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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Kroger, Dick’s Sporting Goods pay for abortion travel

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM)—Two companies doing significant business in Louisiana have announced they will pay for all or some of their employees’ travel expenses to obtain abortions in other states if their home states ban abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court announced, June 24, its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which declared that states have the authority to regulate abortion, Louisiana declared abortion illegal except in cases of a life-threatening condition of the mother, or an ectopic pregnancy, or, when two doctors determine an unborn baby will not survive after birth. At the same time, Kroger released a statement, June 24, explaining that it offers “travel benefits up to $4,000 to facilitate access to quality care for several categories of medical treatments and a full range of reproductive health care services, including abortion and fertility treatments, for company-plan participants.” The company did not mention adoption benefits in its statement. Likewise, Dick’s Sporting Goods also announced, June 24, via linkedin.com “that if a state one of our teammates lives in restricts access to abortion, DICK’S Sporting Goods will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense … [Read more...]

SCOTUS overturns 49-year-old abortion ruling, returns issue to states

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor WASHINGTON (LBM)—The U.S. Supreme Court overturned, June 24, its previous rulings in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and returned “the authority to regulate abortion … to the people and their elected representatives.” The majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson was authored by Justice Samuel Alito, who was joined by Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas in overturning Roe v. Wade, 5-4. Chief Justice John Roberts joined these justices in upholding Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, 6-3. Meanwhile, Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in both cases. In a 66-page syllabus, a summary of the decision distributed ahead of the official opinion, the majority is reported to have concluded, “This Court cannot bring about the permanent resolution of a rancorous national controversy simply by dictating a settlement and telling people to move on. Whatever influence the Court may have on public attitudes must stem from strength of our opinions, not an attempt to exercise ‘raw judicial power’” (a reference to a dissenting opinion in Roe v. Wade, 1973). Noting that it was not the Court’s place to … [Read more...]

Messengers adopt SATC recommendations

By Baptist Message staff ANAHEIM, Calif. (LBM) – Southern Baptist Convention messengers, during a June 14 report on the Sexual Abuse Task Force, approved the creation of an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force and a “ministry check” website. The Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force will be authorized to operate for one year, but the time could be extended by messengers at each subsequent SBC Annual Meeting. The task force will work with entity heads to recommend how to pay for reforms and report about their work to messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting. According to a June 8 article from Baptist Press, Send Relief will provide $3 million to fund the proposed recommendations for sexual abuse reform, and an additional $1 million to establish a survivor care fund to provide trauma care for survivors and trauma training for pastors. Send Relief is a joint compassion ministry of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board. The task force, in coordination with the Executive Committee, will create a “ministry check” website that will maintain a record of pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and who have been or are associated … [Read more...]

Messengers choose not to abolish ERLC

By Baptist Message staff ANAHEIM, Calif. (LBM) – During the June 15 session of the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting, messengers voted against a recommendation that would have abolished the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. It was among 34 motions presented during the meeting, June 14-15, in Anaheim, California. Joshua Scruggs, a messenger from Bethlehem Baptist Church, Jacksonville, North Carolina, moved for the ERLC’s elimination, saying some of actions of the ERLC have caused “needless divisions among Southern Baptists.” Brent Leatherwood, acting ERLC president, said the entity takes the Gospel and truth to the public square and contended the ERLC was needed more than ever, especially with a decision soon by the U.S. Supreme Court that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion. “I admit that there has been frustration with the various personalities and stances over the years,” he said. “I hear you. When I was given this role, I told our team let us double down on our mission. Because regardless of the personality leading at any given point, our mission remains the same – to equip our churches to ap[1]ply Christian principles to the moral and social problems of … [Read more...]

False claim secretly deleted from pro-gay Guidepost’s report

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM)—A false claim was secretly edited out of the highly controversial, May 15, “Report of the Independent Investigation,” published by Guidepost Solutions, which now has revealed its pro-gay sympathies, tweeting July 6 that it is “proud to be an ally to our LGBTQ+ community.” It is the second pro-gay group hired by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee to deal with accusations of sexual abuse coverup. News sources previously uncovered that Bradley, a regional law firm that now represents the SBC EC, supports the Nashville gay pride festival and the national bar association for LGBT legal professionals. SECRETS The now-debunked accusation in the report was deleted on or before June 3, without an editor’s note to explain the change. The controversy concerned an exchange between Jim Richards, then the executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and Philip Bethancourt, then the executive vice president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Guidepost described the conversation on page 105 of the report with a statement that “divisions within SBC leadership were clear,” … [Read more...]