The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-10/16/2012 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- State-by-state advocacy of U.S. religious liberty launches by Anne Reiner Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- Representatives from nine state legislatures have announced the formation of state-level religious freedom caucuses in a new nationwide effort to combat religious discrimination. "There is a renewed interest in religious freedom in the country, and this growing attention is bringing together people of all religious faiths and political ideologies," Tim Schultz of the American Religious Freedom Program (ARFP) said during a teleconference Oct. 9. "Freedom of religion is a right that all lawmakers, and this includes state legislators, have a role in protecting and defending. "This is not an issue just for the courts," Schultz noted. With the assistance of a bipartisan group of more than 120 lawmakers -- 16 were present for the teleconference -- ARFP plans to inaugurate religious freedom caucuses in all 50 states by the end of 2013. The current states with caucuses are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The formation of these caucuses is based on two ideas, Schultz said: 1) Religious freedom is important to the majority of Americans from all faiths, and these individuals oppose "state-sponsored injury to religion" and 2) the free exercise of religion is a constitutional right that is foundational to all freedoms and must be protected by state lawmakers. Schultz -- state policy director for the AFRP, which is an initiative of the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center -- explained how the caucuses will function: -- Even though these are the first state caucuses with a religious freedom agenda, they will work in a manner similar to other legislative caucuses. -- Each caucus will consist of lawmakers who come together to discuss various public policy issues pertaining to freedom of religion both in their state and throughout the country. -- There will be a multi-state information-sharing component to connect the caucuses across the country. This will help build legislative expertise beyond that of a single caucus in one state capital. State Rep. Stephen Precourt of Florida said during the teleconference, "Religious freedom caucuses -- that is, legislators of all political and religious affiliations working together -- can work to help ensure the courts do not end up being the sole recourse for violation of religious freedom and, even better, to prevent the courts in the first place from being a means to push religious discrimination." Ron Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, which is affiliated with the Council for Secular Humanism, meanwhile expressed some skepticism about the effort in comments to Baptist Press. "Freedom of conscience is a fundamental right, and any effort to strengthen that right should be welcome," Lindsay said. "Unfortunately, 'freedom of conscience' and 'religious liberty' are sometimes improperly invoked by those who seek to impose their religious views on others, directly or indirectly. Whether the American Religious Freedom Program will help strengthen the right to freedom of conscience or subvert this right largely depends on the understanding of religious liberty that will guide its activity." Specific religious restrictions discussed in the teleconference were the removal of crosses from cemeteries in Tennessee and the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate. In 2009, Tennessee passed its version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, stipulating that the state must have a compelling governmental interest and has chosen the least restrictive option before passing a law that may infringe on an individual's religious freedom. As new attacks on religious freedom appear, it is the state lawmakers' duty to take the lead in battling these grievances, Tennessee Rep. Brian Kelsey told Baptist Press. "We would hope that there would be no need to form a religious freedom caucus, but unfortunately there have been attacks on religious freedom that have stepped up in recent years, and that is the reason we are forming this caucus at this time," Kelsey said. In early January Tennessee's seven inaugural caucus members -- four Democrats and three Republicans -- will meet to discuss their goals for the upcoming session. "My hope is that we would get to a point where we wouldn't have to fight these battles on a yearly basis," Kelsey said. "I believe that all Americans cherish our right to exercise religion freely and want to protect that right as much as possible." --30-- Anne Reiner is an intern with the Washington bureau of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Block NYC school policy, groups still urge by Staff Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- A federal appeals court should endorse a permanent block on New York City's prohibition of religious worship in public schools because the policy violates the First Amendment, the Southern Baptist Convention's religious liberty entity and others have said in a legal brief. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) joined local and national religious organizations in an Oct. 10 friend-of-the-court brief calling for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to embrace a federal judge's injunction. The brief, organized by the Christian Legal Society (CLS), says the NYC Board of Education policy barring churches and other faith groups from meeting in schools transgresses First Amendment clauses protecting the free exercise of religion and prohibiting government establishment of religion. The board's policy -- which prohibits religious groups from conducting "religious worship services" in public schools -- not only bars religious free exercise, but it "requires the government to discriminate against a religious practice as if it were disfavored, rather than expressly protected, under our Constitution," according to the brief. "At a minimum, it requires public officials and courts to entangle themselves in distinguishing between 'religious worship services' and other 'religious speech and conduct' and to discriminate among various sects in doing so." The Second Circuit ruled in 2011 that the city's ban was constitutional, prompting a crisis for dozens of churches -- including seven Southern Baptist congregations -- that used public schools for their worship services. Some moved their meetings to other facilities, but a federal judge's February ruling enabled others to continue using school buildings. In her February opinion, Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York blocked enforcement of the ban while the case was proceeding. The Second Circuit upheld the injunction five days later but urged her to release a final ruling by mid-June. Preska announced her decision June 29, ruling the ban violated both religion clauses of the First Amendment and making the injunction against it permanent. On appeal, the case is back before the Second Circuit. In the brief, the CLS, ERLC and other religious groups say the school board's policy does not even pretend to be neutral on its face. "The Board's policy openly and notoriously singles out 'religious worship services' for exclusion from the public space that is otherwise available for other social and civic functions," the brief says. The policy empowers the government to define when a particular action constitutes worship and when it does not, the brief says. A social function that includes the same attributes as a religious worship service -- such as singing, praying and speaking on "moral" topics -- would not violate the policy, according to the brief. "But once these activities are part of a religious event, they suddenly become outlawed." "To accord to the state the power to decide what does and does not qualify as a 'worship service' is to inject it into ecclesiastical decisions from which it must be walled off," the brief says. In addition to the ERLC and CLS, others signing onto the brief include the National Association of Evangelicals, American Bible Society, National Council of Churches, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Anglican Church in North America, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York, Council of Churches of the City of New York, Brooklyn Council of Churches and Queens Federation of Churches. The case is Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York. --30-- Reported by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode, with reporting by BP assistant editor Erin Roach. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Elevate prayer,' leaders ask churches & SBC by Melissa Lilley Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday OAK ISLAND, N.C. (BP) -- More than 400 feature films and television shows have used the North Carolina coastal town of Wilmington as a backdrop, and with filming underway for anticipated blockbusters such as "Iron Man 3," the scenic port city does not seem to be in jeopardy of losing its "Hollywood East" nickname anytime soon. Although Wilmington's movie tours, historic landmarks and close proximity to beaches make it a popular vacation destination, it's also home to a population that is about 65 percent unchurched. "It's a city that needs to be won for Christ," said Dennis Long, Wilmington Baptist Association director of missions, during the annual PrayerLink meeting of state and national prayer leaders with a focus on prayer as a priority in Southern Baptist ministry. "To reach this city, we must start with prayer," Long said. During the PrayerLink meeting, Wilmington and nearby Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, Southport and Oak Island were visited and prayed for. With thousands of tourists flocking each year to North Carolina's coast, these communities are strategic ministry areas. "The spiritual darkness can be overwhelming, and ministry difficult, in resort areas," said Chris Schofield, director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's office of prayer for evangelization and spiritual awakening. "There is a great need for ministry efforts to be encouraged and enhanced, and Kingdom prayer is the key," Schofield said. The Oct. 11-13 PrayerLink gathering allowed prayer leaders to network, share resources and spend significant time in prayer. Throughout the conference one theme surfaced again and again: the desperate need for spiritual awakening. Claude King, co-author of "Experiencing God" and discipleship specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources, lamented that more and more Christians have fallen in love with temporal, worldly pleasures and are not in love with Jesus Christ. "We are distracted from our first love. When we get distracted, our obedience is lacking and the sense of God's power and presence is lacking," King said. "That affects our evangelistic outreach and our influence in the world." This year's PrayerLink meeting proved strategic, as prayer leaders focused on how to help elevate the importance of prayer for spiritual awakening in local churches and among SBC entities, adopting the following three statements: -- "Seek God: Recognizing that our only hope is a God-given spiritual awakening, we acknowledge God is calling His people to seek Him through wholehearted love, righteous living and fervent, united prayer. -- "Elevate prayer: Furthermore, recognizing that prayer is essential for personal, corporate, community, national, and global spiritual transformation, we recommend to the SBC Executive Committee that prayer, as a prioritized focus, be elevated as an SBC entity ministry statement. -- "Pledge cooperation: PrayerLink leaders pledge themselves to be available as co-laborers to assist churches, associations, state conventions, and the SBC in mobilizing Kingdom prayer in cooperation with the assigned entity and other Great Commission partners." Rick Shepherd, prayer/spiritual awakening team strategist for the Florida Baptist Convention, said the statements help summarize what PrayerLink leaders regard as priority, with the first statement representing how they already see God at work. "This is the activity of God that is bubbling up," Shepherd said. PrayerLink leaders believe that with an SBC entity providing leadership, prayer for spiritual awakening could be elevated to a convention-wide emphasis, with King noting that the three statements would help "build momentum for the focus on the importance of prayer." PrayerLink leaders' sense of urgency to help bring people back to prayer is not unlike a national prayer core team that was established in the late 1980s. "They believed God had given them an assignment to call the convention to prayer," King said. That prayer core team, guided by leaders such as T.W. Hunt, Henry Blackaby and Avery Willis, helped add a prayer emphasis to the Bold Mission Thrust global evangelization initiative at the time and began providing training for state convention prayer leaders, while continuing to lead conferences and provide resources for praying toward spiritual awakening. When Bold Mission Thrust ended in 2000, state and entity leaders continued meeting each year for equipping and resourcing under the banner PrayerLink. An annual PrayerLink meeting has been held each year since, with state conventions and SBC entities taking turns hosting the gathering. This year's sessions were held at the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell on Oak Island. Over the years, PrayerLink leaders also have assisted with the prayer room during the SBC annual meeting, hosted special prayer events and called Southern Baptists to prayer through special prayer emphases. "I make PrayerLink a priority," said Mike Jackson, director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions' office of leadership and church health. "I am renewed spiritually and I come away ready to take on the tasks before me." During PrayerLink, Jackson shared that Alabama Baptists are preparing for a 60-day prayer emphasis that will include prayer at each of the state's 67 county courthouses. Similar prayer emphases are being coordinated in other state conventions. In the Dakota Baptist Convention, evangelism strategist Fred MacDonald is assisting with "Praying across the Dakotas." Churches are encouraged to adopt their county and at least one other county in prayer. North Carolina Baptists are engaging in a 30-day prayer emphasis in October as they prepare for the state convention's annual meeting in November with the theme of spiritual awakening. "We want to join God in the eternal work He is doing to redeem a lost humanity," Schofield said. "Our Lord is saying to us that we must wake up. God's time is at hand." The next PrayerLink will be held Oct. 10-12, 2013, at LifeWay's headquarters in Nashville. --30-- Melissa Lilley is research/communications coordinator for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. -------------------------------------------------------------------- McCreery Christmas CD features LifeWay song by Jon D. Wilke Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday NASHVILLE (BP) -- "Christmas in Heaven," a song written by two LifeWay Worship songwriters, is on Scotty McCreery's new Christmas CD. Christmas in Heaven, by Paul Marino and Jeremy Johnson, is one of 11 holiday songs McCreery performs on his second album, "Christmas with Scotty McCreery." In its first day on the market, Oct. 16, McCreery's CD ranked No. 3, while the LifeWay song stood at No. 124. LifeWay Worship is a church worship resource provider and song publisher within LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. McCreery came to national fame after winning the 10th season of "American Idol" as well as prestigious industry awards such as New Artist of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards and Best New Artist at the American Country Awards. He also was ranked No. 1 on Billboard's list of Top New Country Artists for 2011. "These are exciting days for us at LifeWay Worship," said Craig Adams, manager of creative development and publishing for LifeWay Worship. "[W]e want to generate songs of faith that will last for countless generations. We strive to raise up songs that impact culture for Jesus Christ." Adams expects Christmas in Heaven to become a new perennial Christmas favorite because of McCreery's talent and the message of the song. "It's the hope of heaven at Christmas," Adams said. "For many people, Christmas can be a time of pain," he said. "This could be a song of healing. It comes from the perspective of someone whose loved one has passed away. As the person takes in the sights and sounds of the Christmas season, they wonder what must it be like to celebrate the arrival of Jesus on earth from heaven." Adams noted, "Great songs always find their way. [Christmas in Heaven] will filter down through other artists, groups, churches, schools and choirs, even into other languages around the world." McCreery told American Idol that his goal for the Christmas album was to create a body of work that makes people feel good and celebrate the birth of Jesus. "I just wanted it to be holly and jolly and really lift people's spirits in the Christmas season because it's supposed to be a happy time," McCreery said. "But I also wanted to get across the real reason for the season. Christmas in Heaven is my favorite song on the album and it really speaks to that." McCreery is slated to appear Oct. 18 on LifeWay Worship's monthly web TV show, "The Choir Room." Viewers can watch the show at LifeWay.com/n/Product-Family/The-Choir-Room?type=events. LifeWay Worship's song publishing efforts date back to 2004. Since then the team has worked with artists and songwriters such as Nicole C. Mullen, Aaron Keyes, Brian Free and Assurance, Shelley E. Johnson and David M. Edwards. Since signing with LifeWay, Johnson's songs have been recorded by Steve Green, Michael W. Smith, Elliott Yamin (American Idol finalist) and Brian Free and Assurance. His music has been featured in more than 200 choral and print projects. Three of his songs were included in the 2008 Baptist Hymnal. Marino has penned 16 Top 10 singles. He was also named LifeWay songwriter of the year for 2010 and 2011. As a performer, he has sung with the vocal trio River for 20 years, serving as the group's producer, vocalist and primary songwriter. Together, the songwriting duo worked with LifeWay's Vacation Bible School team to write three of the five songs for the 2013 VBS theme, all performed by Dove Award-winning artist Jamie Grace. "Without Paul and Jeremy there would be no Christmas in Heaven," Adams said. "They were our first two exclusive songwriters and this was one of the first songs they wrote for LifeWay Worship from their pen." To learn more about the music ministry of LifeWay Worship, visit LifeWayWorship.com. Christmas with Scotty McCreery is available at McCreery's website, iTunes, Amazon and music retail stores across the country. --30-- Jon Wilke is media relations manager for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention Lyrics to Christmas in Heaven (by Jeremy Johnson/Paul Marino): December hasn't changed This town looks the same They still light that tree in the city square There's red, white, and green shining everywhere And I wish you were here And I wonder— CHORUS 1 Is the snow falling down on the streets of gold Are the mansions all covered in white Are you singing with angels, "Silent Night" I wonder what Christmas in heaven is like There's a little manger scene Down on Third and Main I must've walked right by it a thousand times But I see it now in a different light 'Cause I know you are there And I wonder CHORUS 2 Are you kneeling with shepherds before Him now Can you reach out and touch His face Are you part of that glorious, holy night I wonder what Christmas in heaven is like REPEAT CHORUS 1 © 2007 Van Ness Press, Inc. (admin. by LifeWay Worship Music Group) (ASCAP). All rights reserved. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: The great clarification: fuzzy fidelity and the rise of the nones by R. Albert Mohler Jr. Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Meet the unaffiliated. An increasing number of Americans identify with no church, denomination, or religious tradition, and this development represents a truly significant shift in the nation's pattern of belief. America's religious landscape is changing, and the contours of that change will determine the shape of the church's challenge for decades to come. An important study recently released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life points to several developments worthy of our attention -- and some of these deserve rather urgent analysis. The continued rise of the nones The Pew report reveals an increasing number of Americans who identify with no church or religious commitment. At present, one of five Americans is now "unaffiliated" and disconnected from any church or organized faith. More shocking is the fact that fully one in three Americans under age 30 report themselves as unaffiliated. "In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults," the report reveals. Of the unaffiliated, about 13 million Americans (about 6 percent) identify as atheists or agnostics, with another 33 million (14 percent) simply claiming no affiliation. The unaffiliated are not church shopping, according to the researchers. Instead, these Americans say they are very comfortable being disconnected from any church or organized faith. The unaffiliated are not openly hostile to churches or religious institutions, but they are not planning to join one. Most are not atheists or agnostics, and many follow some religious practice such as meditation, but they do not see themselves as meaningfully connected to any faith commitment. The unaffiliated tend to be young, and "generational replacement" now explains the rise in the percentage of Americans who are unaffiliated -- those also known as the "nones," who identify themselves by choosing "none" when asked for religious affiliation. As older Americans pass from the scene, they are replaced by a generation that is markedly less likely to affiliate with a church or religious tradition. One in three young adults (those under 30) have no religious affiliation, while only one in ten adults age 65 and older identify themselves that way. The end of America's Protestant majority The Pew study also confirms that Protestants are now a religious minority in America -- a development that reverses the nation's entire history until the present. According to the Pew data, only 48 percent of Americans identify as members of Protestant churches or claim a Protestant identity. The nation was overwhelmingly Protestant until waves of immigration altered that picture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Those decades saw millions of immigrants arrive on American shores, and many of these new Americans were Roman Catholic. By the middle of the twentieth century, Will Herberg would famously describe the American religious landscape in the title of one of his most influential books, "Protestant, Catholic, Jew." Now, Protestants no longer constitute a majority, and this fact represents a seismic shift in America's pattern of religious identity. Interestingly, the rise of the "nones" partly explains this shift, as fewer Americans now claim Protestant identity and more shift into the ranks of the unaffiliated. According to the Pew study, both the liberal and evangelical and conservative wings of American Protestantism share in the losses, especially among white Americans. The fact that the Catholic share of the population has remained steady is attributed to recent patterns of immigration from Latin America. Worldview implications among the unaffiliated Among the most striking revelations in the Pew report has to do with the political views of the unaffiliated as compared to Americans with a clearly defined religious identity. "The religiously unaffiliated are heavily Democratic in their partisanship and liberal in their political ideology," the report states. More than 60 percent of the unaffiliated identify with the Democratic Party and twice as many identify as liberal as compared to those who consider themselves conservatives. This pattern confirms research conducted by Robert D. Putnam and David E, Campbell, who found that church attendance was the single most effective indicator of voting choice in the recent U.S. presidential elections. The worldview liberalism of the unaffiliated is evident in the fact that 72 percent say abortion should be legal "in most or all cases" and 73 percent voice support for same-sex marriage. On questions of the role and size of government, there is less consensus among the unaffiliated, perhaps revealing a libertarian influence. In the 2008 election, 75 percent of the unaffiliated voted for Barack Obama, while only 23 percent voted for John McCain. The growth of the religiously unaffiliated within the ranks of the Democratic Party means that this group is now larger than many of the religious constituencies traditionally associated with that party, including white mainline Protestants, black Protestants, and white Catholics. As the Pew researchers suggest, the unaffiliated may soon constitute the largest single "religious" group within the Democratic Party. Moving Out, Not Moving In The most significant finding in this research may be the documentation of the fact that the rise of the unaffiliated means that the "nones" are moving out of a loose religious affiliation into none at all. In other words, those Americans who had previously reported a loose or tenuous identification with a religious body now feel free to identity with no faith at all. A casual faith is one that points to an individual moving out of any faith at all, rather than moving in. This strongly suggests that cultural Christianity, for example, is simply disappearing. As David Voas, a professor at the University of Essex in Great Britain told The Wall Street Journal, "It is starting to become socially acceptable to say, 'I don't have religion.'" Voas noted that this pattern appeared in Great Britain and Europe before it was apparent in the United States. Just a generation ago, sociologist John Murray Cuddihy noted that Americans tended to feel the need to identify with some church or religious tradition. Those with a looser affiliation often signaled this fact, Murray noted, by stating that that "happened to be" whatever identity they revealed. "I happen to be Baptist," was a shorthand for "I identify as a Baptist, but this identity has more to do with family history than anything else." Now, millions of Americans just "happen to be" nothing at all when it comes to religious identity. Thus, the increased secularization of America is revealed by the readiness of so many Americans to identify as "nones." Convictional faith vs. fuzzy fidelity The patterns revealed in the Pew report are striking and informative, but this does not mean that Americans are abandoning conviction and embracing secularism. To the contrary, the report indicates it is primarily those who previously held some loose religious affiliation who are now more likely to report no affiliation at all. The data point to a falling away of the loosely affiliated, not a departure of the faithful. As Professor Voas suggests, the unaffiliated are moving out of what he helpfully calls "fuzzy fidelity." Those marked by fuzzy fidelity usually remain loosely attached to a church or denomination, he reports, until the number of self-identified unbelievers reaches some sort of a tipping point, and then the pattern of identifying as unaffiliated grows in popularity. The Pew report would indicate that this tipping point may well have been reached in the United States. Beyond this, Christians should note that "fuzzy fidelity" is not a doorway into deeper convictional commitments. Instead, it marks the exit ramp of religious identity. The Great Clarification Christians should receive the new Pew report as a sober confirmation of patterns most believers have already detected. Many Americans who had been claiming Christian identity in some loose form now feel free to drop that identity altogether, without fear of social stigma or loss. In a Gospel perspective, this is a healthy development. It is good that non-believers know that they are, in fact, not believers. Cultural Christianity is not Christianity, and no one will find salvation through merely identifying as Christian. The disappearance of cultural Christianity will weaken the culture, but it should strengthen the church. The church, after all, had better know the difference between authentic Christian faith and "fuzzy fidelity." This new report should awaken America's Christians and our churches to the reality of the challenge we now face and the mission field we now serve. --30-- R. Albert Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. This column first appeared at his website, AlbertMohler.com. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Genderless marriages and genderless bathrooms? by Joseph Backholm Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday EDITOR'S NOTE: Joseph Backholm is executive director of a pro-traditional marriage organization in Washington state, where citizens will vote on the definition of marriage in November. Read his previous columns on the issue of gay marriage here, here and here. LYNWOOD, Wash. (BP) -- For many people, agreeing that marriage should be redefined is simply how they prove they are a good and decent person. If, however, they allow themselves to consider the possibility (and reality) that there are people of good will on both sides of this debate, suddenly our public policy decisions can be guided by good, old-fashioned, critical thought. In June, Green River Community College in Washington state celebrated "Gender Neutral Bathroom Week." At first blush, this might not seem to have much at all to do with same-sex marriage. But it does. Here's the connection. Those trying to redefine marriage take the position that there is no meaningful difference between a relationship involving two men or two women and a relationship with a man and a woman. Therefore, they argue that there is no meaningful difference between men and women in relationships. The move toward genderless bathrooms also asserts that it is improper to assume that gender represents a real and fixed difference between people. The state of Massachusetts was the first state to create so called same-sex marriage. They have since added "gender identity" to the list of protected classes under their hate crimes law which gives legal protection for men to enter the women's restroom. This represents a disturbing but consistent next step. At the end of last year, a Macy's employee in San Antonio lost her job because she attempted to keep a man dressed as a woman out of a woman's dressing room. Once we decide that gender is meaningless in one context, it raises some other questions as well. Should we eliminate Title IX, which forbids gender discrimination and requires women have the same access to opportunities as men? It would seem a bit obsolete now that we have realized men and women are actually the same. Should we eliminate boys and girls sports leagues lest we continue to reinforce the archaic notion of gender difference with our youths? Should we eliminate Mother's Day and Father's Day in favor of a more inclusive "Parent's Day"? Should women be included in a future military draft? Should the women's studies programs at our universities be mothballed? How can women have unique issues if they are not different? After all, separate is not equal. This year the left has spent a lot of time complaining about a war on women. Also this year, four states will vote on the marriage issue. It is ironic that they are concerned about a war on women in a year in which they will repeatedly argue that men and woman aren't meaningfully different, particularly when children are involved. Are we different or not? Of course, political pressures sometimes persuade people to use contradictory logic. But for those of us free of such pressures, our ability to separate the forest from the trees and actually think about the long-term implications of our decisions is critical. Otherwise, we may find ourselves in a world where both our marriages and our bathrooms are genderless. --30-- Joseph Backholm is executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, online at fpiw.org, where this column first appeared. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE STATES: Fla., N.C., La. evangelism/missions news by Staff Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday EDITOR'S NOTE: From the States, published each Tuesday by Baptist Press, relays news and feature stories from state Baptist papers and other publications on initiatives by Baptist churches, associations and state conventions in evangelism, church planting and Great Commission outreach, including partnership missions. Reports about churches, associations and state conventions responding to the International Mission Board's call to embrace the world's 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups also are included in From the States, along with reports about church, associational and state convention initiatives in conjunction with the North American Mission Board's call to Southern Baptist churches to broaden their efforts in starting new churches and satellite campuses. The items appear in Baptist Press as originally published. Today's From the States features items from: Florida Baptist Witness Biblical Recorder (North Carolina) Baptist Message (Louisiana) Seafarers ministry director moves to Port of Miami for God-ordained opportunity By Carolyn Nichols MIAMI (Florida Baptist Witness) -- For 13 years, Dan Bailey, director/chaplain of the Space Coast Seafarers' Ministry of Brevard Baptist Association, has headed a ministry to thousands of seafarers who visit Port Canaveral. He now is headed south -- back to his hometown of Miami -- to start a ministry to seafarers visiting the world's largest cruise ship port. Growing up in Miami, Bailey said he was hardly aware of the Port of Miami or of the thousands of international seafarers who set foot there. Since developing the ministry at Port Canaveral, however, he became keenly aware of the lack of an evangelical ministry to the 500,000 internationals who pass through Miami every year. "My greatest desire is for us to have a sense of love and compassion for those who work on ships seven days a week providing for their families," he said. "We have to take advantage of the opportunity to tell them about Jesus. It's an opportunity to touch the world without leaving home." After several attempts to get others interested in a ministry at the port, Bailey decided to quit trying. "I told the Lord that I was through trying to do something in Miami, but I promised, 'If anyone invites me to Miami to start a ministry, I will go,'" he wrote in the Space Coast Seafarers Ministry summer newsletter. Chuck Dewing, a retired United Evangelical Church missionary to the Philippines now living in Pinellas Park, shared Bailey's concern for the Port of Miami. The two ministers to seafarers often conversed about the needs there. When Dewing and his wife Joan travelled with their church's youth group to Miami in July, they persuaded the group to visit -- and to prayerwalk -- the port. The group of 21 youth from Suncoast Cathedral Assembly of God walked by dozens of buildings on the port property and stopped in front of an empty building with a sign, "Norwegian Seaman Union." Dewing told the Florida Baptist Witness he asked the group to surround the building and to pray that it would one day be home to a ministry to seafarers. On a visit to a nearby crew store, Dewing asked about the empty building. The clerk directed him to its owner, Hany Ayoub. When Dewey told him about the youths' prayers, Ayoub replied, "I wish someone would come to minister to the seafarers here. Do you know somebody I could ask to come?" Dewing gave him Dan Bailey's name and number. "It is amazing to see how God works. We can work for years, and He can do it in an instant. This is a situation only God could have set up," Dewing said. Meanwhile, Bailey had forgotten about his promise to God. He continued to build the ministry at Port Canaveral even during a personally trying time in which his beloved wife Carlyle, 54, died June 17 after a long illness. "She was a great pastor's wife and chaplain's wife. The Lord chose to take her home early," he said. Forty days after his wife's death, Hany Ayoub called Bailey. At first Bailey thought Ayoub, who owns several crew stores and a restaurant at Port Miami, was asking him to rent a building from him. Instead, Ayoub was offering the space for ministry. "During this conversation, the Lord reminded me of my promise, but I was expecting a call from a Baptist association or a Baptist church -- not from a businessman," he said. Within hours of the men's conversation, Bailey headed to Miami to look over the situation. Ayoub, a member of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, worked to persuade Bailey to come to Miami for the sake of the seafarers who needed a ministry there. Bailey talked through the offer with his daughters: Anna, a middle school teacher in Kendall; Clara, a freshman at Palm Beach Atlantic University; and Sarah, who works with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Bailey agreed to keep the family home in Brevard County, but to "step out in faith" to move to Miami, he said. "While my wife was sick, and I was gone from the ministry so much, I saw that they can do this without me, and now I have an opportunity to do something brand new," Bailey said. Unlike the ministry at Port Canaveral that has three full-time staff members, 80 volunteers and a budget of $289,000, the Port Miami ministry will begin with only an L-shaped modular building that will house a chapel and a library of Bibles and evangelistic materials in common languages. Bailey will have access to crew stores and to a Filipino restaurant near the ministry building. "I will walk around as a chaplain in these places—not as an administrator like I am here, but more as a pastor," he said. Bailey also hopes to have access to visiting ships since many of the ships have the same parent companies. "Every port is different, and once I get there, I will see what is needed at Port Miami," he said. Bailey may live in Miami Baptist churches' mission homes, or rent an apartment near the port. Brevard Baptist Association will continue to pay for his annuity and medical insurance. Ayoub, family and friends also will contribute to Bailey's support. The Florida Baptist Convention has agreed to contribute to the Miami Port ministry, and the Miami Baptist Association will endorse the ministry. Bailey will visit and solicit support from churches in Miami. He said the ministry will need "volunteers to hang out at the port and pass out information cards to the seamen." He asked Baptists all over the Sunshine State to pray for and to support the new ministry. "Baptists believe in missions, and once they see internationals accepting Christ and their families being changed, I think they will want to be a part of it," he said. For more information, e-mail Baild3@aol.com, or write International Seafarers Ministry, c/o Rev. Dan Bailey, 1180 S. American Way, Miami, FL 33132. The Florida Baptist Chaplains Network provides information about other chaplaincy ministry in the Sunshine State. --30-- This article appeared in the Florida Baptist Witness (gofbw.com), newsjournal of the Florida Baptist Convention. Carolyn Nichols is a newswriter for the Florida Baptist Witness. ********** Former 'bad kid' leaves N.C. to start church By K. Allan Blume CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Biblical Recorder) -- Matt Chewning is not your typical Southern Baptist church planter. He did not grow up in a Christian home. He did not grow up in the South. He did not get a seminary degree. And he has only been a believer for 12 years. But, with the North American Mission Board's (NAMB) support, Chewning leads Netcast Church, "the fastest growing church plant among Southern Baptists in greater Boston," according to Curtis Cook, the Boston City coordinator with NAMB and pastor of Hope Fellowship Church in Cambridge. Three years ago God gave Matt and Beth Chewning an unlikely vision to reach Boston with the Gospel. He left the financial security of a successful business to become an intern at 1.21 Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. Within a year they moved to the North Shore of Boston to begin the church planting process. Today he is the lead pastor of Netcast in Beverly, Mass., with more than 400 in worship. Chewning described growing up in New Jersey: "I didn't have any Christian influence in my life whatsoever. My parents were not believers -- my Mom is Jewish, my dad is Catholic. My parents split up when I was 4." He was recruited to play basketball at East Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass., near Boston. "I had no real reason to go to this school," he said. "It is a Christian college, and they asked me if I was a Christian. I said, 'I think I am because my Mom is Jewish.' I had no concept whatsoever of spirituality or Christianity or Jesus." Chewning was quickly labeled the bad kid because, "I had a really bad mouth and a bad New Jersey attitude -- totally different than most of these kids, who grew up in Christian homes." A fellow player on the team made an impression on Chewning. "He was one of those guys who was not weird, but definitely loved Jesus. I built a friendship with him and asked him one day what it meant to be saved. ... He explained it to me and in that moment ... I stopped and received Jesus. I became a Christian on Sept. 11, 2000," he said. There was some immediate transformation in his life. His language changed and his desires shifted. But he struggled with understanding what was wrong with some of his old lifestyle. In the middle of that internal conflict, Chewning admitted, "I wore a mask for a while, trying to pretend I was more spiritual than I actually was, because I was in an environment where if you're a Christian you're supposed to look a certain way. "About four years later ... I began to understand grace and the difference between walking with Christ and living the law." After graduation from college he began to climb the corporate ladder -- living in Boston for two years and five years in Greensboro, N.C. Church service They settled into Daystar Church and began serving in the church's youth ministry. The ministry grew rapidly from 30 to 500 students in about a year. That opened up unusual opportunities for Chewning to invest in the lives of young people and get a feel for what ministry looked like. He said, "I was making really good money, and I thought that is what I would do forever. ... God began to stir my heart for ministry and more specifically, church planting." One night he was wrestling with a feeling that the Lord was calling him into full-time ministry. "It freaked me out to be honest, because there was no money [in ministry], and I felt like money was very important at that time," he said. "I went to bed that night and I had a dream that I was literally planting a church in the Boston area. I didn't think much of it. Then the next night I had the same dream. We were actually starting a church in Boston Commons, which is in the heart of the city. I had the same dream from different angles for five days straight. "On the fifth day I asked my wife, 'Honey, if God was going to call us to plant a church, where would He call us?' She rolled her eyes and kinda huffed and said, 'He'd probably call us to the Boston area again.'" Startled, he told her about his dreams. He shared the idea with four pastors in the church, admitting that he and his wife were young and not ready to do this. The church leaders worked with them and about a year later they gave the Chewnings their blessings to redirect their lives into church planting. On the move "I quit my job in 2009 and became a full-time intern at 1.21 Church in Winston-Salem. My goal was to study church planting, pray through some of the specifics and raise money," he said. They moved to Boston in September 2010. They went with the intentions of meeting and loving their neighbors. Chewning said, "We had the mind set of 'we're not necessarily trying to plant a church – we're trying to plant the gospel.' The greater Boston area is about 98 percent lost." Jesus was the primary message of every conversation with their neighbors. "Within 30 days we had what we called the 'vision night' on Oct. 10, 2010." That night they shared with their friends and neighbors why they moved to Boston. They were surprised when 30 people showed up. A month later they had a similar event and 40 people came. Since their home was too small, they explored venue options and settled at the YMCA. They launched the church Jan. 23, 2011, with 120 people. "It blew our minds," he said. "A lot of college students were coming, and we were shocked with that, because [experts] say that college students don't care about church." They tried to get the people plugged into community groups and worked to sharpen up the service. "I had never preached two weeks in a row, so I didn't know what that meant. I'm trying to learn what it looks like to pastor a church and be a communicator of the gospel, at the same time, planting a church." He said the church has baptized more than 20 people the first year, and about 20 are awaiting baptism now. They outgrew the YMCA facility, so a middle school became the church's home. Again they grew from 120 to about 225 people by February of this year. By the first week in September more than 400 people attended the service. "We didn't expect this to happen so fast," Chewning said. "We're only 18 months old." Not about numbers Are numbers the true gauge of success? Not according to Netcast Church. "We really try to gauge our effectiveness – not by numbers – but by the presence of the Holy Spirit in what we do," Chewning said. "Our goal is to not be able to explain everything that happens in our church through systems, programs and organizational charts. We really want to do those things well, but we want to look at what we are doing as a church and ask, 'has the Holy Spirit fallen on us? Has the Holy Spirit done things that we can't explain?'" Chewning said he has great appreciation for North Carolina Baptists and NAMB, which provides monthly support through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. "I want to share the victory of how God has used different N.C. Baptists to significantly impact a little local church like Netcast Church in New England," Chewning said. "NAMB has been incredible to us in their encouragement, support and love – not just for me, but my entire family and the church – this has been huge," he added. "In New England you feel a sense of isolation because there are not a lot of churches. [But] Micah Millican (director of church planter relations for NAMB) calls to check on us. Jeff Christopherson (vice president for NAMB work in Canada and New England) comes to talk with us. This reminds us ... there are people who are behind us. These little things are huge in the life of a church planter." Michael Sowers, who leads the office of Great Commission Partnerships with Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC), strongly affirms the work in Boston. He said, "The BSC partnership with Boston is laser focused on helping connect N.C. Baptist churches with planters like Matt Chewning. God is blessing Matt with a platform to share the gospel in an area that is practically unreached. N.C. Baptist churches who partner with Boston planters help accelerate the fruit that is being seen already and further cultivate gospel communities in Boston." NAMB's city coordinator for Boston, Curtis Cook, added, "N.C. has been a huge and tremendous partner with the work in Boston – really engaged, helpful, motivated, significant follow through. We just can't say enough about what a great partner N.C. has been and the difference it is making in Boston with multiple church plants." According to Cook the greatest need in the N.C. partnership is for churches to commit to a partnership for two to five years. "We need churches who say, 'we want to walk with you, we want to know you, pray specifically for you ... share in your victories and challenges, bring mission teams, support you financially. "The most fruitful partnerships we have seen are those that share a mutual, ongoing commitment, and walk with a church plant for several years. ... Those are the churches that help these church plants get on a solid foundation." To find out about the church, visit netcastchurch.org; for information about N.C. Baptist's partnership with Boston, visit ncbaptist.org/boston. (EDITOR'S NOTE – If your church is interested in partnering with a Great Commission church plant, contact Mike Sowers at msowers@ncbaptist.org.) --30-- This article appearead in the Biblical Recorder (brnow.org), newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. K. Allan Blume is editor of the Biblical Recorder. ********** Revival fire helps East Fork Baptist plunge into baptisms By Holly Jo Linzay KENTWOOD, La. (Baptist Message) -- A fire of revival breaking out in East Fork Baptist Church brought in 47 new members during the last three months. "God is up to something at our church," said Mike Shumock, pastor of East Fork Baptist Church in a rural community just outside of Kentwood. "The Lord is moving in a mighty way," the pastor continued. "Of the 47 people He has added to our church, 25 of them got saved and baptized. Things are really hopping at our church. There's been an explosion." Recently, the pastor baptized 18 people, all dressed in white robes, in the Tangipahoa River in the East Fork community. The baptism drew a large crowd, with one little girl telling her mother it looked like "angels were in the river," Shumock noted. The spark of revival at his church flamed to life in late June, shortly after Vacation Bible School. The church members had been praying for revival for months. "We even had a prayer vigil asking the Lord to send revival no matter what the cost. We were asking the Lord to pour out a blessing on us, and we were really seeking His face," Shumock said. East Fork then held a revival service, and the people were packing out the church every night. After the revival service, Shumock began preaching on having an authentic relationship with the Lord. It was at a church worship service in late June when a 23-year-old woman seemed to ignite the passion of Christ in the church body with her testimony. "She was under conviction of the Lord and said she had been baptized at 8 years old, but knew she was 'lost,' and said she wanted to get saved and take care of it right then," Shumock explained. Because of VBS decorations covering the baptistry, the pastor baptized her that day in the Tangipahoa River. "She had a life-changing experience," Shumock said, adding that her profession of faith touched the hearts of many and people started walking down the aisle expressing the need for God to change their lives. In July, the church's youth group attended camp at Tall Timbers and 10 made a profession of faith. "The youth came back from camp so pumped up and so on fire," said Dana Hendry, a Sunday School teacher and children's choir director at East Fork Baptist Church. She said the youth group has grown and has not let the "fire" go out either. "The youth didn't burn out just after a few weeks. There has been a revival among them, some eye-opening experiences. They even started a youth praise band," Hendry added. The "fire of revival blazing" in the youth group caught on in the children, the pastor said. They conducted their own RA and GA camp, and six children asked Jesus into their hearts during the camp. "After that, things have kind of exploded. Adults in the community started hearing about what's been happening here at our church and have been coming," Shumock said. The Lord is being lifted up at East Fork Baptist, Hendry said, and He is drawing people to the church. "The Holy Spirit has definitely been moving. You can feel the Holy Spirit on you. You can feel the fire," Hendry said, adding that the Spirit is manifesting within the church body by reaching out to the community in a number of ways. The youth group has cleaned up the yards of several widows and shut-ins, the RA boys have washed the cars of widows, the adult groups of the church have been involved in many aspects of disaster relief and the children's choir has started singing at the local nursing homes. The youth band has started leading worship on Sunday nights. Michael Bracy, who had not gone to church since the early 1970s, said he met Hendry when he was giving out vegetables from his garden to the community. "I realized there was something different about Dana. She just seemed to have this inner glow. I wanted that," Bracy said, adding that he joined the church about two months ago. Bracy was one of the 18 who was recently baptized in the Tangipahoa River. "I have an inner peace now within myself," he said. "I feel like I have found my home after being out of church for more than 40 years. Everyone there is warm, welcoming and full of the Spirit. You can see the light of the Lord in their lives." --30-- This article appeared in the Baptist Message (baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Holly Jo Linzay submitted this piece as a special report to the Baptist Message. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Abortion mandate's legality debated by panel by Tom Strode Date: October 16, 2012 - Tuesday WASHINGTON (BP) -- Is the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate constitutional? It depends on which religious liberty/public policy expert was speaking at a recent panel discussion in the country's capital. Southern Baptist ethics and religious freedom specialist Richard Land joined three others in an Oct. 3 forum sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. The panelists responded to the question: Are religious institutions and individuals being treated like second class citizens? The controversial abortion/contraception mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services was a focus of the discussion. The rule, which has been challenged on religious liberty grounds in more than 35 lawsuits, requires employers to provide workers with health insurance that covers contraceptives and abortion-causing drugs. Critics of the mandate's religious exemption have decried it as insufficient to protect religious hospitals, schools and social service ministries, as well as some churches. The mandate is unconstitutional, said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and religious freedom litigator Jay Sekulow. Law professor Marci Hamilton, however, described it as "clearly constitutional." Public policy specialist William Galston, meanwhile, said he is uncertain about its constitutionality, although he believes it was a mistake politically and policy-wise. The abortion/contraception mandate -- with its lack of an adequate religious exemption -- is perhaps the most recent example of the attack in this country on the First Amendment's protection for religious free exercise, Land told a standing-room-only audience. "It's hard for me to imagine that we've come to the place in America where unless the HHS [mandate is] rescinded or unless [it loses] in court -- and I do predict [it] will lose in court if it comes to that because the federal judiciary is still more familiar with the Constitution evidently than some of our congressmen and some of the people who work in the executive branch are -- that people will be forced to subsidize that which they find unconscionable or pay a fine for not having health insurance for their employees or for themselves," Land said. Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, described the mandate as "one of the greatest attacks on religious freedom that our country has ever seen." The mandate "was a mistake politically, was incorrect constitutionally and is bad public policy," Sekulow said. "It's bad public policy because it wasn't necessary. It wasn't advancing a position that is constitutionally required." "[I]t's hard for me to believe that the government of the United States can condition a position to the Catholic Church that is so contrary to their teaching and doctrine that they'd have to pay penalties or forego funding -- funding that is primarily given to neighborhoods in desperate need," Sekulow told the audience. Evangelical Christian institutions, as well as Roman Catholic ones, have brought suit against the mandate. Sekulow expressed grave concern if the mandate survives its legal challenges, noting, "[I]f the government can do this, I shudder to think where it could end up." Acknowledging she disagreed "with everything that's just been said" by her fellow panelists, Hamilton said the legal challenge to the abortion/contraception mandate is "the most extreme request ever made under free exercise [of religion]." "This is not a request that involves someone saying that I can't practice my religion," said Hamilton, professor at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York City. "It's not a request that says that I can't believe what I want to believe. This is a request that says, 'I should not have to put into a fungible pile of money money that individuals who don't believe what I believe will use in ways that I don't approve of." She said, "They want to favor their own fellow religious believers or deter non-believers from working for them so the whole world will reflect their religious values. That is balkanization." Galston, a former policy adviser to President Clinton and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said about the mandate, "If I had been in the Obama White House, I would have argued vehemently for an interpretation of the Affordable Care Act very different than the one the administration eventually chose. But having said that, the issue is not one of second-class citizenship for religious believers and faith-based institutions. It is rather how best to interpret and apply our shared vision of constitutional citizenship...." Forecasting how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule when it weighs in on the mandate will not be easy, Sekulow said. It will "present a very different dynamic" than the normal free-speech cases regarding religion, he said. To those who think it is constitutional, they will present the mandate as a funding case, Sekulow said. "[T]o those of us who think it's unconstitutional, it is going to be a free-exercise case. That is where these are much more difficult to predict where [the court is] going to go." --30-- Tom Strode is Baptist Press' Washington bureau chief. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).