The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/06/2016 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Study: Pastors prefer 'Undecided' to Clinton or Trump by Bob Smietana Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Political endorsements by preachers appear to have been few and far between this election season. That may be because the most popular candidate among preachers is "I don't know," a new study shows. A new report from LifeWay Research found 4 out of 10 Protestant pastors are undecided about which candidate to vote for. A third (32 percent) plan to vote for Donald Trump. One in 5 (19 percent) plans to vote for Hillary Clinton. Four percent support Gary Johnson. Three percent do not plan to vote. Few pastors believe Christians who vote their conscience will all support the same candidate. And few say Christians should vote only for a candidate who has a reasonable chance of winning. Meanwhile, only one preacher in 100 has endorsed a candidate from the pulpit. Those are among the findings of a new survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors conducted Aug. 22-Sept. 16. Most are ambivalent about the major party candidates, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. "Donald Trump does better with pastors than Hillary Clinton," he said. "But both candidates are still less popular than 'Undecided.'" Voting is a must Researchers found wide support for voting among Protestant pastors. Eighty-eight percent of pastors say American Christians have a biblical responsibility to vote. That includes pastors of all denominational stripes -- from Pentecostal (98 percent) and Baptist pastors (95 percent) to Presbyterian/Reformed pastors (81 percent) and Church of Christ ministers (79 percent). But pastors don't expect all Christians to vote the same way. And few believe Christians should support only candidates who can win. Two-thirds (65 percent) disagree with the statement, "Christians who truly vote their conscience will vote for the same candidate." Less than a third (29 percent) agree. Six percent are not sure. Two-thirds also disagree with the statement, "American Christians should vote for a candidate who has a reasonable chance of winning." Twenty-nine percent agree. Six percent are not sure. While they believe voting is important, Protestant pastors have been extremely reluctant to make political endorsements during church services. Ninety-eight percent of pastors surveyed have not endorsed a candidate during a church service this year. One percent have endorsed a candidate during a service, and one percent are not sure. Endorsements outside church are more common. Twenty-two percent of Protestant pastors have endorsed a candidate outside of their church role. Seventy-seven percent have not. One percent are not sure. A similar survey in 2012 found 10 percent of Protestant pastors agreed when asked whether pastors should endorse a candidate from the pulpit. Eighty-seven percent disagreed. In 2012, 44 percent agreed they had endorsed candidates outside of their church role. Fifty-two percent disagreed. "Enthusiasm for endorsements appears to be waning this year," McConnell said. Motivations vary Researchers found no consensus among pastors about which characteristic matters most when choosing a candidate. Twenty-seven percent say personal character matters most. Twenty percent are most concerned about a candidate's likely Supreme Court nominees. Twelve percent say the ability to protect religious freedom is most important. Ten percent point to the candidate's position on abortion. Among other factors: the ability to improve the economy (6 percent), ability to maintain national security (5 percent) and a candidate's position on immigration (2 percent). Pastors voting for Trump are more likely to cite Supreme Court nominees (36 percent) and abortion (17 percent) and less likely to say personal character matters most (10 percent). Pastors voting for Clinton are more likely to cite personal character (28 percent) and immigration (7 percent) and less likely to cite abortion (less than 1 percent). Baptist pastors care most about potential Supreme Court nominees (28 percent). Presbyterian/Reformed (36 percent), Methodist (34 percent) and Holiness pastors (34 percent) favor personal character, and Pentecostal pastors (30 percent) care most about religious freedom. Demographics, denominations matter LifeWay Research found demographics and denominations divide pastors when it comes to the 2016 election: -- African-American pastors (37 percent) are most likely to vote for Clinton. Six percent plan to vote for Trump and 54 percent are undecided. -- White pastors (35 percent) favor Trump, while 18 percent favor Clinton and 41 percent are undecided. -- Methodist (44 percent) and Presbyterian/Reformed pastors (50 percent) are more likely to support Clinton. -- Baptist (46 percent) and Pentecostal pastors (61 percent), along with Church of Christ ministers (50 percent), are more likely to favor Trump. -- Pastors voting for Trump are the most likely to say Christians should vote for a candidate who can win (43 percent). -- Evangelical pastors (36 percent) are more likely than mainline pastors (16 percent) to say Christians who vote their conscience will support the same candidate. -- Democratic pastors (78 percent) are most likely to vote for Clinton. -- Republican pastors (53 percent) are most likely to vote for Trump. -- Pastors who are still undecided include independents (52 percent), those age 18-44 (52 percent), and evangelicals (45 percent). Clergy and other church leaders may share a common faith, McConnell said. That doesn't mean they all agree on who should lead the country. "When it comes to politics, pastors are just as divided as other Americans," McConnell said. For more on the study, read the report PDFs: Pastor Views on the 2016 Presidential Election and Pastor Endorsements of Political Candidates. Methodology: The phone survey of Protestant pastors was conducted Aug. 22-Sept. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Quotas were used for church size. Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called. Responses were weighted by region to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,000 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in subgroups. Subgroups for voting intentions are limited to likely voters. LifeWay Research is a Nashville-based, evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect churches. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: God is bigger than Hillary, Trump & my vote by Daryl Cornett Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday HAZARD, Ky. (BP) -- I've struggled with the choices we've been handed next month in perhaps the strangest and most divisive presidential election in recent history. I've listened to people I respect give their thoughts about the situation. With Hillary on the far left and Trump on the far right (I think), the choice would seem clear. But I've observed that, for some, there is a genuine struggle to endorse either with their vote. I'm a Christian who has the wonderful privilege to vote, one that not every person on the planet has. It just feels wrong to want not to vote. Fortunately, the Bible is my source for helping me know what my duty is, not as an American, but as a citizen of heaven. This is not downplaying the importance or privilege of the election, but it helps me keep all this in perspective. In 1 Peter 2:11-17, I read what God, through the apostle Peter, told early Christians was important as they navigated their culture. Because I believe in the relevancy of God's Word, I think it's just as applicable today and a particularly timely help for all believers. Peter was encouraging Christians who lived in a hostile environment where many people did not understand them, and slandered and mistreated them. He basically reminded them that their identity was bigger than their earthly citizenship and their responsibility extended beyond earthly leaders. First, Peter acknowledged that they were truly "aliens and strangers" to this world. He urged them to a proper behavior, but he put their lives into a spiritual context first. A Christian's true home is heaven, the city of God. Believers will always be spiritual refugees always on the move to their real home. So, if we feel we are out of step with our American culture, we might just want to remember the reason. This is not our true home. Second, Peter urged Christians to possess a blameless character, to be diligent in abstaining from "fleshly lusts" and to keep their behavior "excellent." He told them to do this in spite of hostility toward them. In doing so, he said some will ultimately give God glory because of such excellent behavior. Some people will become Christians, who were once hostile to Christianity, because God will use the undeniable good character of believers as a witness and opportunity for the Gospel. This should remind us that our greatest impact for the greatest good is not at the ballot box but in our daily walk with Christ and witness to others. The power of the Gospel to transform lives and even culture will flow from the church house, not the White House. Lastly, Peter instructs Christians regarding their responsibilities to God and country. A Christian's duty to his country involves submission and honor. God wills for believers to submit to governing authorities and to honor those in charge. Ideally, government protects the innocent and punishes those who do evil. And it's nice when government gets this right. This submission is given freely as an act of trust in God. We are to pray for, honor and obey leaders as far as we possibly can without compromising obedience to God. If government demands Christians to violate their conscience concerning God, then we must answer as Peter and others did in Acts 5:29, "We must obey God rather than men." Here, we pray for wisdom to know when to submit to government and when to defy it in order to obey God. Peter makes clear that the Christian's responsibility to God is to fear and obey Him. We are to give our ultimate allegiance to God. He has the priority. He has ownership. Christians are "bondslaves of God." Therefore, even though I have a duty to my country and the government that administers its affairs, my conscience and my ultimate allegiance is only God's. And I must diligently protect my conscience because God is bigger than country. So, how does this inform me as November 8th approaches? Here it is: God is bigger than Hillary and bigger than Trump. His providence over the affairs of men is bigger. His grip on my conscience is bigger. His claim on my life is bigger. I believe we are greatly blessed in this country. And, of course, we have problems too. However, God is bigger than America. Getting to vote is a privilege of citizenship in our country, but I don't think it is a divine command. I think for the Christian voter the key concern should be about conscience because this is where we are truly free in Christ. Vote your conscience, or don't vote if that is your conscience. And as you lay your head down on November 8 with that clear conscience, keep it all in perspective. God is in the process of making a people of the nations for Himself for all eternity no matter what earthly emperor, king, dictator, prime minister or president rules for a brief time in a particular place. Church, our mission is sharing the Good News and making disciples. Come January 2017, no matter who is taking the oath of office and becoming our new president, this will still be our mission. God will still be in control. And our hope will still be in Him as it always has been and always will be. -------------------------------------------------------------------- DR leaders prepare for Hurricane Matthew response by Joe Conway Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- As the first light rains from the outer bands of Hurricane Matthew passed over south Florida Wednesday, Oct. 5, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders were planning their response to the potentially devastating storm. Computer models give a high probability of a Category 4 hurricane with a massive storm surge making landfall late Thursday or early Friday somewhere near Palm Beach on Florida's east coast. SBDR state leaders in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, along with national leaders at the North American Mission Board, have been meeting and mapping out rapid response in the storm's potential aftermath. All this while a full-scale response continues to south Louisiana flooding and long-term rebuild projects in multiple states from other disasters. "We've been in close contact with our state partners and are preparing to help in any way we can," said Mickey Caison, executive director for NAMB's SBDR team. "The potential for harm to people and massive property damage is certainly a major concern. We began our first Matthew planning meeting, as we do all of our state partner meetings, in prayer." Caison said SBDR leaders have begun dialog with their counterparts with both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross to coordinate planning. Feeding units may be deployed to assist the large number of storm evacuees leaving coastal areas in advance of landfall. "The potential of a mass feeding operation and then clean up and recovery are concerns," Caison said. "We could easily be looking at eight mass feeding sites in Florida alone with capacity of 300,000 meals per day," he noted. "We are also gauging our supply preparation and transportation for water, rolled roofing and other supplies we would need to truck in." With highly populated coastal communities in the projected path, more than 2 million people have been encouraged to leave parts of Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. All three of those states' governors have declared states of emergency in advance of Matthew's arrival. Mandatory evacuations began in some south Florida communities Wednesday. Hurricane Matthew is already blamed for the deaths of at least 50 people on Caribbean islands as it passed. The storm destroyed a bridge that serves as a major thoroughfare in Haiti's western region. One forecast model even calls for Matthew to veer east and pull a 360 degree turn back into the U.S. east coast. Regardless of the storm's path or level of destruction, Southern Baptist volunteers stand ready to activate immediately and provide critical aid in response to whatever Matthew brings. NAMB coordinates and manages Southern Baptist responses to major disasters through partnerships with 42 state Baptist conventions, most of which have their own state Disaster Relief ministries. Southern Baptists have 65,000 trained volunteers -- including chaplains -- and 1,550 mobile units for feeding, chainsaw, mud-out, command, communication, child care, shower, laundry, water purification, repair/rebuild and power generation. SBDR is one of the three largest mobilizers of trained Disaster Relief volunteers in the U.S., along with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. Those wishing to donate to SBDR relief can contact the Baptist convention in their state or visit donations.namb.net/dr-donations. For phone donations, call 1-866-407-NAMB (6262) or mail checks to NAMB, P.O. Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368-6543. Designate checks for "Disaster Relief." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Alaska Baptists look ahead with new exec. director by Karen L. Willoughby Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday FAIRBANKS, Alaska (BP) -- Alaska Baptists' 71st annual meeting heralded the arrival of native son Randy Covington as the convention's new executive director/treasurer. Covington, in addressing the meeting, said Baptists will continue to impact lostness in Alaska and beyond by relying on God's direction and building on the work He has already accomplished, yet with an eye to adapt methods as needed while not compromising the Gospel message. Covington started his new role in Alaska in May, traveling across the state for listening sessions with pastors and church leaders "to renew a sense of understanding of the needs of the churches in Alaska," the executive director/treasurer said in his report to messengers during the convention's Sept. 26-28 sessions at University Baptist Church in Fairbanks, where Gary Cox is pastor. "Alaska played a major role in my spiritual formation and preparation for local and international ministry," Covington said he told the Alaskans he has met over the last five months. "Now I have the awesome privilege of giving back to Alaska what it so graciously offered to me as a young man in ministry." Under the theme from 1 Corinthians 3:9 -- "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building" -- fellowship and the excitement of a new beginning enveloped Alaska's annual meeting and the gatherings that preceded it, the pastors conference, WMU conference and missions rally. A $1.4 million budget was approved and reports were given of God's work through Southern Baptists in Alaska and around the world. "The thrust of our meeting was 'partnering together,'" Covington told Baptist Press. "This is one of the main concerns in a state that is so massive geographically. It is rare to get all of our people together in one place." This year's annual meeting highlighted "the faithful service of [recently retired executive director and his wife] Mike and Rebecca Procter," according to the Book of Reports. Special recognition was given to two longtime pastors who died last October: Robert Chadwick, who served 36 years as pastor of First Baptist Church of Birchwood, known today as The Crossing @ Birchwood, and Jimmie Stringer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Juneau from 1979-86 and again since 1995. This year's annual message, Lawrence Ellison, pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Fairbanks, and the president's sermon by Todd Burgess, pastor of First Baptist Church of Eagle River, both referenced John 6:5-9, the feeding of the 5,000. "We must always ask, 'Is there enough?' God will provide the resources," the executive director said. "He is in control!" The convention's $1,403,431.64 budget increased by less than $1,800 from the previous year. In all, 49.3 percent of the total budget -- $691,545.64 -- will come from churches' Cooperative Program giving alongside support from SBC entities. The 37 percent of Alaska CP receipts for Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries remains unchanged from the 2016 budget. "The Cooperative Program continues to be the unifying source for the support and expansion of the Gospel witness throughout the Southern Baptist Convention," Covington told Baptist Press. "In Alaska, we have been recipients of CP funding as well as active participants in giving to national and international projects." Bryan Myers, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Fairbanks, was elected president by acclamation. Eric Jones, pastor of New Birth Christian Church in Fairbanks, was elected first vice president. The other nominee, Tracy Simmons, pastor of Christ Community Church in Anchorage, was elected second vice president. Donna Fleury, a member of First Native Baptist Church in Anchorage, was elected recording secretary by acclamation. No resolutions were presented. From the ABC's 123 congregations with 12,103 members as of the 2014 Annual Church Profile, 116 messengers representing 32 churches/missions attended the annual meeting, along with 48 guests. Special guests included Frank S. Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee; Steve Bass, North American Mission Board vice president of convention relations in the western United States; Rick Curtis, NAMB regional mobilizer in the West; Wanda Lee, recently retired as executive director of national WMU; and Terry Sharp, International Mission Board state, association and urban mobilization strategy leader. Page preached from John 1:1-3 and 14 on the need for unity: "My friends, we need to realize we need everyone at the table. … The world is winning too many battles. We must recognize that what pulls us together is the centrality of Christology, of who Christ is and who He is to us in salvation and to our churches." A number of out-of-state guests were on hand to honor Covington, who was a church-planting and, later, strategy-leading missionary with the International Mission Board for 23 years before returning in May to lead Southern Baptist work in Alaska, the state where he was born, reared and served before going to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a master of arts in religious education degree in 1984 followed by a Ph.D. degree in administration in 2004. Covington had received the approval of 94 percent of messengers at a specially called business meeting in February for his selection as the convention's executive director/treasurer. In his first five months, Covington listened to pastors, church leaders and convention staff, learning that, "Now is not the time for us to step back from our commitment to reach a lost generation," the exec said in his report. He listed 11 "thoughts and impressions the Holy Spirit laid on my heart." He mentioned cultural shifts and the need to "find new ways to engage our culture with the Gospel," adding, "We must be more intentional in our efforts to cooperate with other members of the body of Christ: Southern Baptists and non-Baptist evangelicals. … "I will be forming a work group made up of Christian leaders from across our state and tasking them with investigating, interviewing and gathering information from our constituent churches and members as well as outsiders," Covington said. "They will make recommendations for new processes, programs, emphases and structure that will guide the work of the Alaska Baptist Convention for the next decade and decades to come." Staff reports included mention of a partnership between Chugach Baptist Association and the South Carolina Baptist State Convention; 18 church planters; and a group of 21 people from various cities who moved to Fairbanks in order to start a church. Mixed in with staff reports were some "only in Alaska" stories, such as the church planters who made a 400-mile journey in a boat up the Yukon River to witness in five remote native villages, among 87 such villages that still have no access to the Gospel. "The first session celebrated partnering beyond ourselves -- national and international missions -- with messages from the SBC Executive Committee, NAMB and IMB," Covington told Baptist Press. "The final session emphasized state missions and the work through the [Alaska] convention and our Valeria Sherard State Missions Offering. It was not a business meeting but a celebration and time of corporate worship and fellowship." Alaska's 2017 annual meeting will be Sept. 25-27 at First Baptist Church in Ketchikan. Gordon Mills, pastor of Glacier Valley Baptist Church in Juneau, is to deliver the annual message. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bible Study: Oct. 9, 2016 by Staff/LifeWay Christian Resources Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups. This week's Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum. Bible Passage: Revelation 3:7-13 Discussion Questions: How does it make you feel to know that God knows your deeds? Why do we often find it so difficult to remain faithful while waiting for God to work? Denying God's name means more than saying we don't know Him. How might Christians be tempted to deny His name? Food for Thought: Let's take a journey to the city of Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. No, not the one famous for the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin, cheese steak sandwiches, and poor behavior at sporting events. Not the one located in Pennsylvania, but the one located in Asia Minor and referenced in Revelation 3. Let's make a quick trip to that Philadelphia. Specifically, let's drop in on the first-century church there. What we find is a small group of believers -- small in several ways. Their numbers do not seem to have been overwhelming. The community around them would have concluded that they had little visible impact in their society. The believers we find gathered as part of this group were likewise seen as small people. They came from the lower, less influential class, from the "other side of the tracks" in Philadelphia. As we look at the church, we might be tempted to conclude that they mattered very little. Even they could have questioned their significance as a body of believers. But we might want to be careful about the conclusions we draw, for the church in Philadelphia is one of only two of the seven churched in Revelation 2-3 that did NOT receive a rebuke from Jesus. Regardless of what we or they conclude about their significance, Jesus saw enough in them to withhold any rebuke. Instead, He commended them for their deeds, for their obedience to His word, and for faithfully refusing to deny His name. Our circumstances might not suggest greatness or impress the people around us. They might fail to see us as significant; we might not matter to them. But God doesn't solicit peer reviews with which to formulate His evaluation of us. He doesn't form His opinion based on how we grade out in the eyes of others. He does weigh our deeds against His expectations. He does review our obedience to the words He has spoken to us. And He does look to see whether we deny His name. The church in Philadelphia might not look impressive, but we could learn a good deal from them! MasterWork MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at www.lifeway.com/masterwork. Other ongoing Bible study options for all ages offered by LifeWay can be found at LifeWay.com/SundaySchool. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Love and cherish in marriage, Gary Thomas advises by Diana Chandler Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- Marriage expert and bestselling author Gary Thomas remembers a time more than 30 years ago when a man spoke "hard truth" into his life. "'Gary, I'm praying that God will make you and your girlfriend miserable,'" Thomas recalled, "because it wasn't a wise relationship. And I hated him for saying it. He said 'Gary, there's something better in store; don't settle for this.' And [my girlfriend and I] broke up, and it's good that we broke up. And today I love that man for speaking the hard truth." Hard truth approached through love is what he recommends to parents and ministers addressing such cultural challenges as homosexuality and premarital sex. "It's not that the Bible's truth is unclear, it's that it's painful, and we like to avoid painful truths," Thomas said. "I believe God wants our best; He wants us to thrive and flourish, and we don't help people by lying to them about how God created the world and how He designed marriage. "I think it's really hard for 20-somethings and teens to go against the force of culture that ascribes [teaching against homosexual behavior] to hate of others rather than love for God's truth," Thomas said. "God's way is always the best way. And I think we have to be willing to speak the truth." Thomas, teaching pastor and writer in residence at Second Baptist Church in Houston, spoke with Baptist Press during a speaking engagement near Nashville in advance of the January release of his latest marriage book "Cherish." With such topics as gay marriage at the forefront in culture, Thomas, known for his 2000 bestseller "Sacred Marriage," finds it important to rely on Scripture when the topic arises -- but to also allow God to direct the focus of one's ministry. "I think it's important to engage the fight when Scripture brings it up but, he noted, "The reality is we probably have far more people in our church that are having premarital, heterosexual sex than we have people who are engaging in homosexual acts. "I don't want to let the world set the agenda for what needs to be proclaimed. As it comes up in Scripture, we need to preach God's truth without shame, believing that every command of God is birthed in love with a motivation of love, to call us to a life of love," he said. "And so we can speak those words of love with love; but on the other hand, I'm not going to let the world's insistence that we need to talk about [homosexuality] set the agenda for what the church really does need to talk about. I trust Paul and James and Peter and Jesus to set the agenda more than I trust lobby groups and interest groups and social groups based in New York and L.A." The topic of premarital, heterosexual sex is relevant to Thomas' upcoming book, which takes the focus of marriage beyond loving to cherishing. While Sacred Marriage dealt with the difficulties of the union, Thomas' upcoming book addresses what Thomas calls the "sweet spot" of marriage. "Once you've accepted that God can do good things with the difficulty of marriage, how do you begin to build a marriage where you truly cherish each other?" Thomas asked. "It dawned on me; virtually every marriage book explores love. None that I could find was exploring what it means to cherish." As love is the muscle of marriage, Thomas sees cherishing as the poetry of marriage. "You need the stamina and the love," he said, using the art of ballet as an analogy, "but you are also looking for the grace and the beauty and the poetry, and that's cherish." Every woman wants to be cherished and to be seen as Adam's Eve, the only woman in her husband's world. Thomas believes abstaining from premarital sex makes it much easier to cherish one's wife. "A cherishing marriage is based on that Adam and Eve, the only man, the only woman in the world. And it is much easier to build that attitude when you have sexual experience focused on one person," Thomas said. "God's not malicious. There are reasons behind His commands, and if we break those commands, there are consequences. It boggles my mind that we think we know better than God." The best of marriages can be difficult, said Thomas, who believes his marriage ministry has resonated with readers long-term because he has been willing to admit the difficulty of the union. The greatest challenges in marriage are the same as they've always been, he said. "Largely selfishness and pride. Both of those will assault the notion of infatuation, and no infatuation of course stands the spiritual assault of selfishness and pride," Thomas said. "God didn't create us to have happy lives if we're selfish. He created us to be involved in a purpose larger than ourselves, and if we're not doing that then I think we're going to undercut our marriages and suffocate it by asking too much of it." Matthew 6:33 is still true, said Thomas, who is online at garythomas.com: to first seek God and His righteousness before other life pursuits. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pew: Americans divided over religious liberty by David Roach Date: October 06, 2016 - Thursday NASHVILLE (BP) -- A Pew Research Center report suggesting deep division between Americans who support religious liberty and those who support so-called sexual liberty has drawn critique for its framing of issues related to contraception, same-sex marriage and transgenderism. At the same time, the report has drawn praise as generally reflective of the cultural moment. A survey released Sept. 28 found 67 percent of the 4,538 Americans polled said employers with religious objections to contraception should nonetheless be required to provide it in their employee health insurance plans. Approximately half (49 percent) of those surveyed said wedding-related businesses should be required to provide services to same-sex couples even if the business owners possess religious objections. A similar percentage (51 percent) said transgender individuals should be allowed to use restrooms corresponding with their so-called gender identity. Bill Donohue, a sociologist who serves as president of the Catholic League, said Pew's data indicates less support for religious liberty than some other surveys because "the wording of the question strongly influences the respondent's answer." Pew asked respondents to choose between upholding religious liberty and requiring equal treatment in various scenarios, according to the report. In contrast, Donohue cited a December study by the Associated Press and the independent research organization NORC that merely asked whether respondents supported religious liberty. The latter survey found 82 percent support of religious liberty protections for Christians. "When Americans are asked about their support for religious liberty in general -- when there is no competing value they are asked to weigh -- their commitment shines through," Donohue said in a news release. "But in the real world, there is usually a conflict between rights." Donohue added, "Americans prize religious liberty but they also support equal treatment. When those values conflict, much depends on whether the respondent is being asked to defend government coercion or support equal treatment: the former is not popular, but the latter is." Among Pew's findings about specific religious groups: -- A majority (53 percent) of white evangelical Protestants said employers with religious objections should be allowed to refuse to provide contraception coverage. Some 32 percent of Catholics, 23 percent of black Protestants and 15 percent of religiously unaffiliated individuals agreed. -- A full 77 percent of white evangelical Protestants said businesses should be allowed to refuse provision of wedding services to same-sex couples based on religious objections. Forty-eight percent of black Protestants agreed along with 43 percent of Catholics and 33 percent of the religiously unaffiliated. -- Regarding restroom usage, 69 percent of white evangelical Protestants said transgender people should be required to use facilities corresponding to their "birth gender." Forty-seven percent of black Protestants, 50 percent of Catholics and 28 percent of the religiously unaffiliated agreed. The Pew report's statistics regarding Catholics may be misleading, Donohue stated, because Pew did not distinguish between practicing and non-practicing Catholics -- a critique that presumably applies to statements about other religious groups as well. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, agreed that the framing of questions can affect the level of support for religious liberty. "If we put religious liberties up for a popular vote, we will not always be pleased with the result," Mohler said Sept. 29 on his podcast The Briefing, "because Americans are quite easily persuaded one way or the other by any number of factors, including exactly how this kind of question is even framed." The framing of Pew's question about contraception in particular, Mohler said, could have affected survey results. "It is claimed that Americans are basically now of one mind in terms of religious liberty on the contraception issues," Mohler said. "But this avoids a huge problem with the way that's framed." In cases like Hobby Lobby's lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court, "the big issue actually wasn't just contraception, but specific forms of contraception" not mentioned by Pew which have "an abortifacient effect." In the end, however, Donohue and Mohler say the survey rightly reflects America's division regarding religious liberty. "The greatest insight and affirmation from this research is that the basic divide in this country is theological rather than merely political or even merely moral," Mohler said. He noted that weekly attendance of religious services increases a person's likelihood of supporting religious liberty related to contraception and wedding services, according to Pew, and of supporting the restriction of restroom usage based on biology. Full results of the survey, which was conducted online and by mail Aug. 16-Sept. 12, are available at www.PewResearch.org.