For the week of June 5, 2003
Religious ruling
An appeals court has ruled an Arizona school district cannot prohibit distribution
of literature advertising a program with religious content. The decision concerned
a Scottsdale Unified School District policy. “The district cannot refuse
to distribute literature advertising a program with underlying religious content
where it distributes quite similar literature for secular summer camps, but
it can refuse to distribute literature that itself contains proselytizing language,”
a three-judge panel concluded. The ruling was hailed by the American Center
for Law and Justice. “The appeals court decision sends an important message
about the constitutional rights of religious speakers,” a spokesperson
said. “School districts cannot legally discriminate against the type of
literature distributed at schools simply because that literature promotes an
event that includes religious speech.” A school district spokesperson said
the ruling may be appealed. The spokesperson said the decision puts schools
in the position of assessing “how far a brochure can go in promoting a
religious event in its advertising.”
Associational action
A Baptist association in Mississippi has adopted a policy that requires all
employees to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statement. Golden Triangle
Baptist Association in northeast Mississippi may be the first Southern Baptist
Convention-affiliated association to make the faith statement a condition for
employment. The employment policy specifies that employees “shall affirm
their personal beliefs are consistent with the current Baptist Faith and Message
and will agree to work in accordance with the document.” The new policy
also requires employees to be members of a church that belongs to the association.
That requirement apparently has cost one employee her job already. Diana Bridges
was terminated as director of a ministry to international students at Mississippi
State University in Starkville by the association on May 15. She is a member
of University Baptist Church, which was rejected for membership in the association,
in part, because of its affiliation with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
No abortions
Both houses of Congress turned back attempts to repeal a law that prevents
most abortions at United States military facilities. The rejection of amendments
to the Department of Defense authorization bill means abortions will continue
to be banned at U.S. military hospitals and other facilities except those to
save the life of the mother or when pregnancy has resulted from rape or incest.
The Senate defeated an amendment to liberalize the abortion policy in a 51-48
vote. In the House of Representatives, the vote was 227-201 against the amendment.
Morning after pill
A “morning after” pill that pro-life advocates claim can cause chemical
abortions will be sold over the counter if its makers win approval from the
Food and Drug Administration. Womens Capital Corporation has applied for
approval to sell the Plan B pill over the counter. A “morning after”
pill is designed to work only through the first 72 hours after sexual intercourse.
For the most part, the pill is simply a mega dose of birth control pills. While
pro-choice advocates contend that morning after pills cannot cause abortions,
pro-lifers disagree. The pill is designed to work in one of three ways – by
stopping release of a womans egg, by preventing fertilization of the egg
or by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching to the walls of a womans
uterus. Pro-life advocates decry the third way, saying the fertilized egg is
an embryo, already a human life. Even without the pill going over the counter,
it is readily available online and at pro-abortion clinics. “The morning
after pill is another technological fix for a sexually promiscuous and anti-natal
culture,” a spokesperson for the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious
Liberty Commissions said. The primary users are not victims of rape or incest
but “sexually active women who do not want the responsibility that goes
along with having sex,” he said.
Change of policy
The President George Bush administration has announced the reversal of a policy
that has prevented historic buildings still used as places of worship from receiving
federal preservation funds. A White House spokesperson disclosed the policy
shift in announcing a $317,000 grant to help preserve Old North Church in Boston.
The 280-year-old Episcopal church is known primarily in American history for
its part in the start of the Revolutionary War. Two lanterns were hung from
the churchs steeple on an April night in 1775, signaling to Paul Revere
the advance of British troops upon Lexington and initiating his horseback ride
to warn the colonial forces. The grant will help repair and restore Old Norths
windows and make the building more accessible to the public. The grant reverses
a policy formalized in 1995 by the Department of Justice that barred preservation
funds for buildings still used for religious purposes. “This new policy
will bring balance to our historic preservation program and end a discriminatory
double standard that has been applied against religious properties,” the
White House official said.
Sex on television
Almost every broadcast network saw a marked decrease in sexual content during
the evening “family hour” between 1998 and 2002, the Parents Television
Council reports. With the exception of Warner Brothers, every broadcast network
decreased its sexual content from 8 to 9 p.m. in recent years. All the networks
except the WB and UPN also showed a reduction in such content during the hour
from 9 to 10 p.m. “For years, conventional wisdom in Hollywood had it that
sex sells, and therefore, the more of it, the better,” said
Brent Bozell, president of the Los Angeles-based council. “But ratings
data and survey results prove thats not true. Parents dont want
their kids to be exposed to irresponsible messages and explicit depictions of
sex on television – but more than that, parents dont want to see it either.”
Analysts for the council found that sexual content during the family hour dropped
67 percent on ABC from 1998 to 2002. In that same period, similar content decreased
48 percent on Fox, 13 percent on UPN and 6 percent on CBS. NBCs sexual
content during the family hour decreased by 34 percent from 2000 to 2002.
WMU enrollment
Southern Baptist Womans Missionary Union enrollment increased 12.3 percent
from the previous year to a total of 963,114, statistics indicate. This number
represents significant growth compared to the past several years. “We are
very excited to see a renewed interest among Baptists in missions education
and missions involvement,” said Wanda Lee, executive director-treasurer
of national Womans Missionary Union. The increase in enrollment was evident
across the United States. Thirty-two out of 41 states or conventions with Womans
Missionary Union organizations showed growth. The greatest increases occurred
in Texas, Alabama, Virginia, Florida and Mississippi, respectively. Rounding
out the top 10 were Missouri, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Indiana.
Jesus and Mary shoes?
A Danish supermarket chain has pulled a line of flip-flops that featured images
of Jesus and the Virgin Mary after several churches protested and angry customers
ransacked the “flip-flops of shame.” A spokesperson said the Coop
chain originally thought the footwear was trendy. “It was never our intention
to offend peoples beliefs, but apparently that was the case, and we were
surprised by the scale of these protests,” the spokesperson said. “That
is why we have chosen to remove them from the shelves.” The spokesperson
said the stores sold about 4,000 pairs of the sandals before they were yanked.
Missionary death
Southern Baptist missionary Evelyn Woolridge died in Nairobi, Kenya, on May
26 of pneumonia following gall bladder surgery. She was 41. Woolridge and her
husband, Michael, had served since January 1999 in a unique arrangement that
had them serving as international consultants for LifeWay Christian Resources
of the Southern Baptist Convention through the SBC International Mission Board.
The couple and their five children had been scheduled to return May 30 to Nashville,
Tenn., where he was to continue his work with LifeWay.
AIDS initiative
The recently-approved global AIDS initiative includes some measures important
to pro-family groups, observers report. The measure authorizes $15 billion in
United States aid during the next five years to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS
in countries devastated by the disease in Africa and the Caribbean. Also, at
the urging of pro-family and religious conservative organizations, Congress
included a requirement that at least one-third of the funding go for abstinence-based
programs and a conscience clause protecting faith-based groups from being required
to distribute condoms in order to receive aid. Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious
Liberty Commission President Richard Land said the abstinence requirement and
conscience clauses are “very hopeful signs that this Congress means business
about backing programs that work and dont violate pro-family and religious
sensitivities.” Nearly 30 million people in sub-Saharan Africa – including
three million people under the age of 15 – are HIV positive or have AIDS, reports
estimate. Worldwide, there are 42 million people who are HIV positive or who
have AIDS.
Substance abuse help
The Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has created a
“Culture Response Kit” to help churches and families address an array
of issues dealing with substance abuse. The kit includes Bible study helps,
resource materials and research and statistical information. In addressing the
need for the kit, commission President Richard Land said the latest statistics
on binge drinking indicate a problem of near epidemic proportions – a problem
that is perpetuated by the “all you can drink” spring break parties
for college students each year. A survey shows binge drinking episodes among
18- to 20-year-olds rose by 56 percent in 2001. Binge drinking is having five
or more drinks in a single sitting. For details on the “Culture Response
Kit,” call (800) 475-9127.or visit www.faithandfamily.com.
Did you know?
The National Fatherhood Initiative reports that from 1960 to 1995, the percentage
of children living in single-parent homes rose from 9 percent to 27 percent.