz, “las posibles ramificaciones legales de este proyecto de ley. Mi esperanza es que sigamos haciendo lo que estamos haciendo para atender a todas esas poblaciones”.

Salguero estuvo de acuerdo.

“Vamos a seguir haciendo lo que Cristo nos llamó a hacer”, dijo Salguero. “Somos la Iglesia, y nuestro compromiso moral y pastoral es ser Sus manos y Sus pies. Pero tendríamos que comunicar claramente las posibles ramificaciones legales a todos esos voluntarios y personas del ministerio”.

La oficina de DeSantis se ha hecho consciente de las objeciones al proyecto de ley, dijo Salguero, pero nadie en la llamada dijo que había hablado con el gobernador directamente sobre la legislación. El proyecto de ley se encuentra todavía en comisión, según el sitio web de la Legislatura.

La oficina de DeSantis no respondió a la solicitud de información de Baptist Press antes de la fecha límite.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.—Three-fourths of surveyed Christians oppose predatory lending, but one-third have obtained payday loans and see them as “helpful” and “useful.”

Self-identified Christians living in 27 states without meaningful regulations on those types of small, short-term unsecured loans often have a complicated relationship with payday advances and the lenders who offer them, according to a Lifeway Research study sponsored by Faith for Just Lending.

More than 3 in 4 surveyed Christians—77 percent—believe it is a sin to loan money in a way that the lender gains by harming the borrower financially, and most describe payday loans as expensive.

Even so, 34 percent have obtained a payday loan themselves, and a growing number see such loans as helpful.

Most want some type of government intervention and church involvement around these issues.

“The proliferation of retail payday lending establishments has increased the first-hand knowledge many Christians have of these financial institutions,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.

“The majority of Christians in states with few regulations on payday lending want more regulations that protect borrowers.”

For Christians living in a state without significant regulations on payday lending, 34 percent have obtained that type of loan for themselves—double the 17 percent who said so in a similar 2016 Lifeway Research study. Additionally, 45 percent say they personally know someone who has gotten a payday loan, up from 32 percent in 2016.

How are payday loans perceived?

When asked to choose which words apply to payday loans, most (57 percent) say “expensive.” More than 3 in 10 say “harmful” (32 percent) and “predatory” (31 percent). Another 10 percent say “immoral.”

However, a growing number use positive terms. More than 1 in 3 say such loans are “helpful” (37 percent) and “useful” (35 percent), while 16 percent say “timely.” Those percentages are all more than double what they were in 2016, when 16 percent described them as “helpful,” 17 percent “useful” and 7 percent “timely.”

“Short-term financing is a real need for many Americans, so you expect to see a growing number of customers who appreciate the payday lending service. Yet, many describe payday loans with language that sounds more like warnings than endorsements,” McConnell said.

When asked directly, 77 percent of Christians in states with few regulations believe it is a sin to loan someone money in a way that the lender gains by harming the borrower financially. Less than 1 in 4 disagree (23 percent).

Christians are most likely to say their knowledge about fair lending practices comes from personal experience with their own loans (25 percent). Fewer say friends and family (18 percent), the Bible (10 percent), articles and news stories (9 percent) or their local church (3 percent) has influenced their thinking on the subject.

Hardly any say they’ve learned about payday loans from the positions of elected officials (1 percent), national Christian leaders (1 percent) or teachers or professors (1 percent).

One in 5 Christians in states where payday lending is less regulated (20 percent) haven’t thought about what lending practices are fair.

Regardless of their knowledge or experience, most Christians underestimate the percentage of payday loans that are rolled over into a new loan with additional fees after the first two-week period. According to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, 82 percent of these loans are renewed within 14 days.

Only 9 percent of Christians in states where payday loans are legal believe rollover rates are between 81 percent to 100 percent. Most (56 percent) believe 40 percent of the loans or less roll over, including 38 percent who say it’s 20 percent or less. More than 1 in 5 (22 percent) estimate 10 percent or less are renewed.

Support for more government regulation

Christians in states without regulation seem supportive of increased government involvement in the industry. Close to 2 in 3 (63 percent) say 36 percent or less should be set as the maximum reasonable annual percentage rate of a loan, with 39 percent saying it should not go above 12 percent. Only 7 percent believe there should be no maximum reasonable APR.

More than 3 in 4 (78 percent) believe laws or regulations should protect borrowers from lending practices that create loans that can’t realistically be repaid without additional loans.

Specifically, 84 percent say laws or regulations should prohibit lending at “excessive interest rates.” Fewer than 1 in 10 (8 percent) say no to either proposal.

More than 9 in 10 (94 percent) agree that lenders should take into account the borrower’s income and expenses and only extend loans at “reasonable interest rates” based on ability to repay within the original loan period.

“Christians expect far more regulations that protect borrowers than exist in these states,” McConnell said. “The Bible does not define at what rate excessive interest begins, but it does forbid it. So, it is not surprising that most Christians want to eliminate excessive interest rates.”

How should the church be involved?

While Christians in states where payday lending exists with little to no regulation want legal responses to the industry, most also expect the church to be involved in addressing the issue.

Nine in 10 (89 percent) believe churches should teach and model responsible stewardship and offer help to neighbors in times of crisis, up from 83 percent who said so in 2016.

When asked what they’d like to see their church offer related to payday loans, most (53 percent) point to guidance for those with financial needs. More than a third (36 percent) would like to see their church provide gifts or loans for those facing financial emergencies. Around 1 in 5 want their congregation to advocate for changes in laws or regulations (22 percent), care for those with repeating payday loans (20 percent) or deliver sermons that share biblical principles on fair lending (19 percent).

Around 1 in 10 (11 percent) say their local church offers guidance or assistance related to payday loans. Around 2 in 5 (39 percent) say their church doesn’t provide those. Half (50 percent) aren’t sure.

Compared to 2016, more Christians say they know whether their church is helping or not. Those who say their congregation provides assistance increased from 6 percent, while those who say their church does not offer help rose from 34 percent. The percentage who say they aren’t sure fell from 61 percent seven years ago.

Still, Christians in states with little to no regulation on payday lending say they’re looking to their church to provide some guidance and help on the issue, but McConnell said many aren’t finding it.

“Most churches are silent on payday loans at times when Christians desire advice and emergency help,” he said.

The online survey of Americans in Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming was conducted Feb. 22-27, using a demographically balanced sample.

The completed sample is 1,000 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.3 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

Ide P. Trotter, Baptist layman and a former dean and professor of finance at Dallas Baptist University, died April 4. He was 90. He was born Oct. 27, 1932, in Colombia, Mo., to Ide P. Trotter Sr. and Lena Ann Breeze Trotter. His family moved to the College Station area when his father became head of the Department of Agronomy at Texas A&M University, and he made a profession of faith in Christ at age 9 at First Baptist Church in Bryan. After graduating from Stephen F. Austin High School in Bryan, he enrolled at Texas A&M, where he began attending the campus chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. As a senior, he was chaplain of the Corps of Cadets and president of the Student Senate. He graduated as valedictorian of his class with both a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and a National Science Foundation Fellowship to attend Princeton University, where he earned his doctorate. He completed his military service in the Chemical Corps School at Ft. McClellan in Alabama and worked for Humble Oil and Refining Company. While working in Baytown, he and his wife Luella taught a Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Baytown. While he worked on a one-year assignment with Esso Research and Engineering Co. in New Jersey, his family was involved in helping a mission church established by Madison Baptist Church. His work in management at Humble Oil—and later Exxon—took him and his family first to Houston and then to Millings, Mont., and Stamford, Conn., where he was chairman of deacons at Greenwich Baptist Church. While in Tokyo, Japan, and he and his wife taught a Bible class for couples at Tokyo Baptist Church. While they were in Brussels, Belgium, he was chair of deacons at International Baptist Church. After completing his career at Exxon in 1986, he became dean of the College of Management and Free Enterprise and professor of finance at Dallas Baptist University, where he served until 1990. He served as a deacon and Sunday school department director at First Baptist Church in Dallas and as chair of the Dallas Life Foundation homeless shelter. He founded Trotter Capital Management, and he served as a spokesman for Texans for Better Science Education. He was also instrumental in helping establish the Trotter Prize and Endowed Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. He was preceded in death by his wife Luella. He is survived by daughter Ruth Penick and her husband Jim; daughter Reni Pratt and her husband Randall; daughter Cathy Trotter Wilson and her husband Kevin; 13 grandchildren; and his brother Ben.