For the week of October 31, 2002
Missionary affirmations
Nearly 99 percent of Southern Baptist missionaries have complied
with a request to affirm the 2000 “Baptist Faith and Message,” Southern
Baptist International Mission Board officials report. Senior Vice President
Avery Willis reportedly is talking personally with missionaries who have not
yet complied with a January request to sign an affirmation of the faith statement.
A total of 26 missionaries have resigned while specifically citing the request
as a factor in their decision. Resignations for six others are awaiting trustee
action in November. A total of 5,437 international missionaries currently serve
with the mission board.
Graham crusade
Southern Baptist Evangelist Billy Graham broke attendance records
for Texas Stadium the last two nights of the Oct. 17-20 Metroplex Mission. Organizers
said that 11,097 spiritual decisions were recorded during the crusade. Officials
said 4.4 percent of the nearly 255,000 people attending mission meetings made
decisions for Christ. A Saturday night service aimed at a youth audience broke
the attendance record for the Dallas-area stadium in Irving, drawing 82,000.
The following Sunday evening service broke that record with 83,500 in attendance.
Despite battling Parkinson, Graham, 83, spoke during each service. “People
ask me, Isnt this your last crusade?” he said. “They
say it very hopefully, some of them,” he said to the audiences laughter.
“I say I dont know. Thats in Gods hands. I never want
to say never because we dont know.”
Sudan Peace Act
President George Bush has signed into law a bill intended to
press the Islamic regime of Sudan to end its military campaign against some
of its own citizens. The Sudan Peace Act provides immediate aid to southern
Sudans beleaguered citizens and requires the White House to monitor peace
negotiations and to enforce sanctions on the Khartoum regime if it is not negotiating
in good faith or is interfering with humanitarian aid. A largely-religious civil
war has plagued the African nation for nearly two decades. In that time, the
militant Islamic regime has waged what is described as a genocidal campaign
against Christians, animists and moderate Muslims in the southern and central
areas of the country. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
has described Sudan as “the worlds most violent abuser of religious
freedom.” However, the Sudanese regime and the resistance forces in the
south recently agreed to a ceasefire and a resumption of peace talks.
Deadly force
A pregnant woman may use deadly force to defend her fetus against
an assault, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled, opening wider a debate
about when a fetus becomes a person. The case stems from an incident in which
a woman was attacked by her boyfriend when she was 16 weeks pregnant. The man
allegedly punched the woman in the stomach twice before she stabbed him in the
chest with a kitchen knife, killing him. The woman miscarried a few weeks later,
was charged with voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five to 20 years
in prison. The jury had rejected her plea that she had acted in self-defense.
However, an appeals court reversed her conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling
the judge should have allowed her to argue that she was defending not only herself
but also “her unborn children.” One observer noted the case raises
a peculiar legal situation – the woman is allowed to use deadly force to
protect the fetus while having the right to terminate the pregnancy herself
through abortion. The case raises an important question, namely, that characterizing
miscarriage as murder would also imply abortion as murder. But the Michigan
court was careful to clarify its definition of assault on a fetus did not include
medical abortions.
Equal standing
A large percentage of Americans give equal standing to the
Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon, a recent poll by George Barna indicates.
Forty-four percent of American adults polled agreed with a statement that “the
Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon are just different expressions of the same
spiritual truths.” Thirty-eight percent rejected the idea. Among evangelicals,
10 percent agreed with the statement and 84 percent disagreed. Barna Research
Group President George Barna said the results reflect a nation with theological
views that are increasingly inclusive of other faiths. “Over the past 20
years, we have seen the nations theological views become less aligned
with the Bible,” he said. “Americans still revere the Bible and like
to think of themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests
otherwise.” Barna said Christians increasingly are adopting spiritual views
from other sources. He notes that 42 percent of Americans say they believe Jesus
committed sins, half of Americans say people who go to heaven get there by doing
good works and 54 percent of Americans say truth is discovered only from “logic,
human reasoning and personal experience,” rather than from holy texts.
I Am Who I Am
A Florida man who tried unsuccessfully to change his name to
“God” has instead legally changed his name to “I Am Who I Am.”
Charles Haffey, 55, of Lake City, turned to Exodus 3:14 when his original name
request was denied. In that verse, God tells Moses, “I Am Who I Am.”
“Thats kind of wordy, so Im just going for `I Am Who I Am
as my full legal name,” Haffey said. “My first name, of course, would
be `I Am.” The judge approved the name change in early October. Haffey
said he decided to change his name after he became a Christian last April. He
said he wanted a fresh start, including an end to the “panic, anxiety,
fear, rage, murder, suicide” that have haunted him since his service in
Vietnam. He even bought a tombstone and had his old name inscribed on it. He
said it will read, “Charles Walter Haffey, born Sept. 23, 1948, and died
Oct. 21, 1968, Republic of Vietnam.”
Church lawsuit
A North Carolina Baptist church is suing a county school board for refusing
to allow it to display a Bible verse on a banner it purchased for display at
a middle school athletic field. Oxford Baptist Church in Conover, N.C., sued
the Catawba County Board of Education and a middle-school principal, alleging
violation of the churchs freedom of speech. The school board asked community
groups to buy banners for a fundraiser to be displayed at the school athletic
field. But the school board refused to allow the church to include a Bible verse
– “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all
to the glory of God” – on theirs. The banner appeared on the field
without the scripture. A spokesman for the Christian legal group involved in
the case said the school district “doesnt want a mere separation
of church and state, but segregation of church and state.”