Week of June 13, 2005
An historic vote to legalize same-sex marriages in California ended in
a surprising loss for homosexual activists earlier this month, giving
social conservatives a rare victory in the state legislature. The
California assembly defeated a same-sex marriage bill three times in
two days, preventing the assembly from becoming the first legislative
body in the United States to pass such a proposal. Needing 41 votes, it
received support from only 37 members in the third and final.
Thirty-six opposed it. In two earlier votes, the bill had fallen six
votes short on identical 35-37 votes. In the months leading up to
the vote, the bill’s sponsor had expressed optimism that it would pass.
But in the end, it failed. Nevertheless, it was an historical vote. No
legislative body in the U.S. ever had voted on a bill legalizing
same-sex marriages. Opponents said the bill violates both the
will of the people and the California constitution. In 2000, California
voters passed an initiative explicitly banning same-sex marriages. It
passed by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent. The state constitution
prohibits the legislature from overriding a voter-backed initiative.
Thus, even if the bill had passed and been signed into law, it
certainly would have faced a lawsuit. Nevertheless, homosexual
activists have vowed to try again next year.
The top United Nations HIV/AIDS official recently acknowledged there is
no realistic hope that the world will meet its goal of halting and
reversing the spread of the disease by 2015. Peter Piot heads the
United Nations effort to combat AIDS. He said recently it is possible
some countries will get control of the disease. However, he added that
HIV/AIDS is spreading much faster than efforts to rein it in,
especially in crucial areas such as Easter Europe and Central America.
“What we are faced with is multiple epidemics, and … the epidemic is
still expanding,” Piot said. “We are actually moving into the
globalization of the AIDS epidemic.” The HIV/AIDS target was one of
several Millennium Development Goals developed by world leaders in
2000. However, five years into the effort to halt the spread of the
disease, officials acknowledge the epidemic is accelerating on every
continent.
An Islamic court in Iran has acquitted a Christian lay pastor and
former army colonel, Hamid Pourmand, on charges of apostasy and
proselytizing. During a recent hearing, the presiding judge declared he
was acquitting Pourmand, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity
25 years ago, because he had “done nothing wrong” under Islamic law.
Despite the surprise acquittal, Pourmand remains imprisoned, serving
out a three-year jail sentence for a separate military court conviction
also linked to his religious conversion. Pourmand, 47, was arrested
last September by the Iranian security police while attending a church
conference near Tehran. An army colonel, he also was serving as lay
pastor for an Assemblies of God congregation. After five months of
interrogation in strict solitary confinement and despite contrary
evidence, Pourmand was found guilty of deceiving the Iranian armed
forces by not reporting his conversion to Christianity. He was
dishonorably discharged and given the maximum three-year prison
sentence. During that time, Pourmand has been subjected to repeated
pressures to recant his Christian faith and return to Islam in order to
escape execution for apostasy. His military conviction currently is
being appealed.
As expected, the Massachusetts Legislature recently overcame Gov. Mitt
Romney’s veto of a measure to allow human cloning for research
purposes. The Senate voted 35-2 and the House of Representatives 112-42
for the override. The new law permits researchers to clone human
embryos and extract stem cells from them. The extraction of stem cells
destroys the days-old embryos. Romney sought to amend the bill when it
initially arrived at his desk. He returned the measure to the
legislature with four amendments, including one banning cloning. The
lawmakers rejected his amendments, leading him to veto the bill. With
the action, Massachusetts joins California and New Jersey in legalizing
research cloning.
The Baptist Student Union at the U.S. Air Force Academy is seeking to
contact men and women who are reporting to the academy June 29-30.
“This is an opportunity to meet smiling faces and make new Christian
friends before beginning basic cadet training,” said Mary Kathryn
Kelly, associate director of the ministry. “If pastors, parents,
relatives, friends or new cadets will contact us with name, address,
telephone and e-mail address, we will contact them to secure flight
arrival times and provide further information.” Indeed, the ministry
will arrange free transportation, lodging and meals for persons
arriving June 29, then deliver them to the academy at the appointed
time on June 30. Persons should send information to Kelly at (719)
484-0347 or (719) 660-1676 or via e-mail ar wwmkk@earthlink.net.
As it turns out, abortions have not increased under President George
Bush. Former Southern Baptist professor Glen Stassen made that claim
shortly before last November’s presidential election. However, he
recently noted that a recent study’s results “are significantly better”
than his findings from seven months ago. Based on statistics from the
Alan Guttmacher Institute, abortions have continued to decline since
Bush took office. Based on a new study, institute researchers estimate
abortions decreased by about 10,000 from 20,000 to 2001 and by about
another 10,000 in 2002. The rate declined from 21.3 abortions per 1,000
women in 2000 to 21.1 the next year and 20.9 in 2002. At the same time,
the study showed that abortions have declined more slowly under the
Bush presidency than under the administration of President Bill
Clinton. “Between 1992 and 1996, the annualized decline was 3.4 percent
per year, while between 1996 and 2000, it was 1.2 percent per year,”
the Guttmacher study noted. Those estimates are based on an analysis of
information from 43 states, while Stassen’s conclusion was derived from
a study of 16 states.
Members attending the American Psychiatric Association’s recent annual
meeting voted to support same-sex marriages. “The American Psychiatric
Association supports the legal recognition of same sex civil marriage,”
the statement reads, in part. “Heterosexual relationships have a legal
framework for their existence through civil marriage. Same sex couples
therefore experience several kinds of state-sanctioned discrimination
that can adversely affect the stability of their relationships and
mental health.” If the statement is approved by the body’s board of
directors in July, the association would be the first major medical
association backing same-sex marriages.
About 31,000 trained volunteers currently are part of the Southern
Baptist Disaster Relief network nationwide. In 2004, more than 15,000
trained Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers gave their time,
talents and energies in response to 193 natural disasters which
included hurricanes, an earthquake, floods, tornadoes and ice storms.
Southern Baptists prepared more than 3.5 million meals, repaired more
than 2,600 buildings and completed nearly 11,000 cleanup and recovery
projects during the year – all record responses.