Associated Baptist Press - 10/16/2008

Associated Baptist Press
October 16, 2008 · (08-99)

David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Acting Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer

In this issue
Candidates spar over abortion in final presidential debate (806 words)
Everett sermon at Southwestern may be sign of thaw in relations (421 words)
Pastor says he's 'poli-ticked' about election (854 words)
CBF field personnel minister among Middle Eastern group (408 words)
Billy: The Early Years falls flat in box office (240 words)
Opinion: Remembering how to be Jesus' people (862 words)

Candidates spar over abortion in final presidential debate
By Bob Allen (806 words)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (ABP) -- John McCain and Barack Obama differed sharply over the legality of abortion in their third and final presidential debate Oct.15 at Hofstra University, in one of the only mentions in this year's presidential debates of a divisive cultural issue.

While both candidates said they oppose using abortion as a litmus test when appointing federal judges, each made it clear that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to choose an abortion, would weigh heavily in determining whom they would nominate to fill any vacancies on the Supreme Court.

McCain, the Republican candidate, said Roe v. Wade was a "bad decision" and that as president he would find judges with a record of "strict adherence to the Constitution" and not "legislating from the bench."

The Arizona senator repeatedly said he would base nominations on qualifications and not any "litmus test," but he added that he did not believe anyone supporting Roe v. Wade would meet those qualifications.

Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, also said he opposes applying a "strict litmus test" for judges, but agreed that Roe v. Wade probably hangs in the balance during the next presidency.

"I am somebody who believes that Roe v. Wade was rightly decided," Obama said.

"I think that abortion is a very difficult issue, and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on," Obama said. "But what ultimately I believe is that women -- in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers -- are in the best position to make this decision.

"And I think that the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn't be subject to state referendum, any more than our First Amendment rights are subject to state referendum, any more than many of the other rights that we have should be subject to popular vote."

Obama sought to stake out some common ground between the two sides of the abortion debate.

"This is an issue that -- look, it divides us," he said. "And in some ways, it may be difficult to reconcile the two views."

"But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, 'We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby.'

"Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion. I think it's always a tragic situation."

It was the first time in three presidential debates for the abortion issue to surface. Americans United for Life praised moderator Bob Schieffer for asking the question.

"In many ways, this is one of the most significant issues for our country that has received the least amount of attention in this campaign," AUL Action said in a prepared statement.

"Sen. Obama made it clear that his approach to judicial appointments -- which goes beyond the Supreme Court -- involves a pro-Roe, pro-abortion litmus test," the statement said. The pro-life group also accused Obama of twisting the facts about his abortion policy.

NARAL Pro-Choice America applauded Obama's "long-standing commitment to women's reproductive freedom and privacy" and "common-sense" approach to reducing unintended pregnancies.

"McCain, on the other hand, restated his call for the overturn of Roe v. Wade," said NARAL president Nancy Keenan. "That's no secret: McCain has voted against a woman's right to choose for more than 25 years, and he has even voted against birth control, which is one of the best ways to reduce the need for abortion. McCain's hypocrisy represents the divisive political attacks that Americans are tired of."

McCain criticized Obama for opposing a bill in the Illinois senate to provide immediate medical care to an infant "born alive" as the result of a failed abortion and voting against a ban on a late-term procedure that opponents call "partial-birth" abortion.

Obama said he opposed the Illinois legislation because there was already a law on the books requiring lifesaving treatment and the new bill would have undermined Roe v. Wade. He said he supports a ban on late-term abortions, including partial-birth abortion, but only if it includes exceptions for the mother's life and health. Abortion-rights opponents have repeatedly attempted to pass bans that did not include health exceptions.

McCain dismissed the necessity of health exceptions, saying the "health of the mother" has been "stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything."

"That's the extreme pro-abortion position, 'health,'" McCain said.

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Everett sermon at Southwestern may be sign of thaw in relations
By Bob Allen (421 words)

FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) -- In a sign that once-frosty relations between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary may be thawing, the BGCT's new executive director, Randel Everett, spoke there Oct. 15.

"I have, as you would guess, gotten a little criticism about having Dr. Everett here, and he's gotten some criticism about coming," Paige Patterson, president of the Southern Baptist Convention-run school, said in introducing Everett during a chapel service. Everett became executive director of the 2.3-million-member, moderate-dominated BGCT in March.

"That always amazes me, because the theory is we disagree, and I shouldn't have anybody in who disagrees," Patterson said.

"That's kind of interesting, isn't it?" he continued. "Because we haven't even talked enough to find out if we do disagree about anything."

Relations between the state convention and seminary grew chilly when fundamentalist trustees fired the seminary's popular moderate president, Russell Dilday, in 1994. The distance grew even wider when Patterson, one of the acknowledged architects of the SBC's "conservative resurgence," became Southwestern's president in 2003.

In 2004 the BGCT banned Southwestern Seminary and other SBC entities from having displays at the state convention's annual meeting, saying they were not supportive of BGCT's mission. Texas Baptist leaders lifted that prohibition in June, approving both Southwestern Seminary and the SBC's publisher, LifeWay Christian Resources, as exhibitors at next month's convention meeting in Fort Worth.

Everett opened his chapel remarks by describing the seminary as "an important part of our heritage as Texas Baptists."

"I'm sorry Dr. Patterson received some flak about this invitation," Everett said. "It was a gracious act for him."

"One of the things I hope we can understand is that we all 'see through glass dimly' and one of these days we'll be able to see Jesus as fully and clearly, because we'll be seeing him face to face," Everett said. "As we struggle with what God's word is saying with us, in deep conversations with each other, and often times in disagreements, we need to love each other as Christ loves us."

Everett preached a sermon on forgiveness based on Matthew 18, closing with, "Wouldn't it be something today if God brought healing to our Baptist family?"

"You really only have two choices," Patterson said in response. "You can either be bitter and when you get to be my age ... then you are just a bitter old man. You can either do that, or you can practice the fine Christological art of forgiveness. You only have two choices."

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Pastor says he's 'poli-ticked' about election
By Bob Allen (854 words)

GRAPEVINE, Texas (ABP) -- At a time when polls indicate growing distaste for politics in the pulpit, one Southern Baptist mega-pastor is launching a high-profile sermon series aimed at getting Christians off the bench and into political action.

"There's a game going on for the heart and soul of our nation, yet so many of us have been drinking deception for so long that we don't understand the implications and the seriousness of the game," Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, said in a televised sermon Oct. 12.

"There's a game going on and it's time for us to sober up, to step up and to get into the game -- to not merely remain as spectators, but to be participators.

"I don't know about you, but I'm poli-ticked," Young said. "I'm ticked at what is happening on the field. I'm ticked as I look at the scoreboard and as a responsible citizen, as someone who should be under God -- because we're one nation under God, not alongside God or above God. We're one nation under God, but as people who love God and who want the best, we should be ticked."

Among things ticking him off, Young ticked off a litany of what he considered social ills affecting the United States:

-- Homosexuality. "God made man and woman to be together as husband and wife," Young said. "God did not create Adam to be with Steve but to be with Eve."

He said people at Fellowship Church love homosexuals but do not approve of their sexual behavior, "because God has said from cover to cover marriage is for one man, one woman in this covenant, in this commitment.

"I cannot believe that our nation is trying to redefine marriage," he added. "I'm all for everyone having equal rights, but when it comes to this institution called marriage, give me a massive break."

-- Abortion. Young recalled walking on a beach and reading a sign listing penalties for disturbing a nest of sea-turtle eggs. "We're really into protecting developing baby sea turtles," he said. "So our government is into that, but it's OK to take the lives of developing babies? It's OK to take the lives of 3,200 developing babies every 24 hours? What's right is now wrong. What's wrong is right."

-- Big government. Young said government is supposed to protect the people, but the U.S. bureaucracy has grown into a monster that he has nicknamed "Fedzilla."

"If you do something well, Fedzilla takes the profit, and then gives the profits ... to this big monster, and then hands out the profits to people, many of them who are able-bodied Americans, many of them who can work, who should hold a job, but who don't want to, who want to sit around, smoke weed, drink six-packs and play with their iPhones."

-- Immigration. "We have the Congress worrying about steroid use in baseball, when you've got terrorists crossing the border who want to blow us off the face of the map," he said.

-- The economy. "We're drowning in a sea of debt," he said. "This $700 billion bailout: I'm no economist, but isn't that sort of like giving booze to a recovering alcoholic?"

-- Socialism. "So many people in the media, the cultural elite, they like applaud, for example, Cuba," Young said. "Cuba's a wreck. Talk to anybody. Talk to a Cuban American who was there when a young man smoking a cigar took over.

"Socialism has wrecked and ruined that beautiful land," he continued. "Socialism is non-biblical. It scares me to death as I see this slide toward socialism."

Young urged listeners to tune in for the following week's sermon, in which, he promised, "I'm going to tell you who to vote for.

"Here's what a lot of people don't understand," Young explained. "The church has become more and more of a 'non-prophet' entity. But I'm excited. A lot of churches are becoming 'for-prophet.' The prophets of God -- the men and women of God -- are standing up and saying, 'Thus sayeth the Lord.'"

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said he saw nothing wrong legally with Young's Oct. 12 sermon, but that Young would make a mistake if he endorses a candidate by name on Oct. 19.

Walker criticized the Alliance Defense Fund's recent "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" for endorsing candidates as "divisive, corrosive and unnecessary."

Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, faulted Young for "preaching a low-sacrifice gospel, prioritizing a moral agenda for his church members, which costs them very little.

"Condemning gay marriage and abortion, denouncing the straw man of socialism and linking -- falsely -- immigration with terrorism require nothing from his audience," Parham said. "It simply feels good and feeds prejudice."

Jesus called for a "high-sacrifice gospel" of pursuing the Golden Rule, loving neighbor and seeking justice, Parham said. He hopes that in future sermons Young "will make those who are at ease in the Zion of negative uncomfortable with the broad, proactive moral vision found in the Bible," he added.

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CBF field personnel minister among Middle Eastern group
By Carla Wynn Davis (408 words)

ATLANTA (ABP) -- Frank Morrow was in the Middle East doing relief work after a natural disaster when a local official asked, "Why do you do what you do? Why did you come?"

Morrow opened a paperback Bible and shared the story of Jesus. "Those moments are the open doors," Morrow said. "That's why we're there."

As Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel, Morrow and wife Karen have had many opportunities to share Christ among one of the most unreached people groups in the Middle East. Commissioned as strategy coordinators in 1996, the Morrows began ministering in Germany, where large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees had sought asylum.

The Morrows helped the refugees in whatever way they could, while learning their language and more about this people group, once strong but now repressed, persecuted and nearly forgotten. Their land had been stolen and their culture outlawed.

After 10 years in Germany, the Morrows returned to the United States, with their work based in Fort Worth, Texas. They concentrate on building partnerships with other ministry organizations and helping provide translated media, books and Bibles for distribution in the Middle East.

They also connect with CBF partner churches about ways in which congregations can connect with ministry in the Middle East. Churches can partner with the Morrows through prayer, financial support, or by going to a Middle Eastern country to serve among a largely unreached people group, where the gospel is slow to spread.

"We don't see mass conversions or quick change. It's a long process," Karen said. "For them to come to faith is a cutting off who they are. It's a disgrace to their family. They risk their life to [come to Christ]."

One husband and wife became Christians in Germany and have returned to the Middle East to start a church among their own people. Even though they're thousands of miles apart, Karen keeps in contact with the wife, a dear friend.

"I encourage her to keep the faith and to testify that God is at work and that God is alive. [She told me] 'I don't have another person like you who can share my deepest feelings and hurts with.' We're there to be that with people and to be that [presence] in their life," Karen said. "I feel the biggest part of our work is enabling others to do the work."

Editor's note: Specific names and locations of people groups are not included for security reasons.

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Billy: The Early Years falls flat in box office
By ABP staff (240 words)

(ABP) -- A biopic about evangelist Billy Graham hit theaters with a thud its opening weekend Oct. 10-12, earning far less than other religion-themed movies like Fireproof and Bill Maher's agnostic comedy documentary Religulous.

Billy: The Early Years, directed by former teen-heartthrob actor Robby Benson, grossed an estimated $199,938 from 282 locations, an average of $709 per screen, according to Variety.

Another specialty film geared toward Christian audiences, meanwhile, enjoyed a third successful weekend at the box office. Fireproof, produced by a movie-making ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., grossed an estimated $3.2 million, bringing its total earnings to about $17 million. That's double the earnings of the last movie by Sherwood Pictures, Facing the Giants, in 2006.

Maher's Religulous, which takes a skeptical look at religion in general but is particularly hard on Christianity, fell 35 percent in its second weekend, but still managed to gross an estimated $2.2 million from 568 theaters. That brought the cumulative box office gross to $6.7 million.

Released by the Christian distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures, Billy: The Early Years focuses on Billy Graham's life as a teenager growing up on a farm in North Carolina. It continues through his young adulthood, when he burst onto the national scene as an evangelist who could draw thousands of people to his meetings, called "crusades."

It stars Armie Hammer, the 22-year-old great-grandson of industrialist and philanthropist Armand Hammer, in his first major acting role.

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Opinion: Remembering how to be Jesus' people
David Gushee (862 words)

(ABP) -- This morning I was reading in 1 Peter 2, "Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk."

Think of every political ad you have watched in the last month. Think of the nature of some of the exchanges between John McCain and Barack Obama in last night's debate. Think of the hateful scenes emerging from the political rallies as the speakers whip up the anger of the true believers in the crowd. Think of the fierce and hateful shouting on talk radio. Consider the malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander you have witnessed. Try to find a trace of Jesus in any of it.

Or consider these words from Romans 12: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Live in harmony with one another. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."

Consider the vengeful, unharmonious, political knife fights that happen each day during this election season. Consider the escalating negativity and viciousness. Try to find a trace of Jesus in any of it.

The Bible places very high value on truthful speech. When Jesus taught us to "let your yes be yes and your no be no" (Mt. 5:37), he meant it. He was calling for his followers to speak the truth without manipulation, distortion or deceit. Political campaigns, especially this one in its late stages, attempt to gain some slight advantage by constant resort to manipulation, distortion and deceit, whether in the form of guilt-by-association, exaggeration of some small kernel of truth or character-defaming innuendo. Try to find a trace of Jesus in any of it.

Consider the claims of all four of our major candidates that they are Christians. That means they are all part of the Christian family, all brothers and sisters in Christ. Then consider these words from Philippians 2: "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Secular politics has no tenderness and compassion. The rivals demonstrate no like-mindedness, no common love, no unity of spirit and purpose. Precisely because of selfish ambition and perhaps even vain conceit every effort is made to portray the self as better than the other, and to advance the interest of my party over the interests of the other party. Secular politics is most often the antithesis of the self-emptying love of a Savior who would leave heaven, assume the form of a servant and die a cruel death for his enemies. Just try to find a trace of Jesus in it.

Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Political campaigns at least in these waning days of the American Empire are most often about learning more and more reasons to hate our political enemies. We learn not just to disagree with our opponents' policies but to degrade their character and hate them. Just try to find a trace of Jesus in that.

The Christian Right organized itself a generation ago to "take back America for Christ," and eventually settled on a political strategy for winning its battle. Electing the right kind of Republicans would do it. Today one can find a smaller but parallel Christian Left organized to take back America from the (Republican) Christian Right, with a political strategy for winning its battle. Soldiers of Christ in truth arrayed, for God, Country and Party. And Jesus is nowhere to be seen.

This politicized strategy has swallowed up the mission of the church. It has repeatedly defamed the name of Christ. Its ugliness has obscured the beauty of Christ -- and slimed the Bride of Christ, his Church.

In attempting to use worldly means to achieve Christian goals the church has adopted the spirit and tactics of the world and lost its mission and identity. In the end, we did not make America more godly; we made the church more ungodly, thus hurting both the church and America. Just try to find a trace of Jesus in that.

The early church "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6) not by playing the world's game better than the world but by forming faithful communities that obeyed and imitated Jesus Christ. They embodied a better way to live (Jesus' way) and thus transformed their culture.

Insofar as "Christians" are just another political tribe playing the world's game in the world's way, we are the most wretched of people, and will face the sternest of judgments. We must leave this path behind and rediscover our original calling and identity as followers of Jesus.

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-- David Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University.