Week of February 7, 2005
New Louisiana College President Joe Aguillard has selected Rouse Caffey
as interim vice president for academic affairs for the school. Caffey
assumed duties Feb. 2, two weeks after Aguillard was elected president
of the Baptist school. Caffey replaces Don Sprowl, who serves as chair
of the school’s Division of Mathematics and Computer Science and was
serving in the interim vice president position. Sprowl voluntarily
stepped down from that position following Aguillard’s election in order
to devote more time to teaching, a school news release noted. “Dr.
Caffey brings the perfect combination of administrative experience,
academic excellence and a vision for faith-based liberal arts education
that Louisiana College needs,” Aguillard said. Caffey is chancellor
emeritus of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, having
served there from 1984 to 1997. He served as chancellor of Louisiana
State University at Alexandria from 1981 to 1984. He is a member at
Jefferson Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.
GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention
(formerly the Annuity Board) reached an all-time high of $8.3 billion
in assets at the close of 2004 – a 12.1 percent increase from the 2003
closing numbers of $7.3 billion. In addition, the 13 AB Funds Trust
mutual funds available to Southern Baptist participants turned in a
positive performance for 2004 as well as continuing to post positive
returns since their inception on Aug. 27, 2001. Indeed, a
nationally-recognized company that compares the performance of mutual
funds having similar investment objective, reported that 11 out of 13
AB Funds Trust mutual funds met or exceeded their median for one- and
three-year periods as of Dec. 31, 2004. Eight of the funds were in the
top quartile for the one-year period and seven were in the top quartile
for the three-year period.
Predictions of shortfall have turned to windfall for a Salvation
Army that had to manage without a single collection kettle at a Target
store last year. The decision of Target to stop providing space in 2004
for traditional bell ringers seems actually to have helped the charity
take in a record-setting $95.3 million from other locations. Prior to
2004, the Army had counted on kettles placed at Target stores to
generate about $9 million between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. But
last year, Target announced it would no longer grant the Army an
exception to its no-solicitation policy. To help fill the projected
revenue gap, Wal-Mart, Big Lots and other retailers trumpeted their
support for the kettle drive. The result was a $1.5 million increase
from 2003.
Conservative Christian leaders say they are outraged – but not
surprised – that the box-office hit “The Passion of the Christ”
did not receive an Academy Award nomination for best picture or best
director. Mel Gibson’s film grossed $370 million in the United States
and more than $600 million worldwide but only received nominations for
“makeup,” “cinematography” and “original score.” Some religious fans
see a snub. “There’s no question that bigotry and prejudice is rank
among the liberal elite of Hollywood,” said the Louis Sheldon, founder
of the Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition. Catholic League
President William Donohue called the three nominations “second-tier.”
Gibson’s bloody depiction of the last days of Christ’s life is the
ninth highest-grossing movie in the United States of all time. Some
Jewish leaders say it was anti-Semitic in the way it portrayed Jews and
blamed them for Christ’s death, but the film was extremely popular
among Christian filmgoers. It won “favorite drama motion picture” at
the 2005 People’s Choice Awards.
A federal judge has ruled that evolution disclaimers in the form of
stickers on textbooks in a Cobb County, Ga., school district clearly
have a “secular purpose” but are unconstitutional and must be removed.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said the stickers
violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which calls
for the separation of church and state. To reach his decision, Cooper
applied a three-pronged test developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in
1971. All three prongs must be passed in order for the disclaimer to be
constitutional. Cooper determined the stickers cleared the first prong
because they serve a secular purpose, but they failed another part of
the test that asks if the statement at issue conveys a message of
endorsement or disapproval of religion to “an informed, reasonable
observer.” The judge concluded that such an observer “would interpret
the sticker to convey a message of endorsement of religion.” The
stickers in question read: “This textbook contains material on
evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of
living things. This material should be approached with an open mind,
studied carefully and critically considered.”
The woman whose challenge of a Texas law resulted in the legalization
of abortion in the United States has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to
reverse that 1973 ruling. Norma McCorvey announced recently that she
has asked justices to review and overturn their landmark Roe v. Wade
opinion. McCorvey was identified as “Jane Roe” in that case but now is
a pro-life advocate. She already has rebuffed by two lower federal
courts in her effort to challenge the Roe ruling. “America is slowly
dying of a holocaust of abortion that began with Roe v. Wade,” McCorvey
said in announcing her latest action. The effort is given little hope
of succeeding by most observers. The court has reaffirmed the Roe
opinion and maintains a 6-3 majority in support of the ruling. It is
unknown when the justices will announce their response to McCorvey’s
appeal. The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision overturned all state laws
prohibiting abortion. In combination with a Doe v. Bolton decision, the
ruling had the effect of permitting abortion for any reason throughout
pregnancy.
A recent poll indicates that 15 percent of Americans resolved to quit
smoking in 2005, ranking that as the most-popular pledge for the new
year. The same poll shows that only 4 percent of American resolved to
be kinder to others in 2005.