Associated Baptist Press - 8/29/2008

Associated Baptist Press
August 29, 2008 · (08-82)

Greg Warner, Executive Editor
Robert Marus, News Editor/Washington Bureau Chief

In this issue
Citing Scripture on historic day, Obama accepts DNC nomination
Social conservatives express delight at McCain's pick of Sarah Palin
Baptists aiding after Georgia crisis; Russians seek talks
Hawaii hosts WMU's first-ever co-ed student-missions event

Citing Scripture on historic day, Obama accepts DNC nomination
By Robert Marus

DENVER (ABP) -- Forty-five years to the day after a Baptist preacher shamed America into living up to its own creed, Barack Obama cited the epistle to the Hebrews in becoming the first African-American to accept a major party's presidential nomination Aug. 28.

"America, we cannot turn back; we cannot walk alone," the Illinois senator said, speaking to an estimated 85,000 revelers in a football stadium on the closing night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. "At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise -- that American promise -- and, in the words of Scripture, 'hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.'"

Obama's speech came on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington. Obama's rhetoric, subtly echoing King's in calling America to fulfill its promise, culminated one of the most faith-soaked Democratic conventions in recent memory.

Convention events included party-sponsored forums featuring many evangelical, Catholic and other religious leaders discussing the proper intersection of religion and politics, regular references to religious voters by convention speakers and plenary sessions that opened and closed with prayers from leaders such as evangelical author Donald Miller and megachurch pastor Joel Hunter.

In fact, religion was so prominent in Denver that some advocates for strong church-state separation expressed doubts about the Democrats' methods.

"You and I know that being a public figure doesn't mean denying your faith or beliefs. But in America, it does mean not imposing them on anyone else, and it means part of your job is preserving the boundaries between religion and government, to protect the integrity of both," said Interfaith Alliance President Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister, in an Aug. 28 e-mail to supporters.

Obama's acceptance speech featured a laundry list of specific policy goals and promises and generous dollops of the nominee's signature lofty rhetoric.

"We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight," he said, alluding to increasingly unpopular Bush administration economic and foreign-policy policies. "The fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper -- that is the promise we need to keep. That is the change that we need right now."

Obama focused on many long-standing Democratic priorities -- such as universal healthcare and reduced dependence on fossil fuels. He also gave a nod to middle-ground solutions to contentious social debates.

"What has also been lost [in American political debate] is our sense of common purpose -- and that's what we have to restore," he said. "We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.... I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and live lives free of discrimination."

The event also featured the nomination of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as Obama's vice-presidential running mate. Biden, a practicing Catholic, has drawn fire from some traditionalist Catholics because he supports keeping abortion legal.

"Barack Obama has re-opened a wound among American Catholics by picking a pro-abortion Catholic politician," said Brian Burch, president of Fidelis, a conservative Catholic group, in a statement on the Biden pick. "The American bishops have made clear that Catholic political leaders must defend the dignity of every human person, including the unborn. Sadly, Joe Biden's tenure in the United States Senate has been marked by steadfast support for legal abortion."

But in Denver, many Christians -- including some who describe themselves as Republicans -- focused on other moral issues. In a benediction to end the convention, Hunter asked for God's wisdom for voters and the candidates.

"Almighty God, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a reverence for all life. Give us a compassion for the most vulnerable among us -- the babies, the children, the poor, the sick, the enslaved, the persecuted. For all of those who have been left out of the advantaged world," he said.

-30-

Social conservatives express delight at McCain's pick of Sarah Palin
By Robert Marus

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- John McCain's surprise Aug. 29 pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate was met with positive reviews from groups that oppose abortion rights and gay rights.

"Sen. McCain made an outstanding pick from the choices that were on the table," said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, in a press statement released shortly after McCain's pick became public. "Gov. Sarah Palin is an outspoken advocate for pro-family policies that energize social conservatives. She has a record of advancing the culture of life at every opportunity including championing a ban on partial-birth abortion and promoting parental consent for minor abortions."

The Idaho Values Alliance -- a conservative Christian group in the state where Palin was born and raised -- released a statement calling the Palin pick "an inspired choice" and noting that she supported, in 1998, one of the first state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

Palin, a former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, was elected governor in 2006 in a contentious primary battle that pitted her against the Republican incumbent and, later, a former Democratic governor. She has earned a reputation as a reformer in a state that has been dominated by Republicans in recent years and beset by several political-corruption scandals, including the recent indictment of its long-serving U.S. senator, Ted Stevens (R).

However, she is also under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for her role in the firing of a former state employee.

While social issues are rarely election-deciders in libertarian-leaning Alaska, Palin has expressed strong opposition to gay rights. Besides supporting the same-sex-marriage ban, she also said, during her 2006 campaign, that she disapproved a recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling that the state had to provide spousal benefits to same-sex partners of government employees.

While Palin later signed legislation that enforced the decision, she said she would support a ballot initiative that would effectively overturn the court ruling by banning gay spouses from state benefits.

"When you can't even support giving our community the rights to health insurance and pension benefits, it's a frightening window into where she stands on equality," said Joe Solmonese, president of the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign, in a statement denouncing the Palin choice.

However, at least one moderate GOP group greeted McCain's decision as a step forward for gays in the party. Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon released a statement saying Palin is "a mainstream Republican who will unite the party and serve John McCain well as vice president. Gov. Palin is an inclusive Republican who will help Sen. McCain appeal to gay and lesbian voters."

Palin has also expressed support for the teaching of alternatives to evolution in public schools. According to the Anchorage Daily News, in response to a question on teaching evolution versus religious theories during a 2006 gubernatorial debate, Palin said, "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."

The Supreme Court has ruled against the teaching of creationism in public schools, and other federal courts have extended that to a ban on teaching "intelligent design," a newer theory that states life is so complex that it necessitates the existence of an intelligent creative force of some sort.

Palin later, according to the newspaper, modified her position on public schools' teaching such theories. "I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class," she said. "It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

-30-

Baptists aiding after Georgia crisis; Russians seek talks
By Vicki Brown

TBLISI, Georgia (ABP) -- Baptists around the world continued to respond with prayer and humanitarian aid to people displaced by continuing conflict between Georgia and Russia Aug. 29. Meanwhile, Russian Baptists have invited their Georgian counterparts to discuss the future.

Russia has been slow to remove its troops from Georgia after a cease-fire was declared Aug. 13. Thousands have been displaced in the conflict that began earlier this month when Georgian authorities attempted to regain control over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia.

The province is regarded by international law as officially part of Georgia, but many of its residents consider themselves Russians and hold Russian citizenship.

The province of Abkhazia also stepped up its continuing effort to break away from Georgia. Leaders of the former Soviet Union had made Abkhazia part of Georgia, and Abkhazia has fought for independence since the USSR's collapse in 1991. Abkhazia declared its independence from Georgia in 1992 but has not secured international recognition.

Russians sent thousands of troops into Georgia to assist both provinces on Aug. 7 after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili launched an assault in South Ossetia. The Baptist World Alliance estimates that more than 158,000 individuals have been displaced by the fighting.

In the midst of conflict, Russian Baptists are seeking to restore friendship with Georgian Baptists, according to Vitaly Vlasenko, director of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists' department for external church relations.

In an Aug. 24 statement, Vlasenko called on believers to "rise above the fray; rise above narrow, selfish political partisanship."

He acknowledged that Baptists in the two countries had "grown distant" in the past 15 years, laying part of the blame on propaganda efforts. He called on both sides to recognize their part in the conflict and the results of war.

Vlasenko extended an invitation to Georgia and to "other nations and peoples who were once part of the Eastern Bloc" to talk about the area's past and future.

"How can we who once lived in the Soviet sphere become a great force for peace?" he wrote. "We by no means want to fall back into the ways and conditions of the Cold War.... Together we evangelical Christians can help reverse the present trend which is leading us down the path of a renewed Cold War."

Vlasenko said monetary donations can be sent through the North Ossetian Mission of Christian Compassion (www.nomcc.org), which primarily assists children, or through the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia's Betheli Humanitarian Association (www.ebcgeorgia.org).

In an Aug. 28 press statement, Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey and General Secretary Neville Callam called on Baptists worldwide to pray for peace in the region.

According to the release, Baptist World Aid, BWA's humanitarian arm (www.bwanet.org), has sent funds, including a contribution from the German Baptist Union, for relief efforts in Georgia.

International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA has designated a $7,500 emergency grant. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has given $5,000 for relief efforts, with its Georgia state affiliate, which has a partnership with the former Soviet country, sending $2,000.

CBF of Georgia has partnered with the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia since 2006, according to a CBF statement. Georgia CBF supports several ministries in its partner country, including a care center for the elderly, an orphanage, a theological school and a women-in-ministry organization.

Southern Baptists sent a four-person team to the Georgian capital, Tblisi, Aug. 18 to assess needs. They were scheduled to begin remodeling a building in the devastated Georgian city of Gori on Aug. 25.

A Texas Baptist disaster-relief feeding team headed to Georgia Aug. 27, and teams from the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma are scheduled to go next week, according to Jim Brown, stateside director of Baptist Global Relief, the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board's aid arm (www.baptistglobalresponse.com).

-30-

Americans act as Georgian Baptists call for aid, end to conflict Hawaii hosts WMU's first-ever co-ed student-missions event
By Stephanie Blackmon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) -- From June 28 through July 4, waves of close to 150 volunteers hit the shores of Oahu, Hawaii, for the first-ever co-ed student-missions event sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union.

The event, dubbed "Collide/Lima Kokua," drew high-school students of both genders to the Aloha State "to give them the opportunity to make a difference in the world for Christ," said Suzanne Reece, national WMU ministry consultant for the student team.

The Southern Baptist Convention's women's auxiliary coordinated the event in conjunction with Hawaii WMU and the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.

In partnership with 17 island churches, students and leaders served at 17 ministry sites and participated in ministry projects, such as vacation Bible school for homeless children, backyard Bible clubs, painting, trash pick-up, church information distribution, prayer-walking and other projects.

The week-long event was originally called simply "Collide," but both national WMU and Hawaiian organizers wanted a name that would reflect their partnership and goals. Lima Kokua, Hawaiian for "helping hands," became part of the name as a result.

The name was particularly fitting for Rogelio Maciel, 13, of First Baptist Church of South Houston, Texas. "This was my first time doing a missions trip, and I went to help out with other people and show many people about Christ," he said. "The thing that meant most to me was seeing the kids in VBS learn about Christ. And when they grow up, they will teach others."

"I got to play with the kids and teach them about God. It was amazing to hear their answers and comments about God," Alicia Esquivel, 16, also from the South Houston church, said. "I enjoyed learning from the kids that I was teaching."

In addition to hands-on missions projects, Collide/Lima Kokua participants also enjoyed a Hawaiian dinner, group worship experiences and cultural education. They had the opportunity to listen to the music of Ikaika Higa, an Hawaiian who serves as a semester missionary with Baptist Campus Ministry at the University of Hawaii.

Volunteer leaders called this first event well-planned and organized. "All the groups had the opportunity to connect with the churches they were assigned to work with ahead of time, making the week more productive and familiar," said Diane Miinch, a group leader from First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Mo.

"Collide 2008 was the most inspirational missions trip I have ever been on," said Allison Jackson, 14, from Beulah Baptist Association in Roxboro, N.C.

-30-