Associated Baptist Press
February 25, 2009 · (09-26)
David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer
In this issue
Supreme Cout: Sect can't force Utah city to erect monument (728 words)
Obama, in first address to Congress, focuses on economy, justice goals (763 words)
BGCT officials authorize potential use of emergency reserve funds (575 words)
CBF partner groups adjust to contingency spending cuts (971 words)
Parachurch groups not yet feeling economy's pinch, survey says (448 words)
Correction
Supreme Court: Sect can't force Utah city to erect monument
By Robert Marus (728 words)
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- In a groundbreaking, but limited, free-speech case handed down Feb. 25, the Supreme Court said the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, can't be forced to accept the gift of a monument to a small religious sect's precepts -- even though the town already displays a donated monument to the Ten Commandments in its city-owned Pioneer Park.
But, in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (No. 07-665) the opinion of a unanimous court also made clear the decision turned on whether the Decalogue monument was government speech or private speech -- not on the religious content of the speech itself. That means the existing monument could still be open to a challenge under the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bans government endorsement of religion.
"The parties' fundamental disagreement thus centers on the nature of petitioners' conduct when they permitted privately donated monuments to be erected in Pioneer Park. Were [city officials] engaging in their own expressive conduct? Or were they providing a forum for private speech?" wrote Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the court's opinion.
The decision overturns an earlier one by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of the lower court had said the sect, called Summum, has as much right to erect a monument in the park as the Fraternal Order of Eagles did in the 1960s, when it donated the Ten Commandments monument.
Leaders of the sect, based in nearby Salt Lake City, asked Pleasant Grove officials in 2003 to display the monument to the "Seven Aphorisms of Summum," which the 33-year-old group says were also handed to Moses on Mount Sinai along with the Decalogue.
The Aphorisms include such sayings as, "Everything flows out and in; everything has its season; all things rise and fall; the pendulum swing expresses itself in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."
The courts have long established that government entities providing public forums for private speech -- such as speakers' corners in city parks -- cannot discriminate in what sorts of speech are allowed. But Alito said the Ten Commandments monument and other privately donated displays in the park have effectively become government speech, and therefore the city can refuse to endorse some messages.
"The Free Speech Clause restricts government regulation of private speech; it does not regulate government speech," Alito wrote. "There may be situations in which it is difficult to tell whether a government entity is speaking on its own behalf or is providing a forum for private speech, but this case does not present such a situation. Permanent monuments displayed on public property typically represent government speech."
Several justices wrote separate concurrences limiting the effect of Alito's opinion.
Justice David Souter, who concurred only in the judgment overall and not in Alito's reasoning, noted that the case is one of the first in which the relatively new government-speech doctrine has been illuminated regarding public monuments. But, he envisioned situations in which the doctrine may come into conflict with existing court precedent on the Establishment Clause.
"After today's decision, whenever a government maintains a monument it will presumably be understood to be engaging in government speech," Souter wrote. "If the monument has some religious character, the specter of violating the Establishment Clause will behoove it to take care to avoid the appearance of a flat-out establishment of religion.... In such an instance, there will be safety in numbers, and it will be in the interest of a careful government to accept other monuments to stand nearby, to dilute the appearance of adopting whatever particular religious position the single example alone might stand for. As mementoes and testimonials pile up, however, the chatter may well make it less intuitively obvious that the government is speaking in its own right simply by maintaining the monuments."
Some supporters of church-state separation, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, had filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to take up the church-state issues the case raised.
"Because of the peculiarities of Tenth Circuit jurisprudence, Summum couched its legal claims principally in the language of free speech and viewpoint discrimination," the brief said. "The proper locus of its complaint is, however, the Establishment Clause -- which the Founders intended to serve as the principal bulwark against the government's resort to rank denominational prejudice."
Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
Obama, in first address to Congress, focuses on economy, justice goals
By Robert Marus (763 words)
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- In his first address to a joint session of Congress Feb. 24, President Obama focused squarely on the economic crisis that faces the United States and related problems with health care, education funding and fossil-fuel dependency.
"We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy, yet we import more oil today than ever before," said Obama near the beginning of his 50-minute-long address. "The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for."
In his first of what will be an annual speech to Congress -- which isn't referred to as a "State of the Union" report until the president has been in the office for a year -- Obama largely steered clear of many of the controversial social issues that often marked the speeches of his predecessor.
Obama said any response to the economic crisis must include public investment in the nation's crumbling public-services structure. He defended the trillion-dollar-plus stimulus package that passed Congress a week and a half before with only nominal Republican support and promised to deliver to Congress a budget proposal that includes spending for programs he said were designed to invest in America's future.
"I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves, that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity, for history tells a different story," Obama said. "History reminds us that, at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas."
"That is why, even as it cuts back on programs we don't need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education."
One of the few specific proposals Obama called for in the speech was designed to battle global warming. The president asked Congress for "legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America." He also requested $15 billion to develop alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
On health care, Obama praised Congress for expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), providing an estimated 11 million children with health coverage. The quip inspired one of the evening's few partisan moments, when conservative Republicans -- who largely opposed SCHIP expansion because they feared it would encourage some middle-class families to switch from private to public insurance -- sat in stony silence while Democrats and moderate Republicans applauded.
Nonetheless, Obama demanded further government investment in health-care reform, saying it was overdue and necessary for economic progress.
"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. Once again, it will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said, to bipartisan applause.
On the issue of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama promised a significant reduction in American troops in the former country, and a commitment to fighting the war on terror in a way that upholds the nation's ideals.
He reiterated his decision to close the controversial prison for terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as executive orders banning torture of detainees in U.S. custody.
Obama said he made those decisions: "because living our values doesn't make us weaker. It makes us safer, and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture. We can make that commitment here tonight."
Delivering the opposition party's traditional rebuttal, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Obama was placing too much faith in government solutions to the nation's pressing problems.
"Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts," said Jindal, a Roman Catholic, the nation's first Indian-American governor and a favorite of many conservative Christians. "The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and the enterprising spirit of our citizens."
Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
BGCT officals authorize potential use of emergency reserve funds
By Ken Camp (575 words)
DALLAS (ABP) -- The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board has granted the state convention's treasurer permission to tap up to $2.5 million in emergency-reserve funds this year.
Chief Financial Officer Jill Larsen reported Texas Cooperative Program receipts in January totaled only $4.3 million -- 78.9 percent of budget requirements and 88.2 percent of the same month's receipts last year.
According to board policies, Larsen said, the emergency funds are set aside from previous years' receipts for use in times of severe economic disruption or depression.
"While February receipts appear to be stronger, we are very concerned about the effect of the recession on our churches and their giving," Larsen wrote in a memo send to the board prior to their Feb. 24 meeting.
The balance in the reserve fund -- invested with the Baptist Foundation of Texas -- at the end of December was $7.895 million.
If the reserves are tapped, those funds will need to be repaid, Larsen noted.
"I don't really think the sky is falling," she told the board, adding she believes the convention is "well-positioned for the economic downturn."
BGCT investments dropped $40.9 million in 2008, with $34.2 million of the decrease due to market decline, Larsen reported.
Larsen commended BGCT Executive Board staff for their efforts in controlling expenses and living within resources, noting actual budget expenditures for 2008 totaled $44.7 million -- well below both the originally approved $49.8 million budget and the $45.6 million adjusted budget.
However, she also reported a customer-relations management system approved for purchase last year at about $1.49 million significantly exceeded budget. At the end of December, total costs were $2.14 million.
The system enables the BGCT to track church information such as giving records, contact information for staff members and statistics reported annually by churches to the convention. When fully implemented, it also will provide workflow management for church-starting projects, allow online registration for events and track product sales and inventories for resources.
Nestor Menjivar, pastor of Iglesia Principe de Paz in Austin, asked how the system could have gone more than 50 percent over budget, adding, "It doesn't sound like we did a very good job of controlling costs on this project."
Larsen noted several cost overruns -- $100,000 in licensing fees, $42,000 in imaging software and, primarily, $484,000 in consulting fees. Both Executive Board staff and consultants "underestimated the complexity" of the task, and it consequently "took a great deal more time" than originally projected, she said.
Fred Roach of Richardson, chairman of the board's finance subcommittee, noted the original projection included only basic equipment costs, and the board was told to anticipate some additional costs. The project actually exceeded anticipated expenses by about 20 percent, rather than 50 percent, he said.
Twin themes -- concern about the current economic situation and an urgent desire to share a message of hope -- continued to emerge throughout the board's meeting in Dallas.
"The economy is bad and could get worse," BGCT president David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, acknowledged.
"We know our convention, our state and our nation are facing significant challenges. But if we are not a people of hope, how can we share hope?" he asked.
God may use times of economic instability to remind people of their need to trust in him rather than in material resources, he suggested.
"Bad times may be the best of times for the kingdom of God," he said.
Ken Camp is managing editor of the Texas Baptist Standard.
CBF partner groups adjust to contingency spending cuts
By Bob Allen (971 words)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) -- Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner agencies commenting on an anticipated 30 percent cut in CBF funding over the next 19 months took the news in stride.
The CBF Coordinating Council recently announced spending cuts of 20 percent off of their current budget, anticipating reduced income due to the current economic recession. A significant part of the cuts would come from CBF funding for theology schools and CBF partners -- independent ministries, including Associated Baptist Press, that receive a portion of their funding through CBF. Their contributions from CBF would be slashed by 30 percent from the current budget.
"We are aware that these cuts will impact our partners," CBF Moderator Jack Glasgow said in a news release. Since CBF by policy will not provide more than 25 percent of any partner's total budget, he said the largest possible impact on any such organization would be 7.5 percent of their total budget. "It is our intent that these reductions will not be an undue burden to their ministries," Glasgow said.
Associated Baptist Press, which published a story about the CBF cuts Feb. 20, sent a bulk e-mail message to heads of most of the entities affected by the cut inviting comment with a deadline for response. Those that replied said they recognize financial realities and expect to weather the storm.
"I commend the Coordinating Council's efforts to be proactive in response to declining receipts in recent months," said David Wilkinson, ABP's executive director. "The impact of the global economic crisis is forcing all of us to make difficult and painful budgetary decisions."
ABP has been included in every CBF budget since 1991. CBF currently provides about one-fifth of ABP's funding, and the contingency plan calls for reducing that amount by $33,000 in the current and following budget years.
Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, said news of the cuts "is not at all surprising."
"We are all confronting financial realities in churches, community agencies, schools and other non-profits nationwide," Leonard said. He noted all the money the seminary receives from CBF goes directly to scholarships, so students will be the ones most directly affected. Leonard said Wake Forest "is grateful for any funding that CBF can provide" and expressed hope "that these realities do not deepen in the next few years."
Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said, "These are challenging times for all charitable organizations."
"We appreciate CBF's faithful support over the years," he continued. "This cut in funding is a reminder of the importance of our partnership with CBF. But the vital work of the Baptist Joint Committee, protecting religious liberty for all, will go on -- as will the partnership."
Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, said the decision to cut the agency's CBF funding from $60,000 to $42,000 would not curtail programming related to primary objectives in 2009, including an already launched redesign of the EthicsDaily.com website.
"We think our continued productivity will be good for CBF in general and goodwill Baptists in particular," Parham said. "Now is not the time to retreat from the moral imperative to do justice and the call to advance the common good."
Charles Deweese, executive director of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, applauded the CBF "for taking steps to protect its financial viability," a move he said "reflects common sense and integrity."
"Even though the Baptist History and Heritage Society may sustain a temporary decline in funding because of our CBF-partner relationship, we will attempt to make up that loss by exploring other channels of giving," he said. "We are all in this thing together."
Curtis Freeman, director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, said the house doesn't receive any direct funding from CBF. "This may affect the number of student scholarships, though we haven't been informed," he said.
Robert Canoy, dean of the Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity, said his school has 11 students classified as CBF Scholars that receive some scholarship money, but he had not heard if their scholarships had been reduced.
Glasgow said the CBF planned to communicate specific amounts being cut in letters to partners and theology schools.
Wilkinson, who attended the Feb. 19-20 Coordinating Council meeting where the contingency plan was announced, said he looks forward to receiving more details.
"I'm not sure I understand the rationale for a 19-month contingency plan that reduces funding for CBF's partners by 30 percent since those allocations are already based on a percentage of CBF's budget," Wilkinson said. "If CBF's receipts were to fall to as much as 70 percent of budgeted income, then each partner would receive only 70 percent of its budgeted CBF allocation. I would have hoped for a more measured response that would have alerted CBF's partners to the year-to-date shortfall in receipts and to the possibility that adjustments in allocations for 2009-2010 may have to be considered. That would have allowed time to factor likely reductions into our budgets for next year while also adjusting as necessary to below-budget receipts for the current year. It's also unclear what the process will be for restoring allocations to partner organizations in the event that receipts for the year end up above the 70 percent level."
In the meantime, Wilkinson said, "I know that ABP's staff and board of directors is committed to working alongside CBF and other Baptist organizations to be faithful stewards of every dollar contributed by churches and individuals."
CBF receives about $16 million a year from individuals and 1,900 churches. Those funds both support CBF ministries -- including a global missionary force of 135 and an approximately 60-member staff -- and supplement budgets of 15 theology schools and numerous partner ministry organizations.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Parachurch groups not yet feeling economy's pinch, survey says
By Bob Allen (448 words)
WINCHESTER, Va. (ABP) -- Faith-based charities haven't been hit as hard by the economic downturn as expected, says a new survey by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
The ECFA, established in 1979 to accredit Christian non-profit organizations that model standards of financial accountability, polled members in January to gauge the economy's impact on charitable giving.
A recent survey by another organization, the National Association of Church Business Administration, found 57 percent of local congregations had experienced a slowdown in contributions.
So far that decline hasn't filtered down to parachurch ministries, however. Nationwide, nearly three quarters (72 percent) of organizations responding to the ECFA said they exceeded, met or came close to their fourth-quarter contribution goals in 2008.
Dan Busby, acting president of ECFA, said many parachurch ministries reported small donations between $10 and $100 were relatively unaffected and in some cases actually increased. Some said with widespread humanitarian concerns related to the recession, ministries that serve the poor believe they will see less impact on giving than other organizations.
That doesn't mean faith-based charities are immune to the economy. Forty-one percent said they froze or delayed salary increases due to the economic downturn, 38 percent froze or reduced hiring and 18 percent laid off staff. One in 10 (11 percent) reduced salary levels, while 4 percent moved to four-day work weeks.
Half (53 percent) said they had cut travel or conference expenses. Thirty percent cut or delayed capital projects, and about a quarter reduced programming (27 percent), cut consulting fees (23 percent), postponed or cut back on computer upgrades (23 percent) or considered outsourcing to save costs and increase efficiency (22 percent).
About one in 10 said they had considered borrowing from restricted funds or a bank, selling assets or restructuring debt.
Half (50 percent) said they had lost between 15 percent and 30 percent of their investment value, and 17 percent said investment losses topped 30 percent.
More than half (53 percent) said they had stepped up one-on-one contact with key donors. Smaller percentages reported structural changes like increased partnering (22 percent), considered merging (5 percent) or planned for the possibility of shutting down (2 percent).
Busby said most ECFA member ministries expect 2009 to be more challenging, because many major donors who made gifts in 2008 said they may not be able to renew their financial commitments because of the economy.
"But for leadership and staff members, this is ministry, not a job," Busby said. "Despite challenges, most remain committed to making positive operational and structural decisions, including developing contingency plans, which will enable them to continue to carry out God's purpose despite limited resources."
More than 300 parachurch ministries participated in the ECFA survey.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Correction
The Feb. 24 ABP story, "St. Louis church committed to its urban neighborhood for good, for God," incorrectly identified its author as John Rutledge. Jennifer Harris wrote the story. Harris is a news writer for Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist newspaper.
February 25, 2009 · (09-26)
David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer
In this issue
Supreme Cout: Sect can't force Utah city to erect monument (728 words)
Obama, in first address to Congress, focuses on economy, justice goals (763 words)
BGCT officials authorize potential use of emergency reserve funds (575 words)
CBF partner groups adjust to contingency spending cuts (971 words)
Parachurch groups not yet feeling economy's pinch, survey says (448 words)
Correction
Supreme Court: Sect can't force Utah city to erect monument
By Robert Marus (728 words)
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- In a groundbreaking, but limited, free-speech case handed down Feb. 25, the Supreme Court said the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, can't be forced to accept the gift of a monument to a small religious sect's precepts -- even though the town already displays a donated monument to the Ten Commandments in its city-owned Pioneer Park.
But, in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (No. 07-665) the opinion of a unanimous court also made clear the decision turned on whether the Decalogue monument was government speech or private speech -- not on the religious content of the speech itself. That means the existing monument could still be open to a challenge under the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bans government endorsement of religion.
"The parties' fundamental disagreement thus centers on the nature of petitioners' conduct when they permitted privately donated monuments to be erected in Pioneer Park. Were [city officials] engaging in their own expressive conduct? Or were they providing a forum for private speech?" wrote Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the court's opinion.
The decision overturns an earlier one by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of the lower court had said the sect, called Summum, has as much right to erect a monument in the park as the Fraternal Order of Eagles did in the 1960s, when it donated the Ten Commandments monument.
Leaders of the sect, based in nearby Salt Lake City, asked Pleasant Grove officials in 2003 to display the monument to the "Seven Aphorisms of Summum," which the 33-year-old group says were also handed to Moses on Mount Sinai along with the Decalogue.
The Aphorisms include such sayings as, "Everything flows out and in; everything has its season; all things rise and fall; the pendulum swing expresses itself in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."
The courts have long established that government entities providing public forums for private speech -- such as speakers' corners in city parks -- cannot discriminate in what sorts of speech are allowed. But Alito said the Ten Commandments monument and other privately donated displays in the park have effectively become government speech, and therefore the city can refuse to endorse some messages.
"The Free Speech Clause restricts government regulation of private speech; it does not regulate government speech," Alito wrote. "There may be situations in which it is difficult to tell whether a government entity is speaking on its own behalf or is providing a forum for private speech, but this case does not present such a situation. Permanent monuments displayed on public property typically represent government speech."
Several justices wrote separate concurrences limiting the effect of Alito's opinion.
Justice David Souter, who concurred only in the judgment overall and not in Alito's reasoning, noted that the case is one of the first in which the relatively new government-speech doctrine has been illuminated regarding public monuments. But, he envisioned situations in which the doctrine may come into conflict with existing court precedent on the Establishment Clause.
"After today's decision, whenever a government maintains a monument it will presumably be understood to be engaging in government speech," Souter wrote. "If the monument has some religious character, the specter of violating the Establishment Clause will behoove it to take care to avoid the appearance of a flat-out establishment of religion.... In such an instance, there will be safety in numbers, and it will be in the interest of a careful government to accept other monuments to stand nearby, to dilute the appearance of adopting whatever particular religious position the single example alone might stand for. As mementoes and testimonials pile up, however, the chatter may well make it less intuitively obvious that the government is speaking in its own right simply by maintaining the monuments."
Some supporters of church-state separation, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, had filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to take up the church-state issues the case raised.
"Because of the peculiarities of Tenth Circuit jurisprudence, Summum couched its legal claims principally in the language of free speech and viewpoint discrimination," the brief said. "The proper locus of its complaint is, however, the Establishment Clause -- which the Founders intended to serve as the principal bulwark against the government's resort to rank denominational prejudice."
Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
Obama, in first address to Congress, focuses on economy, justice goals
By Robert Marus (763 words)
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- In his first address to a joint session of Congress Feb. 24, President Obama focused squarely on the economic crisis that faces the United States and related problems with health care, education funding and fossil-fuel dependency.
"We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy, yet we import more oil today than ever before," said Obama near the beginning of his 50-minute-long address. "The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for."
In his first of what will be an annual speech to Congress -- which isn't referred to as a "State of the Union" report until the president has been in the office for a year -- Obama largely steered clear of many of the controversial social issues that often marked the speeches of his predecessor.
Obama said any response to the economic crisis must include public investment in the nation's crumbling public-services structure. He defended the trillion-dollar-plus stimulus package that passed Congress a week and a half before with only nominal Republican support and promised to deliver to Congress a budget proposal that includes spending for programs he said were designed to invest in America's future.
"I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves, that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity, for history tells a different story," Obama said. "History reminds us that, at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas."
"That is why, even as it cuts back on programs we don't need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education."
One of the few specific proposals Obama called for in the speech was designed to battle global warming. The president asked Congress for "legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America." He also requested $15 billion to develop alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
On health care, Obama praised Congress for expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), providing an estimated 11 million children with health coverage. The quip inspired one of the evening's few partisan moments, when conservative Republicans -- who largely opposed SCHIP expansion because they feared it would encourage some middle-class families to switch from private to public insurance -- sat in stony silence while Democrats and moderate Republicans applauded.
Nonetheless, Obama demanded further government investment in health-care reform, saying it was overdue and necessary for economic progress.
"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. Once again, it will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said, to bipartisan applause.
On the issue of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama promised a significant reduction in American troops in the former country, and a commitment to fighting the war on terror in a way that upholds the nation's ideals.
He reiterated his decision to close the controversial prison for terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as executive orders banning torture of detainees in U.S. custody.
Obama said he made those decisions: "because living our values doesn't make us weaker. It makes us safer, and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture. We can make that commitment here tonight."
Delivering the opposition party's traditional rebuttal, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Obama was placing too much faith in government solutions to the nation's pressing problems.
"Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts," said Jindal, a Roman Catholic, the nation's first Indian-American governor and a favorite of many conservative Christians. "The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and the enterprising spirit of our citizens."
Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
BGCT officals authorize potential use of emergency reserve funds
By Ken Camp (575 words)
DALLAS (ABP) -- The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board has granted the state convention's treasurer permission to tap up to $2.5 million in emergency-reserve funds this year.
Chief Financial Officer Jill Larsen reported Texas Cooperative Program receipts in January totaled only $4.3 million -- 78.9 percent of budget requirements and 88.2 percent of the same month's receipts last year.
According to board policies, Larsen said, the emergency funds are set aside from previous years' receipts for use in times of severe economic disruption or depression.
"While February receipts appear to be stronger, we are very concerned about the effect of the recession on our churches and their giving," Larsen wrote in a memo send to the board prior to their Feb. 24 meeting.
The balance in the reserve fund -- invested with the Baptist Foundation of Texas -- at the end of December was $7.895 million.
If the reserves are tapped, those funds will need to be repaid, Larsen noted.
"I don't really think the sky is falling," she told the board, adding she believes the convention is "well-positioned for the economic downturn."
BGCT investments dropped $40.9 million in 2008, with $34.2 million of the decrease due to market decline, Larsen reported.
Larsen commended BGCT Executive Board staff for their efforts in controlling expenses and living within resources, noting actual budget expenditures for 2008 totaled $44.7 million -- well below both the originally approved $49.8 million budget and the $45.6 million adjusted budget.
However, she also reported a customer-relations management system approved for purchase last year at about $1.49 million significantly exceeded budget. At the end of December, total costs were $2.14 million.
The system enables the BGCT to track church information such as giving records, contact information for staff members and statistics reported annually by churches to the convention. When fully implemented, it also will provide workflow management for church-starting projects, allow online registration for events and track product sales and inventories for resources.
Nestor Menjivar, pastor of Iglesia Principe de Paz in Austin, asked how the system could have gone more than 50 percent over budget, adding, "It doesn't sound like we did a very good job of controlling costs on this project."
Larsen noted several cost overruns -- $100,000 in licensing fees, $42,000 in imaging software and, primarily, $484,000 in consulting fees. Both Executive Board staff and consultants "underestimated the complexity" of the task, and it consequently "took a great deal more time" than originally projected, she said.
Fred Roach of Richardson, chairman of the board's finance subcommittee, noted the original projection included only basic equipment costs, and the board was told to anticipate some additional costs. The project actually exceeded anticipated expenses by about 20 percent, rather than 50 percent, he said.
Twin themes -- concern about the current economic situation and an urgent desire to share a message of hope -- continued to emerge throughout the board's meeting in Dallas.
"The economy is bad and could get worse," BGCT president David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, acknowledged.
"We know our convention, our state and our nation are facing significant challenges. But if we are not a people of hope, how can we share hope?" he asked.
God may use times of economic instability to remind people of their need to trust in him rather than in material resources, he suggested.
"Bad times may be the best of times for the kingdom of God," he said.
Ken Camp is managing editor of the Texas Baptist Standard.
CBF partner groups adjust to contingency spending cuts
By Bob Allen (971 words)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) -- Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner agencies commenting on an anticipated 30 percent cut in CBF funding over the next 19 months took the news in stride.
The CBF Coordinating Council recently announced spending cuts of 20 percent off of their current budget, anticipating reduced income due to the current economic recession. A significant part of the cuts would come from CBF funding for theology schools and CBF partners -- independent ministries, including Associated Baptist Press, that receive a portion of their funding through CBF. Their contributions from CBF would be slashed by 30 percent from the current budget.
"We are aware that these cuts will impact our partners," CBF Moderator Jack Glasgow said in a news release. Since CBF by policy will not provide more than 25 percent of any partner's total budget, he said the largest possible impact on any such organization would be 7.5 percent of their total budget. "It is our intent that these reductions will not be an undue burden to their ministries," Glasgow said.
Associated Baptist Press, which published a story about the CBF cuts Feb. 20, sent a bulk e-mail message to heads of most of the entities affected by the cut inviting comment with a deadline for response. Those that replied said they recognize financial realities and expect to weather the storm.
"I commend the Coordinating Council's efforts to be proactive in response to declining receipts in recent months," said David Wilkinson, ABP's executive director. "The impact of the global economic crisis is forcing all of us to make difficult and painful budgetary decisions."
ABP has been included in every CBF budget since 1991. CBF currently provides about one-fifth of ABP's funding, and the contingency plan calls for reducing that amount by $33,000 in the current and following budget years.
Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, said news of the cuts "is not at all surprising."
"We are all confronting financial realities in churches, community agencies, schools and other non-profits nationwide," Leonard said. He noted all the money the seminary receives from CBF goes directly to scholarships, so students will be the ones most directly affected. Leonard said Wake Forest "is grateful for any funding that CBF can provide" and expressed hope "that these realities do not deepen in the next few years."
Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said, "These are challenging times for all charitable organizations."
"We appreciate CBF's faithful support over the years," he continued. "This cut in funding is a reminder of the importance of our partnership with CBF. But the vital work of the Baptist Joint Committee, protecting religious liberty for all, will go on -- as will the partnership."
Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, said the decision to cut the agency's CBF funding from $60,000 to $42,000 would not curtail programming related to primary objectives in 2009, including an already launched redesign of the EthicsDaily.com website.
"We think our continued productivity will be good for CBF in general and goodwill Baptists in particular," Parham said. "Now is not the time to retreat from the moral imperative to do justice and the call to advance the common good."
Charles Deweese, executive director of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, applauded the CBF "for taking steps to protect its financial viability," a move he said "reflects common sense and integrity."
"Even though the Baptist History and Heritage Society may sustain a temporary decline in funding because of our CBF-partner relationship, we will attempt to make up that loss by exploring other channels of giving," he said. "We are all in this thing together."
Curtis Freeman, director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, said the house doesn't receive any direct funding from CBF. "This may affect the number of student scholarships, though we haven't been informed," he said.
Robert Canoy, dean of the Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity, said his school has 11 students classified as CBF Scholars that receive some scholarship money, but he had not heard if their scholarships had been reduced.
Glasgow said the CBF planned to communicate specific amounts being cut in letters to partners and theology schools.
Wilkinson, who attended the Feb. 19-20 Coordinating Council meeting where the contingency plan was announced, said he looks forward to receiving more details.
"I'm not sure I understand the rationale for a 19-month contingency plan that reduces funding for CBF's partners by 30 percent since those allocations are already based on a percentage of CBF's budget," Wilkinson said. "If CBF's receipts were to fall to as much as 70 percent of budgeted income, then each partner would receive only 70 percent of its budgeted CBF allocation. I would have hoped for a more measured response that would have alerted CBF's partners to the year-to-date shortfall in receipts and to the possibility that adjustments in allocations for 2009-2010 may have to be considered. That would have allowed time to factor likely reductions into our budgets for next year while also adjusting as necessary to below-budget receipts for the current year. It's also unclear what the process will be for restoring allocations to partner organizations in the event that receipts for the year end up above the 70 percent level."
In the meantime, Wilkinson said, "I know that ABP's staff and board of directors is committed to working alongside CBF and other Baptist organizations to be faithful stewards of every dollar contributed by churches and individuals."
CBF receives about $16 million a year from individuals and 1,900 churches. Those funds both support CBF ministries -- including a global missionary force of 135 and an approximately 60-member staff -- and supplement budgets of 15 theology schools and numerous partner ministry organizations.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Parachurch groups not yet feeling economy's pinch, survey says
By Bob Allen (448 words)
WINCHESTER, Va. (ABP) -- Faith-based charities haven't been hit as hard by the economic downturn as expected, says a new survey by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
The ECFA, established in 1979 to accredit Christian non-profit organizations that model standards of financial accountability, polled members in January to gauge the economy's impact on charitable giving.
A recent survey by another organization, the National Association of Church Business Administration, found 57 percent of local congregations had experienced a slowdown in contributions.
So far that decline hasn't filtered down to parachurch ministries, however. Nationwide, nearly three quarters (72 percent) of organizations responding to the ECFA said they exceeded, met or came close to their fourth-quarter contribution goals in 2008.
Dan Busby, acting president of ECFA, said many parachurch ministries reported small donations between $10 and $100 were relatively unaffected and in some cases actually increased. Some said with widespread humanitarian concerns related to the recession, ministries that serve the poor believe they will see less impact on giving than other organizations.
That doesn't mean faith-based charities are immune to the economy. Forty-one percent said they froze or delayed salary increases due to the economic downturn, 38 percent froze or reduced hiring and 18 percent laid off staff. One in 10 (11 percent) reduced salary levels, while 4 percent moved to four-day work weeks.
Half (53 percent) said they had cut travel or conference expenses. Thirty percent cut or delayed capital projects, and about a quarter reduced programming (27 percent), cut consulting fees (23 percent), postponed or cut back on computer upgrades (23 percent) or considered outsourcing to save costs and increase efficiency (22 percent).
About one in 10 said they had considered borrowing from restricted funds or a bank, selling assets or restructuring debt.
Half (50 percent) said they had lost between 15 percent and 30 percent of their investment value, and 17 percent said investment losses topped 30 percent.
More than half (53 percent) said they had stepped up one-on-one contact with key donors. Smaller percentages reported structural changes like increased partnering (22 percent), considered merging (5 percent) or planned for the possibility of shutting down (2 percent).
Busby said most ECFA member ministries expect 2009 to be more challenging, because many major donors who made gifts in 2008 said they may not be able to renew their financial commitments because of the economy.
"But for leadership and staff members, this is ministry, not a job," Busby said. "Despite challenges, most remain committed to making positive operational and structural decisions, including developing contingency plans, which will enable them to continue to carry out God's purpose despite limited resources."
More than 300 parachurch ministries participated in the ECFA survey.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Correction
The Feb. 24 ABP story, "St. Louis church committed to its urban neighborhood for good, for God," incorrectly identified its author as John Rutledge. Jennifer Harris wrote the story. Harris is a news writer for Word & Way, the historic Missouri Baptist newspaper.
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