For the week of July 24, 2003
Church-state ruling
A California district judge has declared a portion of the law aimed at helping
houses of worship overcome land-use disputes unconstitutional. In a little-noticed
ruling in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, Judge
Stephen Wilson said Congress redefined First Amendment rights by passing the
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The act was designed
to assure that religious groups were on equal footing in land-use disputes.
The law prohibits land-use laws that substantially burden the free exercise
of religion by a person or group – unless there is a compelling government interest
and the law in question is the least-restrictive possible approach. For instance,
the California case involved a church that was denied permission by a local
government to move into a former grocery store building. The law has proven
effective in dozens of cases, with the recent ruling marking the first time
it has been struck down by a federal judge. At present, only churches in the
court’s Los Angeles area-jurisdiction are affected by the decision, but observers
say it ultimately could affect houses of worship across the country. At least
two religious liberty groups have asked the judge to reconsider his ruling.
Anti-Muslim incidents
Reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the United States increased 15 percent
in 2002, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced recently. The council
said there were 602 reported incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination in 2002,
an increase from 525 in the previous reporting period. Council leaders also
said reports of violent physical attacks on Muslims increased by 8 percent in
2002. Most of the 602 incidents included in a council report occurred in the
workplace and at government agencies, and many dealt with employment discrimination.
Of the cases, 7 percent involved physical assault, shooting or property damage.
Verbal harassment, passenger profiling and unreasonable detention reports also
were cited. The council report said the government was one of the main violators
of Muslim civil rights, citing raids on Muslim homes and businesses, special
registration requirements and FBI mosque-counting programs. The report also
blamed some Christian leaders, specifically citing “anti-Muslim rhetoric,
especially by some evangelical leaders and neo-conservatives.” A council
spokesperson said the group is urging Muslims to become politically active in
order to ensure their civil rights. The group has a goal of getting 1 million
voters registered for the 2004 presidential election.
Hong Kong protest
Imposition of harsh anti-subversion laws could have serious implications for
Hong Kong’s large Christian community. Despite the fact that Hong Kong was handed
over to the Chinese in 1997, many foreign mission organizations still operate
freely there and churches in the autonomous region continue their quiet support
of Chinese believers on the mainland. All this could change if the new laws
are strictly enforced. Despite vocal opposition from well-educated and professional
Hong Kong residents, Chinese authorities are determined to press ahead with
new laws that ban treason, subversion and sedition. One recent protest occurred
July 1 when half a million people poured onto the streets of Hong Kong in angry
– but peaceful – demonstrations against the new laws.
Embryonic controversy
Recent creation of human embryos that were part male and part female has sparked
outcry from scientists and opponents of embryo research alike. Scientists in
Chicago recently announced they had created the hybrid embryos to study development
of humans and develop therapies for congenital diseases. Such research is legal
if it does not receive federal money and uses freely-donated embryos. The resulting
hybrid embryos were destroyed after six days. However, some fellow scientists
have reacted sharply, saying ethical discussions should precede such experimentation.
“I don’t know if this work is ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ but it should be reviewed
and discussed long and hard before it’s done, a Boston University professor
of health law and bioethics noted. Opponents of human embryo research also criticized
the recent development and renewed their call for a national debate on such
research and possible creation of a national ethics board to review embryonic
studies.
Seminary grads
Several persons with Louisiana ties recently received degrees from Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary. These included four persons who received master
of divinity degrees – Christie Annette Bray. Her home church is Pinehill Baptist
Church in Olla. Michael Wade Jones. His home church is First Baptist Church
of Tallulah. Gregory Vincent Michaelson. His home church is Istrouma Baptist
Church in Baton Rouge. Donna Marie Qualls. Her home church is First Baptist
Church of Slidell. Also, Thomas Wayne McEntire received a doctor of philosophy
degree in educational ministries. His home church is First Baptist Church of
Westlake.
Baptist World Alliance
In addition to granting full membership to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
recently (See Page Ten), the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance also
added four other groups. All four were approved for membership without debate
or discussion. New members are the Community of Baptist Church of Eastern Congo,
the Association of Baptist Church in the Central African Republic, The Baptist
Church of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba.
Homosexual marriages
Canada is poised to recognize same-sex “marriages” after the federal
government announced it would not appeal a recent court ruling. The Canadian
government said it would not appeal a court ruling that gives homosexuals within
the Ontario province the right to “marry.” Prime Minister Jean Chretien
said the government’s decision means “we have recognized the definition
that has been developed by the courts.” The Canadian government now will
move to draft a law in the coming weeks legalizing same-sex marriages. Homosexuals
already can acquire licenses only within the borders of Ontario. Meanwhile,
a British Columbia court also has approved same-sex marriage. The court approved
such marriages but imposed a ban until June 2004 in order to allow province
officials to draft a new law redefining marriage. Southern Baptist Ethics and
Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land lamented the move. “Whether
the nightmare in Canada becomes the nightmare in the United States depends entirely
on whether or not evangelical Christians are willing to stand up for what they
say they believe in and what the Bible espouses, which is that marriage is between
a man and a woman,” he said. “So, it’s up to us.”
Supreme Court focus
Religious Right leader Pat Robertson has launched a 21-day “prayer offensive”
to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest or most infirm justices to retire
so a more-conservative court can emerge. The television preacher recently e-mailed
an “urgent call for prayer” to viewers of his CBN network, asking
them to pray that several justices will retire. “One justice is 83 years
old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition,” the letter
posted on the CBN Web site notes. “Would it not be possible for God to
put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?”
While the identity of the judge with a heart condition is uncertain, Robertson
apparently meant Justice John Paul Stevens, 83, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
who had colon cancer surgery in 1999. “With their retirement and the appointment
of conservative judges, a massive change in federal jurisprudence can take place,”
Robertson says in the letter announcing “Operation Supreme Court Freedom.”
Critics of the letter responded with dismay, with one observer calling the effort
“ghoulish.”
Gospel music sales
Sales of Christian and gospel music dropped 10 percent in the first half of
2003, with industry leaders blaming music piracy and the economy. For the first
six months of 2003, sales of Christian and gospel music stood at 21,046,000
units, a decline of 2,399,000 (10.2 percent) from the same period in 2002. Despite
the drop, the genre of music maintained its market share in the