Associated Baptist Press - 2/11/2009

Associated Baptist Press
February 11, 2009 · (09-19)

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

In this issue
Austrailian Baptists begin response to devastating Victoria bush fires (343 words)
Baptist pastor and wife fail to reunite with kidnapped children (662 words)
Former Whitewater prosecutor says Proposition 8 about voters (418 words)
NC Baptists look forward to 5th century of Baptist movement (591 words)

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Australian Baptists begin response to devastating Victoria bush fires
By Robert Marus

MELBOURNE, Australia (ABP) -- Australian Baptists were responding Feb. 10 to what has already become the deadliest outbreak of wildfires in the nation's history.

According to news reports, authorities have confirmed 181 deaths as of the afternoon of Feb. 10 from the fast-moving fires, which raged over the prior weekend. They fear the death toll may reach as high as 300 once all of the charred bodies are identified. Whole towns in the rural areas north and east of the city of Melbourne have reportedly been incinerated.

The Baptist Union of Victoria -- the southern Australian state where the worst of the fires have been concentrated -- sent a Feb. 9 letter to approximately 200 member churches asking for contributions to a "Emergency Bushfire Relief Fund." The fund is a joint effort of the statewide union, the broader Baptist Union of Australia and Baptcare, a Victoria Baptist benevolent agency.

The letter said the fund began with a grant of $50,000 in Australian dollars from Baptcare and "generous" contributions from the two Baptist unions.

"Many Baptist churches in Victoria and beyond have contacted us asking us what they can do to help. Many have already opened their building to provide emergency centres and accommodation; offered pastoral care and support; started collecting clothes," the letter said. "Pastors in the most affected areas tell us that financial assistance is likely to be the most effective help they can give, so we are hoping, through the generosity of the churches and their agencies, to resource these churches to meet the needs of their communities."

Baptcare is also soliciting donations on its website.

Eron Henry, director of communications for the Virginia-based Baptist World Alliance, said Feb. 10 the worldwide Baptist umbrella group is monitoring the situation. He said any donations made to Baptist World Aid, the group's relief arm, for the Australian fires would be channelled through the Baptist Union of Victoria.

The union also is providing samples of prayers to churches to guide them to pray for the bereaved, emergency medical workers and God's transformation of tragedy.

Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

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Baptist pastor and wife fail to reunite with kidnapped children
By Bob Allen

SAN JOSE, Calif. (ABP) -- A Baptist pastor and his wife have returned from California to their Georgia home after failing to reunite with their two children, who vanished along with their maternal grandparents 20 years ago.

"I think they're kind of spooked," Mark Baskin, a high-school band teacher and bivocational pastor of Normantown Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., said in a Feb. 9 interview on NBC's Today Show. "How would you feel if you've suddenly realized the last 20 years of your life have been a lie?"

Baskin and his wife, Debbie, traveled to San Jose, Calif., in hopes of reconnecting with their now 28-year-old daughter and 27-year-old son. The two were allegedly kidnapped after the children, then 8 and 7, were left in custody of Debbie Baskin's parents in Tennessee while the Baskins were students at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in 1988.

Christi and Bobby Baskin now go by the names of Jenny and Jonathan Bunting. They apparently are standing by their grandfather, Marvin Maple, alias John Bunting, who was arrested on kidnapping charges Feb. 2 thanks to anonymous tips after an article about the cold case appeared in the Jan. 12 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Maple, 72, waived extradition and made an initial court appearance Feb. 10 at Rutherford County General Sessions Court in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Wearing shackles and an orange jail jump suit, Maple requested more time to prepare for a preliminary hearing, which is now rescheduled for March 17. Mark Baskin said the couple knew before they left for California the children might not want to see them. The presumed that Maple and his wife, Sandra, now deceased, likely said horrible things about the parents during the two decades the family was broken apart.

The Maples won temporary custody of their grandchildren after claiming the Baskins abused Bobby during a visit. Police investigating the charge found no evidence of abuse and recommended the children be returned to their parents. Two weeks before a court order gave the Baskins custody, the Maples and children disappeared.

Since locating their children, the Baskins have gone on a media blitz attempting to tell them they still love them, don't blame them for what happened, and want them to reconnect with their family, including two younger brothers ages 25 and 16.

"It's been probably very hard for them. We realize that," Mark Baskin said. "We came here thinking that this very well could be the case, but we came anyway, because we want to see them, we want to reestablish our relationship with them. I think with time they'll realize they do need to reach out to us."

Today's Meredith Vieira asked Debbie Baskin how she survived two decades not knowing where her parents were or if her children were dead or alive.

"I survived because of Jesus Christ," Baskin said. "We've had so many people in America and across the world praying for us and just remembering us. When you have faith, you have hope, and we've hung on to that hope and the memories and lovely, lovely people. We've been very blessed with just so much support all these years and people don't realize but a kind word can just make somebody's day and keep you going, and that's how we've done it."

Debbie Baskin, also a teacher, said she tried to talk to her father while in California, but he refused to see her.

"I wanted to tell him that I had forgiven him, but there are consequences to actions and he was going to have to deal with those consequences now," she said. "And I also wanted to tell him that he had tried to destroy me and our family, but we've not let this define our lives. We have two sons. We have adopted a son, and I wanted him to know that his plan did not totally work. And I wanted to see him. I hadn't seen him for 20 years."

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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Former Whitewater prosecutor says Proposition 8 about voters
By Bob Allen

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) -- The controversy over California's Proposition 8 is larger than homosexuality, Kenneth Starr, lead counsel for a group set to argue before the state's Supreme Court in favor of upholding the ban on same-sex marriage March 5, told religious broadcasters Feb. 10.

Starr is the former United States solicitor general most famous for leading the investigation prompting the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. At a public-policy session at the 2009 National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tenn., he said the larger issue is whether the constitutional revision, approved by 52 percent of California voters, is enough to deny any minority group the right to marry. "There is certainly a fundamental right to marriage," Starr said. "The Supreme Court has so said, and it's deeply rooted in our traditions, but we regulate marriage. Plural marriage, which is lawful in 28 countries that are members of the United Nations, would not be recognized. There are many, many regulations -- age regulations, et cetera."

Starr said what is being argued in the case is not the definition of marriage, but whether the people have power to amend the state constitution to overturn a specific decision of the California Supreme Court.

"It's a very important, nonetheless different, issue than the underlying constitutional issue of the right to marry someone of the same sex," he said.

Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, compared Proposition 8 to laws in 16 states that formerly had deep-rooted traditions of preventing interracial marriage.

"It has broader implications far beyond the gay-marriage debate," she said. "It has broader implications for religious people in particular, and the issue is whether the people of California, by a bare majority of those who turn out to vote on a particular issue, can revise the California Constitution to take away what has been held to be a fundamental right."

Strossen said the constitutional question is whether it rather takes a super-majority process to take away fundamental rights, such as two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature.

"One of the many friend-of-the-court briefs that was filed on our side was filed by a very broad array of religious organizations saying we have to be very careful, because if the people of this state by a bare majority vote can take away fundamental rights -- can take away equality rights -- from an unpopular minority group, then we have to worry that can be a power that can be used against religious communities," she said.

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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North Carolina CBF anticipates fifth century of Baptist movement
By Tony Cartledge

GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) -- How can Baptists maintain an effective witness into their fifth century of existence? More than 400 participants gathered at First Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., Feb. 9 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement and to anticipate what the fifth century of Baptist life might hold.

Sponsored by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC), the Convocation for a New Baptist Century drew guests and CBFNC ministry partners from across the state and as far away as Texas and Washington, D.C.

CBFNC Coordinator Larry Hovis said that if Baptists in the next century are to be faithful, they must preserve and live by bedrock Baptist principles, pursue the mission of God and work together in missional collaboration.

Hovis highlighted the traditional Baptist hallmarks of believing in the Lordship of Christ, trusting the Scriptures as authoritative, recognizing that every believer is a priest before God, appreciating the autonomy of the local church, promoting religious liberty, and intentionally cooperating with others.

In pursuing the mission of God, Baptists must recognize their need for one another, Hovis said, and "provide an authentic Baptist community where we can celebrate our oneness and respect our differences."

Past programs of cooperation among Baptists have focused on funding from the churches and governance of funded institutions by the denomination, Hovis said. He pledged that CBFNC, in contrast, will facilitate mutual collaboration based on conversations between representatives of the churches, the supported ministries and CBFNC leadership.

Entering the new century, he said, CBFNC is ready to serve as a "robust catalyst" to assist collaborative partners "as we pursue God's mission together."

Earlier in the day, Baptist historian Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School, presented a paper addressing "The New Baptist Century in Historical Context," and responded to questions in a time of lively discussion.

In a closing message, Mike Queen, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wilmington, N.C., said Baptists are "tribal people." Christians have divided themselves into many tribes, he said, and Baptists have developed tribes of their own, but "that's how it's always been in the Kingdom of God."

Queen noted how Moses instructed the Israelites to encamp by tribes surrounding the Tabernacle, each flying its distinctive banner. Thus, "both unity and uniqueness were celebrated" in the peoples' "corporate identity as children of Israel and particular identity as members of their tribes."

As a former president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina General Board, Queen was a tireless advocate for unity within the state convention during the 1990s, an effort that ultimately ran aground in the rising conservative tide that now dominates the state convention. During the same period, CBFNC emerged as an alternative nexus of cooperation and fellowship for those who felt disenchanted with or disenfranchised by the state convention.

"I spent a long time chasing the wrong things in Baptist life the past 25 years," Queen told the congregation. "CBF of North Carolina is my tribe in the Baptist nation," he said, "but it is not a denomination to be won: it's all about mission and freedom."

"It's exciting to be a part of something that is still new and filled with hope we can scarcely imagine," Queen said. That hope can be found in Jesus alone and calls for vigilant focus, he said, for "When you fall in love with an institution, you may lose the ability to follow Jesus."

"The easy part of our faith is to believe," Queen concluded. "The following part gets hard: that's where we need one another."

Tony Cartledge is a professor at Campbell University Divinity School and contributing editor to Baptists Today.