
The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/25/2009

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An 'Open Door' to hope and a better life in Baltimore
by Shannon Baker
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

BALTIMORE (BP)--It's an economic reality. The poor are becoming poorer. Amid the economic downturn, people with little education are losing entry-level service jobs to high school and college graduates. With dwindling opportunities to work, the poverty-stricken often wind up roaming the streets in a survival mode that often includes drugs, crime and despair.

Bill Simpson's office, nestled in a row house in what he calls the "poorest neighborhood in Maryland" -- Baltimore's McElderry Park -- is surrounded by distress.

Within one-third mile of Simpson's office, 846 households scrape by on less than $15,000 a year -- 30 percent below the U.S. poverty level for a family of four. Reach out to two-thirds of a mile and the number triples to 2,559 households.

"In any given month, about 60 percent are unemployed. Our high school dropout rate is over 65 percent, and our teen pregnancy rate exceeds 80 percent," says Simpson, executive director of Open Door Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing families and neighborhoods on Baltimore's lower east side.

"Business as usual won't get it done here."

For Simpson, who moved his office into the neighborhood this past summer, it is worth the hour-long commute to simply "show up" and seek to make a difference in the hurting community. The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware helped the ministry get started.

Simpson feels McElderry Park is "quarantined" from the rest of the city because of its overwhelming needs. But he also knows that, through Christ, much can be accomplished there.

"Emphasizing the redemptive principles of renewal, restoration and reconciliation, we believe it's wrong for 140,000 Baltimoreans to live in poverty in the nation's most affluent state," Simpson asserts. "We are strong advocates for addressing the generational poverty that devalues life, immobilizes families and communities, and feeds a cycle of failure and futility."

Open Door's mission, he explains, is three-fold: "1) to be a source of hope and encouragement for people who need a new start; 2) to be a community hub that links folks to positive and constructive activities; and 3) to be a safe haven where God's heart for hurting people and struggling families is made real every day."

Open Door's initiatives include adult learning; workforce development; life skills training; computer literacy; family services, information and referral.

"We also place a strong emphasis on emergency compassion outreach and strategic community organizing," Simpson adds. "In the final analysis, we're convinced that if you help parents and adults with their education, employment, housing and other 'felt need' issues, you really are helping the whole family and the larger community."

Simpson saw that happen when Open Door helped a 45-year-old man find a full-time job for the first time in his life. 

"We helped him develop a resume, strengthened his soft skills &#91;appearance habits, ability to fill out forms, communication and motivation skills&#93; and practiced interviewing with him," Simpson says. "It felt really good to know that we helped him get meaningful employment."

In spite of the great challenges they face, the people Open Door serves are remarkably proud, resilient, determined and optimistic, Simpson says.

"Most believe life can be better for their families. Nearly all just need a helping hand from someone who cares," he notes.

Because the need in the community is so great, Simpson describes Open Door's ministry as a "long-term proposition."

"Our goal is to not only provide short-term emergency relief, but to also form relationships that can help lead to larger life solutions for those in need," he says.

It is necessary to build trust in the community, and it takes time for Open Door to be a place people turn to if they need food for the day or simply somebody to talk with, Simpson says.

"We may not be fully resourced, but they can see us work to help them," he says.

To that end, according to a statement on its website, Open Doors "works collaboratively with schools, civic groups, businesses, foundations, government agencies, congregations and other nonprofits to identify resources, build community capacity and coordinate solution-focused holistic responses to community needs."

As part of their mission to offer compassion and encouragement to hurting people, Open Door provides limited "emergency" food, clothing and financial assistance to families in crisis. Like other nonprofits, Open Door can keep its doors open only through the generosity of others.

"It is only through the donations of food, clothing and financial support from our many friends and partners that we are able to provide emergency assistance," Simpson says. "Because we greatly appreciate their generosity, we make every attempt to be good stewards of our emergency relief resources.

Sometimes that generosity takes the form encouraging others to help, Simpson adds.

"Never underestimate your influence with others," he says. "Many of our current individual and congregational donors first became interested in supporting Open Door because someone encouraged them to get involved."
--30--
Shannon Baker is the national correspondent for BaptistLIFE (baptistlifeonline.org), newsjournal of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. Open Door is on the Internet at www.opendoorbaltimore.org.

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Ethicists: Obama misrepresented his own stem cell order during press conference
by Tom Strode
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

<i>Editor's note: For a Q&A about stem cell research click  here .</i>

WASHINGTON (BP)--Pro-life ethicists have challenged President Obama's March 24 description of his recent executive order involving destructive stem cell research.

In his nationally televised news conference, the president did not represent accurately the content or effect of his stem cell order nor did he demonstrate he actually had grappled with the ethical issues involved, despite his contention to the contrary, the ethicists said.

Asked late in the hour-long news conference about his March 9 order lifting a ban on federal funds for stem cell research that destroys human embryos, Obama said "the guidelines" he provided passed the test of being "strong moral guidelines, ethical guidelines."

"What we have said is that for embryos that are typically about to be discarded, for us to be able to use those in order to find cures for Parkinson's or for Alzheimer's or for ... all sorts of other debilitating diseases, juvenile diabetes, that ... it is the right thing to do," the president told reporters, according to a transcript published by The New York Times.

Obama said he is "glad to see progress is being made in adult stem cells. And if the science determines that we can completely avoid a set of ethical questions or political disputes, then that's great.... I have no investment in causing controversy. I'm happy to avoid it if that's where the science leads us.

"But what I don't want to do is predetermine this based on a very rigid ideological approach," he said. "And that's what I think is reflected in the executive order I signed."

His order, however, did not include guidelines, the pro-life ethicists pointed out.

"I'm a little puzzled at the president's statement about guidelines, since he didn't set guidelines but instead called for the National Institutes of Health to come up with guidelines" within 120 days, said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

Yuval Levin wrote on National Review Online, "The trouble with this is that Obama's executive order didn't actually do any of it.... &#91;I&#93;t included no ethical guidelines at all, leaving those to the NIH to decide later. Obama seemed to suggest his rules would allow funding only for the use of cell lines from embryos whose parents turned them over to researchers and were otherwise going to discard them. Whatever you think of that practice, the president's executive order established no such rule, and many of his supporters have praised him for avoiding it."

Levin, former executive director of the President's Council on Bioethics, is director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center's program on bioethics and American democracy.

Based on Obama's executive order, NIH "could, theoretically, fund stem cell lines taken from embryos created explicitly for the purpose of being destroyed," bioethics specialist Wesley Smith wrote on his weblog.

Smith also said the nature of Alzheimer's makes it unlikely to be cured by embryonic stem cells -- a reality acknowledged even by some scientists who support embryonic stem cell research (ESCR).

The ERLC's Land said he was "glad to hear President Obama reiterated that moral concerns are one of the primary components of any decision related to research that involves human life."

Yet, he and "many other pro-lifers are dismayed that he seems to equate the pro-life position with a 'rigid ideological approach.' What to some may appear to be rigidity, to others are profound, unchanging, moral convictions," Land told Baptist Press. 

Smith said Obama himself based "his order on a very rigid ideological approach that views nascent human life &#91;as&#93; so much chopped liver. Indeed, as far as I can tell, he took federal funding just as far as the law" permits.

Land said he is pleased the president "is open to alternative approaches that would not require the sacrificing of our preborn citizens in order to harvest their stem cells."


Among such alternatives produced by scientists are induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are reprogrammed adult stem cells that have the properties of embryonic stem cells and do not require harming embryos. The adult stem cells can be found in, for instance, skin cells. 

"If President Obama means what he says, then all he has to do is urge NIH to give maximum support to research with induced pluripotent stem cells rather than harvesting the stem cells from human embryos, who then die," Land said. "Not to put too fine a point on it -- the use of stem cells harvested from embryos is becoming scientifically obsolete and unnecessary as we speak."

In his order, however, Obama rescinded a 2007 order by President Bush designed to ensure studies on stem cells with embryonic-like qualities are eligible for federal funds as long as they do not harm embryos.

About how much he had "wrestled with the morality or ethics" of funding experiments that destroy human embryos, Obama said, "I wrestle with these issues every day.

"Look, I believe that it is very important for us to have strong moral guidelines, ethical guidelines, when it comes to stem cell research or anything that touches on ... the issues of possible cloning or issues related to ... the human life sciences.

"I wrestle with it on stem cell; I wrestle with it on issues like abortion," the president said.

"If he really wrestled with abortion, he lost the bout!" Smith wrote, citing Obama's opposition to minimal restrictions on abortion and apparently to conscience protections for pro-life, health-care workers.

Levin said the president's response "contains absolutely no discussion of the ethical issues. What is it he is wrestling with? What issues 'are critical?' What do the 'strong moral guidelines' need to involve?"

Obama's March 9 order overturned Bush's 2001 rule barring the use of federal funds for stem cell research that results in the destruction of human embryos. Bush permitted, however, grants for experiments on stem cell lines, or colonies, already in existence.

Because of their ability to develop into other cells and tissues, stem cells provide hope for producing cures for a variety of diseases. 

Many scientists have promoted ESCR, because stem cells from embryos are pluripotent, meaning they can transform into any cell or tissue in the body. Extracting stem cells from an embryo, however, destroys the donor. ESCR has yet to provide treatments for human beings and has been plagued by the development of tumors in lab animals. 

Human trials using stem cells from non-embryonic sources, however, have produced therapies for at least 73 ailments in human beings, despite the fact such cells are not considered pluripotent, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research. Among the afflictions treated by non-embryonic cells are cancer, juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart damage, Parkinson's, sickle cell anemia and spinal cord injuries, according to Do No Harm.

Extracting non-embryonic stem cells does not harm the donor.
--30--
Tom Strode is Baptist Press Washington bureau chief.


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Some states buck emb. stem cell trend
by Michael Foust
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

<i>Editor's note: For a Q&A about stem cell research click  here .</i>

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--President Obama may have opened the floodgates for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, but a handful of state legislatures are trying to carve a different path in what some are calling the latest front in the nation's culture wars.

In the days since Obama made his March 9 announcement, legislatures in Oklahoma, Georgia and Mississippi have taken steps toward restricting or prohibiting embryonic stem cell research. Additionally, Oklahoma's legislature passed a bill that could provide more than $1 million to adult stem cell research -- which does not involve embryos -- and a Texas Senate committee considered a bill that would establish an adult stem cell research consortium to help coordinate ethical forms of stem cell research in the state.

The states stand in stark contrast to more liberal states such as California, which began publicly funding embryonic stem cell research even before Obama issued his executive order. Embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of embryos.

"This is an issue that defines whether or not an embryo is a human being and whether or not it has any protection under our laws," Daniel Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life, told Baptist Press. "Even if you take out the religious element completely, it's problematic to treat a human embryo any way you want to."

Among the bills being considered:

-- In Oklahoma, a bill (H.B. 1326) that would ban private and public embryonic stem cell research passed the House by a vote of 82-6 March 12. The Oklahoma House also passed a bill (H.J.R. 1035), 99-0, that would ask voters whether they want to take 10 percent of the interest money from the state's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund and apply it to adult stem cell research. That percentage would amount to about $1.5 million this year, according to the Oklahoman newspaper.

-- In Georgia, a bill (S.B. 169) that would ban reproductive and therapeutic cloning passed the Senate, 34-22, March 12.

-- In Mississippi, a House committee amended a spending bill (S.B. 3219) so that it prohibits the University of Mississippi from using state dollars on "research that kills or destroys an existing human embryo."

-- In Texas, a Senate committee heard testimony March 12 on a bill (S.B. 73) that would create the Adult Stem Cell Research Consortium, which would receive both public and private money and "allow universities and cord blood banks working on adult stem cell research to coordinate," according a bill analysis. Bill supporters say the consortium would lead to more adult stem advances.

David Dunn, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Family Policy Council, said his organization supports directing part of the tobacco settlement money toward adult stem cell research.

"According to the medical research that's where all the promise is," he said. "That's where they've found success."

Dunn, though, said his organization has more than just practical reasons for opposing embryonic stem cell research.

"Even if it was proved to be advantageous we'd still be against it, because we don't believe that human beings ought to be used as a commodity for medical purposes," he said. "It's unethical."
--30--
Michael Foust is an assistant editor of Baptist Press.


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Vt. governor to veto 'gay marriage' bill
by Staff
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

MONTPELIER, Vt. (BP)--Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas broke his silence Wednesday about a "gay marriage" bill that is garnering national attention, saying he will veto it if it reaches his desk.

Whether a veto by Douglas, a Republican, will make any difference remains to be seen. A bill that would legalize "marriage" between homosexuals passed the state Senate by a veto-proof majority and is currently before the House Judiciary Committee.

Douglas' pledge, though, does provide opponents of the bill with hope. Until Wednesday, he had not taken a stand on the bill, although he had said he opposes "gay marriage." His policy has been not to take a position on any bill prior to its passage.

Democratic leaders have made the bill, H.B. 444, a priority and placed it on a fast track in an attempt to make Vermont the first state voluntarily to legalize such relationships. 

"I believe our civil union law serves Vermont well," Douglas told reporters, according to Vermont Public Radio. "Like President Obama and leaders on both sides of the aisle, I believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman. ... I'm announcing that I intend to veto this legislation when it reaches my desk." 

The bill passed the Senate during a special session, 26-4, far more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The House vote is expected to be closer.

"The speculation about my decision has added to the anxiety of the moment, and further diverts attention from our most pressing issues, and I cannot allow that to happen," Douglas said.

Douglas also speculated about a possible override, saying, "I'm sure that legislative leaders would not have advanced this bill if they didn't have the votes to override a veto."

Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states that recognize "gay marriage," although both changes in law came via court order.
--30--
Compiled by Michael Foust, an assistant editor of Baptist Press.


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Study of unchurched shows 20-somethings more spiritually open than those 30 & up
by Tobin Perry
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Despite recent media reports that young adults are running from churches in droves, the beliefs of many younger unchurched people are more connected to historic Christian beliefs than many suspected.

More 20-somethings than people 30 and older believe in the God of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ and the uniqueness of the Christian God, according to research of unchurched individuals released by LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Unchurched 20-somethings are more open than their older counterparts to hear more about Christianity -- though they do tend to hold negative views of the church, according to the research.

The data is reported in a new book, "Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them," by Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research director; Richie Stanley, team leader at the North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research; and Jason Hayes, LifeWay's young adult ministry specialist.

Hayes said the study, conducted via two telephone surveys in 2007, disputes "much of what we've read, heard and even told ourselves" in recent years about unchurched young adults being disinterested in Christianity. In reality, he said. "They are open to Christianity."

Stetzer, Hayes and Stanley pointed out that church attendance among young adults hasn't dropped off as much as previously thought. According to surveys conducted between 1972 and 2006 by the General Social Survey, a biennial research project, church attendance among young people is higher than it was in the 1990s and no more than 10 percent below its peak in the early 1970s.

The screening question for the study -- "Have you attended a religious service in a church, synagogue, or mosque, other than for special events such as a wedding or funeral, at any time in the past 6 months?" -- produced a sample of 900 unchurched respondents age 20-29 and 502 adults over 30.

For the most part, the theological beliefs of unchurched 20-29-year-olds are closer to historic Christianity than the beliefs of older generations who are unchurched. According to the study: More than 4 out of 5 of the younger group (80 percent) believe in God -- 8 percent higher than unchurched adults 30 and older. Additionally, 57 percent of 20-somethings are more likely to say "there exists only one God, the one described in the Bible" -- nearly 10 percent higher than older adults.

Unchurched 20-29-year-olds also affirm the uniqueness of the Christian God at a higher rate than their elders. While 67 percent of unchurched individuals over 30 say the God of the Bible is no different than the gods of other religions, only 58 percent of 20-somethings agree.

Unchurched 20-29-year-olds even affirm the central doctrine of Christianity -- the resurrection of Christ -- at a higher rate. Two out of 3 individuals (67 percent) in their 20s say they believe Jesus rose from the dead. Only 54 percent of older unchurched adults believe this.

"Unchurched young adults are open and believe many of the things that Christians believe, but they still need to be reached for Christ," Stetzer said. "The challenge today may not be convincing them that there was a resurrection, but convincing them there was only one that brings them new life -- and that new life is lived out in a community called 'church.'"

While 20-29-year-olds hold some more historically Christian views than their elders on a variety of core teachings, many also have nagging concerns about the church. Nearly 40 percent of respondents in their 20s believe the church wouldn't approve of their lifestyle choices. Thirty percent of older adults have the same concern.

"We need to have an accurate understanding of exactly who we're hoping to reach," Hayes said. "Churches wanting to connect with this &#91;younger&#93; generation need to be informed and prepared.

"The world is watching, and young adults are looking to see a real and authentic faith from Christians. It's not enough for the church to simply believe the right things. Our actions must be connected to these convictions as well."

The LifeWay Research survey carries a 95 percent confidence that the sampling error is 2.5 percent.
--30--
Tobin Perry is an Atlanta-area writer.


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'Purpose Driven' magazine debuts
by Erin Roach
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (BP)--Rick Warren has joined with Reader's Digest Association to produce a quarterly magazine called "Purpose Driven Connection," which is intended to reach people who aren't connected to churches.

"PDC magazine is all about transformation, not merely information. That's what sets this magazine apart from many others. It is the purpose behind every word," said Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of The Purpose Driven Life.

The premier issue, which debuted in January, has exceeded expectations in sales, Larry Ross, a spokesman for Warren, told Baptist Press.

"Rick Warren is a big visionary, and this is one of the most ambitious projects he has ever undertaken," Ross said, noting that Warren serves as editor in chief of the project. "... Gallup and Barna have both done studies that show that 19 percent of the U.S. population, about 59 million people, has read The Purpose Driven Life. 

"This has created a whole population of people out there who have started out on a spiritual journey but aren't really connected with a church to go deeper in the Christian life," Ross said.

Reader's Digest Association publishes 92 affinity magazines worldwide, including 50 editions of Reader's Digest.

"According to our Reader's Digest colleagues, they've termed this 'category-busting, genre-breaking,'" Ross said of PDC.

"People are looking to connect with the church and with God but also for tools to find spiritual solutions to the problems they face," Ross said. "So connecting and equipping are the two dimensions of this project."

One feature of the magazine is a link that directs people to the purposedriven.com website for discussion. People then have an opportunity to provide input or share their own story related to the material they've just read in the magazine, Ross said. Also, because the magazine is quarterly, the website provides additional news and feature articles between printings.

Purpose Driven Connection also offers a perspective on the news that is overlooked by the mainstream media, Ross said. For example, Warren was in Cambodia two years ago when he heard about a former Khmer Rouge leader who was responsible for the deaths of 17,000 people at a prison he managed.

A pastor in the region who was part of Warren's network of half a million pastors trained in the Purpose Driven paradigm shared the Gospel with the man, and he accepted Christ, went to seminary and became a pastor himself. When Warren told Reader's Digest about the man's testimony, RDA sent personnel to Cambodia to cover the story for the magazine.

"The story was driven by Rick but carried out by Reader's Digest," Ross said. "In the last several weeks this story has been covered almost daily in the international press including The New York Times. They've been carrying the story where he's now on trial by the international court for his crimes.

"In the secular press there's been no reference to this fellow's dramatic conversion," Ross added. "He's the only one of all the &#91;Khmer Rouge&#93; people that has confessed his crimes. All of that is laid out in the Purpose Driven Connection."

Also, the project is backed by two Reader's Digest staffers who have experience with major publications. Alyce Alston, who is overseeing the project from the RDA side, helped launch "O, The Oprah Magazine," and Frank Lalli, who is editorial director for PDC, was responsible for the launch of "Every Day with Rachael Ray," which was the largest magazine launch in history, Ross said.

"So they've got the A-team on this," Ross said.

For the premier issue, Reader's Digest printed 400,000 copies of Purpose Driven Connection, and they plan to increase the number to half a million for subsequent issues, Ross said. 

"We've heard reports that it sold out at some of the Wal-Marts the first days and weeks it was available," he said. "So it's been very well received in the first few weeks, far exceeding expectations."
--30--
Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press. 


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Why Christians should pay taxes
by Howard Dayton
Date: March 25, 2009 - Wednesday

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (BP)--In the United States, April 15 is more than the middle of the fourth month. It is the deadline date that the Internal Revenue Service has set requiring that we submit our tax reports.

How should Christians view tax day, or as some would ask, why should Christians pay their taxes?

Well, taxation without representation was an inflammatory issue early in American history. Although circumstances are different now and we no longer pay taxes to Great Britain, many issues, political and practical, still revolve around concerns over tax revenues.

One might wonder whether ordinary citizens actually are being represented appropriately at all when it comes to taxation. Bridges to nowhere, attempts to bail out financial institutions and save industries, and other immoderate acts by our elected representatives could certainly give one pause for reflection when it comes to paying taxes.

In fact, the idea of paying taxes at all is still a concern to many people who wonder whether they can legally get out of paying their income taxes each year. And, of course, to meet that sort of thinking, there are groups that falsely teach that we don't have to pay our income taxes.

While certain aspects of our tax system are without a doubt constitutionally questionable, the federal tax courts and the Supreme Court of the United States have held thus far that the tax system is both constitutional and legal. And, we have adopted a form of government in which the courts -- and not the individual -- decide legality. Therefore, we must observe those laws and pay our taxes.

The biblical mandate of a Christian's duty to the state is found in Romans 13:1-2: "Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves."

Then, in Titus 3:1-2, Paul writes: "Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people."

The Bible speaks of no requirement that the authority to which we submit be correct or righteous, but only that we obey as long as it doesn't contradict God's Word. The Roman government Paul served under was far worse than we in America could ever imagine; yet these same words admonish God's children today to honor our leaders -– local, state and national. 

The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with one of their questions, asking if He thought it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar -- the state. "Jesus said, 'Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? Show Me the coin used for the tax.' So they brought Him a denarius. 'Whose image and inscription is this?' He asked them. 'Caesar's,' they said to Him. Then He said to them, 'Therefore, give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's'" (Matthew 22:18-21).

Jesus made no distinction between what was legal and what was unfair; He simply said to give what is due to the government and give what is due to God.

There may be legal points of the income tax laws that are constitutionally questionable. Nevertheless, we have a system in this country that requires us to obey the laws that are created by our legislators. 

Therefore, whatever the legal requirement is in paying taxes, as Christians our main concern should be with the biblical responsibility to pay taxes.

The tax laws in America were established under the authority of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Sections 2, 8, and 9, and Amendment XVI: 

-- Article I, Section 2 says, "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union ..."

-- Article I, Section 8 says, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States."

-- Article I, Section 9 says, "No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.."

-- Amendment XVI says, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

Although a person should not have to pay more than is necessary, paying the federal income tax is certainly not a voluntary matter. It is the law -- and as long as taxpayers are not compelled to do something outside of God's Word, Christians must obey that law. 

And, while remembering the legal part of paying our income tax to "Caesar," don't forget the first part of that income belongs to God.
--30--
Howard Dayton is co-founder of Crown Financial Ministries and the current host of Crown's radio program, "Money Matters." Dayton and the late Larry Burkett joined forces in 2000 when Crown Ministries, led by Dayton, merged with Christian Financial Concepts, led by Burkett. The new organization became Crown Financial Ministries, on the web at www.crown.org.



