McChurch - Divesting of the Republican Party

Could Christian vote desert Republicans?

By Matt Wells BBC News, New York

The process of marginalizing the Wing-Nuts of the Christian Right has begun…The way this is happening is to play on the discomfort of Evangelicals who are fed up with being taken for granted by those who are mired in an either/or construct…This goes both ways – leftist and rightists…

McChurch is going to have a tough time living down its merger with the Republican Party…Not only have they reduced their faith to a couple of wedge issues, they have reduced God to a moral code rather than a holy being…The words of God have overtaken the Word of God…

Whatever political party you have chosen, I say get out while there is still time!

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

America's so-called "religious right" has been one of the pillars of Republican Party support in recent decades, but signs are emerging that those once secure foundations might be shifting.

In both George W Bush's presidential victories, he managed to secure a vast majority of the evangelical Christian vote.

In 2004, the "hot button" policies curtailing abortion and same-sex marriage were seen as being crucial to Republican electoral success in, for example, the key swing states of Ohio and Florida.

But in last November's Congressional races - where Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate - some Republican defeats came at the hands of a new religiously-inspired movement, which some are calling the "evangelical left".

Switching allegiance?

The reality may be that the new movement is more centrist - and fed-up with being lumped in with the orthodox religious right leadership.

It is not so much that swathes of once Republican-supporting evangelicals are switching allegiance but more a question of taking a sceptical look at the narrow agenda that has defined their relationship with the Republican Party, according to John Green, of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

This whole thing is not a struggle over ideology, it's a struggle over power Pastor Joel Hunter

"Questions like climate change, poverty and international human rights are coming to the fore, in a community that didn't used to talk about these things at all," Mr Green said.

Evidence of a subtle realignment, can be seen in the main sanctuary of Northland Church, in Orlando, Florida - a space that used to be a roller-skating rink until it was taken over by Pastor Joel Hunter.

The conservatively-dressed but sprightly mid-Westerner serves a 7,000-strong congregation that broadcasts its services live to thousands more on the internet.

He recently wrote a book called "Right Wing, Wrong Bird" outlining his concerns, and hopes for the future.

"There has to emerge a new constituency and a new set of leaders for the evangelical Christians in this country," he told the BBC Heart and Soul programme.

Power struggle

"We want to build a culture of life - but that includes the vulnerable outside the womb, as well as the vulnerable inside the womb.

"We've had too long a time where we make people who disagree with us into enemies," he added.

"I think that's not Christ-like or even intelligent. This whole thing is not a struggle over ideology, it's a struggle over power."

The call to broaden the agenda as the campaign for the White House intensifies is looked on with dismay just a few miles from Northland Church by activists who still back the fundamentalist strategies of the religious right.

John Stemberger is an attorney and president of the Florida Family Planning Council, who respects Joel Hunter's conservative credentials, but not his argument.

"The institutions of marriage and the family are under attack," he said.

"The problem with the religious left is that they are helping the party that we believe is going to reverse the flow.

"None of us think the Republicans are saints ... but you have to pick a party in order to play the game, and be successful in enacting policy in our country."

I think in many cases they (the religious right) have become intoxicated with a taste of power Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate

The politicians most affected by fissures among conservative religious voters, are the Republican presidential candidates vying for their support.

Mike Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas and a Baptist minister.

Despite his religious credentials, he is trailing far behind the current front-runner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

It is a sign of the complex new relationship between the religious right and the Republicans that Mr Giuliani, who is dubbed "America's Mayor", is doing all he can to avoid talking about his own Catholicism, mindful perhaps that thrice-married candidates can hardly be strong on personal morality issues.

'Blowing bridges up'

Mr Huckabee is disillusioned by the behaviour of the religious right leadership.

He said: "I think in many cases, they've become intoxicated with a taste of power.

"They like it - they're now looking at 'well, who's going to win, because we want to make sure that we're attached to the inevitable winner,'" he told the BBC.

He thinks the religious right could be throwing away its positive influence.

Political affiliation is not as important as what the candidate believes Gary Whitlock

"If they don't have something about which they are uniquely united ... they really serve no particular purpose," he said.

But back in Florida, the evidence on the ground is that voters who identify strongly with the religious right cannot be taken for granted and will not be told what to think anymore.

Sitting with a glass of iced-tea in the spacious home of Gary Whitlock - whose family all worship at Northland Church - he talked about how he had worked tirelessly to get out the vote for George W Bush.

Old certainties have changed and he is not certain that he will be voting Republican in 2008.

He said: "I'm not so sure the political affiliation of the person that's elected is important, so much as what the person who's elected believes.

"What the political process needs to have more of is bridge-builders, rather than people who are blowing bridges up and trying to create chasms between us."

* You can hear this second part of Matt Wells's documentary series on religion and politics in the US, on the BBC World Service's Heart and Soul programme, which airs on July 28. Check your local World Service schedule for transmission times.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6917947.stm

Published: 2007/07/27 08:52:41 GMT

© BBC MMVII

McChurch - Pushing America Toward a Reluctant Jesus

Law on religion in school spurs fear

Web Posted: 07/25/2007 01:51 AM CDT, http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA072507.1B.school.religion.387c003.html

Jenny Lacoste-Caputo
Express-News Staff Writer

“The year God was kicked out of school.” That is an amazing sentiment…Assuming God was ever in school or needed to be in school, and assuming the god of the Christian Right is so impotent that it can be kicked from hither to post, we have a crisis in theology!

I would tend to think of a date in which God was kicked out of the Church – the date the Church decided it was tired of waiting for God and took matters into its own hands by merging with the Republican Party…

1963 was the year that the Supreme Court put an end to the Christian Right pushing around minority religions…Forty years later, and McChurch is still pushing people around, at home and in the Middle East…

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

Evangelical Christians point to 1963 as the year God was kicked out of school.

Since then, there have been scores of legal battles over when, or if, religion can coincide with the school day.

This year, the Texas Legislature added more fuel to the decades-old debate by passing a law that could leave the spiritual conscience of a school up to the captain of the football team.

Lawmakers approved that law and two others that could ease the way for more religion in public schools. The changes will take effect when students return to classrooms in August.

One of the measures adds the phrase "under God" to the Texas pledge, which schoolchildren say each day right after the pledge to the U.S. flag. Another directs the State Board of Education to come up with a curriculum for elective Bible classes to ensure that such classes across the state are being taught in uniform manner. Neither measure sparked much controversy.

The third new law, dubbed the Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act, has superintendents nervous as they figure out how to implement it in the coming weeks.

It requires public school districts to adopt policies specifically allowing spontaneous religious expression by students. A so-called model policy included in the law states that upperclassmen who are student leaders — such as student council officers, class officers or the captain of the football team — should be designated as speakers.

The law does not address concerns that such a selection process could wind up leaving out minority faiths.

"This mandate is going to create a collision of ideas that should really take place outside of the school," Superintendent Richard Middleton of North East Independent School District said. "Our lawyer fees are going to go up because of this."

The new law creates a "limited open forum" that gives students the opportunity to speak about religious issues. It states that if a student speaker at a sports event, a school assembly or a graduation ceremony elects to express a religious viewpoint while addressing an otherwise permissible topic, school officials must treat the religious content the same as they would the secular content.

Jonathan Saenz, an attorney and director of legislative affairs for Free Market Foundation, helped draft the bill. He said it doesn't limit districts to the model policy.

Saenz's Plano-based group serves as the statewide public policy council associated with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family organization.

"It is up to the discretion of the school district to decide who those people are as long as they're using neutral criteria," Saenz said. "The law says they can choose those in leadership positions or other students holding positions of honor."

But Doug Laycock, a law professor at the University of Michigan who has represented the American Civil Liberties Union on First Amendment issues, said the new law attempts to "create school prayer with plausible deniability."

"This is so irresponsible," Laycock said of the law. "It's going to cause legal problems for districts across the state, and they're going to be stuck with the lawsuits."

The law also requires schools to allow religious expression in artwork, homework or other assignments and allow religious clubs or prayer groups to meet in school facilities on the same basis as other student groups — something that was already taking place in San Antonio school districts.

Brian Woods, assistant superintendent for secondary administration at Northside ISD, said he'll have to figure out what counts as a limited public forum. Is it just graduation ceremonies and school assemblies, or does it include morning announcements, usually delivered by a student over a school's public address system?

In a diverse district such as Northside, where students speak more than 30 languages, ensuring that every view is represented and no one feels marginalized will be a challenge, Woods said. He also worries about the potential for conflict.

"If a kid on the football team expresses a religious message that is not in keeping with everyone in the room, will there be protests? That school principal will have to deal with that," Woods said. "What if someone wants their time to respond then and there? If we allowed a Christian to express a religious viewpoint, and then a Wiccan wants equal time, how could we prevent them from doing the same?"

The bill's author, Rep. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, said the new law is consistent with the Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court rulings. He said the law does not give students any new rights or take any away, but makes it clear to school districts that religious discrimination is against the law and guards students against censorship, he said.

Prayer and religion were never taken out of public schools, but teachers and principals have to walk a fine line to ensure that everyone's rights are protected. Many districts across the country — including North East ISD and Austin Independent School District — offer Bible classes as electives in high school. The classes are strictly academic and study the Bible as literature.

Schools also must allow Bible study or prayer meetings on their campuses on the same basis as other student groups, and students can organize so-called "See you at the Pole" prayer groups.

At an April news conference, Gov. Rick Perry championed the legislation.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, a religious freedom group, said Texans would have been better served if lawmakers simply required school district personnel to be trained on students' existing rights.

The new law will create more problems and more lawsuits, she said.

"I don't believe it really gives students any more rights to express their faith than they already had. It denies input from community members and parents and supersedes local control," Miller said. "I think Texans should be nervous when the government tries to tell their kids how and when to pray and what to believe about God."

But Saenz of Free Market Foundation said the law clarifies a student's right to religious expression in public schools.

"The beauty of this legislation is to make it clear to schools that they can't discriminate based on belief," he said.

The Texas Association of School Boards' legal department offered guidance to school districts in a newsletter last month. The article pointed out that even offensive speech is protected and made it clear that the new law means hate speech and other discriminatory speech will now have a forum in public schools.

Texas Freedom Network's Miller said that's a problem.

"We could hear the lawyers knocking at the schoolhouse door when this bill passed," she said. "It plays politics with people's faith."

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jcaputo@express-news.net

McChurch - Waking Up to the Abortion Solution

Fighting abortion issue, Christians turn to adoption

Conservatives open hearts and homes to foster children

08:51 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By JAMES HOHMANN / The Dallas Morning News
jhohmann@dallasnews.com

After thirty years of avoiding responsibility by fighting against something that is as old as time itself, maybe McChurch is finally waking up to the fact that the best way to fight the abortion culture is (1) to have babies, (2) to adopt unwanted babies, (3) to show by example the love of Christ to a self-serving world…

You win in one generation by demographics, and the legitimacy of your faith is tested in the fires of child-raising…Seems like a no-brainer!

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

In the days before Texas had nearly 19,000 abused, abandoned and neglected children on its foster care rolls, the church often helped take care of orphans.

Now, some conservative Christians say an intense focus on hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage has come at the expense of caring for needy children. And they're doing something about it.

Casey Rogers, 8, hugs his little brother Nathan, 5, whom he hadn't seen all week while away at Bible camp. The boys are part of a blended family: Their parents have three children by adoption and two by birth.

Dallas-area families are leading by example – by taking in children from around the world. Parents and pastors are starting ministries. A national coalition that includes Focus on the Family aims to persuade thousands of churches to start adoption ministries. And the state of Texas is spending $500,000 this year to encourage churchgoers to adopt and care for foster children.

The push, still in its infancy, could help recast the image of conservative Christians, broaden the appeal of the church and, consequently, find homes for children.

"For the past 80 years, the church has really abrogated its responsibility to government, adoption agencies and others," said Christopher Padbury, executive director of Project 1.27, a Colorado-based group that has placed 60 foster children for adoption in Christian homes since 2005. "God has really taken a sledgehammer and started pounding on his churches."

Mr. Padbury's group is named after James 1:27, which says: "Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (New International Version Bible).

"We haven't done an effective job of treasuring the lives we say are so valuable," said Staci Taylor, a member of Memorial Baptist Church in Grapevine. "I think that's a big point of the church's involvement. If we're going to talk about pro-life, we equally need to discuss pro-adoption."

She said her mother, who grew up on a West Texas cotton farm, recalls a Sunday in the late 1940s when the pastor held up an orphaned girl. Standing at the pulpit of the church in Abilene, he called on the congregation for help. Members of a church family took the child in and raised her as their own.

Now Mrs. Taylor and her husband, Jeff, have responded in their own way, by adopting Ellie, a Chinese orphan.

"We thought we were finished with our family, but we began to be convinced that children were out in the world who had no hope," Mrs. Taylor said.

Ellie, 2, has adjusted well to her new home. Last month, she wore cowboy boots during a ceremony in Fort Worth at which she became a naturalized citizen.

"Ellie likes Mexican food better than Chinese food. She's fully Americanized now," Mrs. Taylor said.

And now her brother Sam, 12, and sister, Mary, 6, say they want to adopt when they grow up.

'Significant dent'

The push to encourage church members to adopt or provide foster care could have a great impact.

"If you break it down, there are over three places of worship for every child waiting to be adopted. There are 500 families for every child waiting in foster care. We can make a significant dent," said Lee Allen, spokesman for the National Council for Adoption, a nonprofit research and advocacy group that has signed on to the national coalition.

Lauren Rogers, 2, bowls in Rowlett with help from brother Austin, 11, as father, Russell, cheers them on. "Family values are on the rise," says Mr. Rogers, a pastor.

But at most churches, foster care is "not on the radar screen – yet," said Michael Monroe, a legal executive at Hunt Oil who has adopted four children – two from Texas and two from Guatemala.

He said it's not an effort to further any political agenda on behalf of the church but is a labor of love with "blood, sweat and tears."

Now, he and his wife, Amy, head the ministry for adoptive and foster families at Irving Bible Church. And last year, they helped organize The DFW Alliance, a forum for like-minded Christians to coordinate outreach efforts.

"It's been amazing," Mr. Monroe said, "to see predominantly white people in a suburban church say, 'I want to get involved.' "

Black pastors have long encouraged church members to adopt because of the great need created by broken homes and a high incidence of births out of wedlock.

"The crisis in the African-American community is so great that we needed to step up to the plate because of our history," said Tony Evans, senior pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship.

He estimates that about 50 families have adopted as a result of his church's decade-old push, which includes two adoption and foster care fairs each year.

"You have a generation of fatherlessness where men are not in the home. You can't just say 'don't abort.' You've got to have something else to provide family," he said.

Catholics and Mormons have made efforts of their own in recent decades, said Ada White, director of adoption services for the Child Welfare League of America, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.

And white Protestants have been involved to some degree in other ways. For example, Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services, which started as a Baptist orphanage in Dallas, has placed more than 4,000 children since 1884.

The new emphasis for conservative Christians is growing on three levels: through local churches, through a state faith-based initiative and through a powerful national coalition.

The national push

A coalition of evangelicals and child advocacy groups is spreading the pro-adoption message on the national level.

•Last November, religious broadcasters dedicated a week of airtime to adoption. Bill Pennington, director of Family Life's Hope for Orphans, estimates the blitz reached up to 10 million evangelical Christians over 10 days. "We were introducing this audience to a biblical world view of orphan care," he said. "This is not just a marketing campaign to white suburban churches."

•For three days in May, Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, cheered on 350 supporters at a Colorado summit. The guests included 100 ministers who are promoting adoption from the pulpit.

Sean, 3, was adopted in 2005 after being fostered for a year. "These are not fish. You cannot just throw them back," Shelly Rogers has said.

•Last month, Mr. Pennington chaired a meeting in Grapevine where 10 coalition leaders planned the next two years of outreach.

Mr. Pennington, who lives in Garden Ridge, Texas, with three of his six children, said the effort is a genuine push to help children around the world, not a sly attempt at a political makeover. Yet, he and others note that the adoption initiatives are drawing new people.

The Texas initiative

Texas started a program to get churches involved in foster care in 2003. Child Protective Services calls it Congregations Helping in Love and Dedication, or CHILD.

Recruiters visit churches to train and certify adults as foster parents, with the goal of preparing at least two families per congregation. "It really has been a partnership with these groups who were an untapped resource before," said Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman.

Ninety churches have signed up to work with the state since the program was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry.

As a result of training sessions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 32 families have been licensed and 76 children have been placed in homes, Ms. Gonzales said. Four children have been placed for permanent adoption, she said.

Concerns and stereotypes on both sides – about working with religious groups or working with government bureaucrats – stopped the program from growing.

"There's a tendency for the state to look at the church and say 'Well, they spank their kids' or 'They beat their kids.' But that's not the case. We're all about helping those kids heal using love and logic," said Matt Donovan, who helped start the Foster and Adoption Ministry at The Village Church in Highland Village.

He and his wife, Kristin, have a 3-year-old daughter and want another baby. They cared for a foster child for four months this year and hope to have another child placed in their home soon.

Carolyn Robinson, a Coppell mother of three, was the first to be certified as a foster parent at Irving Bible Church after three weekends of what she called "very intense training," including CPR certification and a background check.

"We think about the bureaucracy of calling up CPS," Mrs. Robinson said. "They're bringing it to us."

Last August, the Robinsons got their first placement, a 3-day-old boy who is still in their home. "He's brought a lot of joy and spunk to our house," she said.

The local network

Church coordinators are finding various ways for members to help. Some ministries have "respite networks" with volunteers who are certified to baby-sit foster children. Money is set aside to support lower-income families who take in children. Adoption prayer circles are formed.

Mr. Rogers assists Jessica Clark with paperwork at a Trinity Life Baptist information session on how to become a foster or adoptive parent.

Ministries like Irving Bible's Tapestry sponsor nights out for parents where they can talk about the challenges of adopting or taking in foster children.

"We cannot expect these kids to come from overseas or our foster system and become the model child in the church," Mr. Monroe said. "We want our families to know those are considerations and risks that need to be understood, not necessarily feared."

Church support networks can help families for months or years.

"Hillary Clinton said it takes a village to raise a child," said Russell Rogers, senior pastor at Trinity Life Baptist Church in Garland who has three children through adoption and two by birth. "While there's many things Hillary Clinton has done I don't agree with, I would agree with that."

Mr. Rogers called the initiative a revival.

"Not a church revival with meetings," he said, "but a true revival where we're seeing people's hearts and actions change. Revival can never begin in the White House. Revival has to begin in our house."

Families put faith in the foster system

The Rogers family

Russell and Shelly Rogers didn't have children during their first six years of marriage. So they adopted two – and then Mrs. Rogers got pregnant.

They went through the state of Texas to get their kids and fostered other children to fill the extra rooms in their home.

"My wife said, 'These are not fish. You cannot just throw them back,' " recalled Mr. Rogers, senior pastor at Trinity Life Baptist Church in Garland. "We should bend over backwards to help these children."

The couple have three children by adoption and two by birth: Austin, 11, Casey, 8, Nathan, 5, Sean, 3, and Lauren, 2.

"The idea that the family wants the perfect Caucasian child, and the fear that foster children won't be that, is absolutely, positively not true," Mr. Rogers said. "Our family is a living proof of that."

Mr. Rogers, a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and a spokesman for Texas' church-recruitment initiative, dedicates a Sunday service in November to celebrate foster and adoptive families. The service drew about 1,000 people last fall.

"Family values are on the rise," he said. "From a spiritual perspective, I believe God is working in hearts and in lives to bring to the forefront of the Christian community the need for us to be doers of the word and not hearers only."

Will the Rogerses adopt more?

"We're thrilled," Mr. Rogers said, "but we're through."

The Donovan family

Matt and Kristin Donovan, with Jaimes, 3, recently fostered a child. The couple hope to grow their family through the foster system.

It was bedtime in Matt and Kristin Donovan's Coppell apartment. Just after 8:30 on a recent night, the two parents sat with their 3-year-old daughter, Jaimes, and took turns reading from A Child's First Bible.

Mr. Donovan read the story of the Good Samaritan. "Jesus says helping was the right thing," he told his birth daughter.

Next to them was an empty crib. From January to June, a foster child slept there until the state placed him with a member of his extended family.

"We were maybe the only people praying for his parents," Mr. Donovan said. "Being part of his story was really exciting. On a personal level, it's such a joy."

Learning about foster care motivated the couple to start a foster and adoption ministry this year at The Village Church in Highland Village.

They've been married four years and want another baby.

"Investigating became training became licensing," said Mr. Donovan, a Web site designer. "We're doing foster to adopt, which means we're trying to grow our family though the foster system. We're OK to see some kids come and go. Our prayer right now is that God will place us with a child who will need a home."

Now, they're back on the foster care waiting list.

The Monroe family

After struggling with fertility problems, Michael and Amy Monroe decided to adopt. Now, as leaders of Irving Bible Church's adoption ministry, the couple are encouraging other Christians to do the same.

Michael and Amy Monroe lead an adoption ministry as a way to say thank you for their young blessings (from left): Miles, Kate, Grant and Carter.

"We do this as a way to say 'thank you' for the tremendous blessings we've experienced," said Mr. Monroe, a corporate attorney.

Those blessings are Miles, 6, Grant, 5, Kate, 3, and Carter, 3. The first two were adopted in Texas; the twins are from Guatemala. All four are Latino.

"They understand their skin is brown and our skin is peach, as they say," Mr. Monroe said. "We help them understand that what's happened to them in a physical sense is a great metaphor for God taking us in. We're helping them develop a healthy sense of who they are, not what we want them to be."

Since most of their friends are also adoptive parents and they trek to the airport to welcome new babies, Mr. Monroe said, "Our kids often think baggage claim is the hospital delivery ward."

The Monroes field lots of questions from their own kids.

"Bedtime is an adventure," Mr. Monroe said. "If it's not questions about God, it's questions about birth parents or something. We look at these as wonderful opportunities."

The Taylor family

Since early in their 18-year marriage, Jeff and Staci Taylor have sent $25 a month through World Vision to sponsor a child in an African village. But over time, they felt that sending money wasn't enough when millions of children are in need worldwide.

Staci Taylor says daughter Ellie may look different from her other kids, Mary and Sam, but "we try to use that to toot the horn for adoption."

So the Taylors – who have two biological children, Sam, 12, and Mary, 6 – adopted Ellie, a Chinese orphan.

"If I had a house with more rooms, I would not hesitate to do it again," Mrs. Taylor said.

Ellie looks different from the rest of the family, and the clan often gets curious looks in public. "We try to use that to toot the horn for adoption," Mrs. Taylor said.

At school, Sam said a friend bet him $5 that Ellie couldn't possibly be his real sister. "I won, but he never paid up," said Sam, sitting on a couch in the living room of their home in Grapevine.

Mrs. Taylor is a stay-at-home mom. Mr. Taylor owns a small business. Last month, they formed an adoption ministry at Memorial Baptist Church in Grapevine. When Mrs. Taylor spoke before the church to pitch the new ministry, she wore a special necklace to keep her from feeling nervous – it was a charm with the Chinese symbol for joy.

Issues Q&A

Church ministries are helping people learn about the risks and joys of adoption and taking in foster children. Here are their answers about some of the issues:

Can Christian couples teach their foster children about Christ?

Yes, foster parents are free to take the children to church. If the child has a stated religious preference, Texas Child Protective Services tries to place him or her with a family of the same religion.

Can you put foster children into day care?

Yes, but not just any day care. Because children in foster care have been in some way abused, abandoned or neglected, the state limits who can care for them. Some churches have created "respite networks" so members can get trained to baby-sit special-needs babies.

Should Americans first seek to take in children in this country?

In the biblical view, all children are equal in God's eyes. While Texas has nearly 19,000 children in foster care, millions of babies worldwide have been abandoned or need care. Conditions in overseas locations are often worse.

What are the risks of fostering?

While a potential parent can review a foster child's case file before adoption, there are still unknowns, including:

•The baby could have physical problems related to poor prenatal care or being exposed to alcohol or drugs in the womb.

•The child could have lingering problems from being abused.

•The children often come from cultures very different from middle-class, suburban, Christian homes and face issues while adapting.

•Until the adoption is permanent, the child's birth parents or extended family could gain custody if the court rules them capable. This can be hard for foster parents who had hopes of adopting.

How can people help if they can't adopt or foster?

Volunteers can be trained for respite care. They can donate to assistance funds for adoptive families. Or they can be part of prayer circles and fellowship nights to support families who take in children.

THREE-TIERED PUSH

After decades of relative dormancy, conservative Christian churches are getting involved in a broad-based campaign to adopt and foster children.

Local: Ministries are forming at Protestant churches throughout the region. Usually, they are created by laypeople who have adopted and want to create a church support system for other families. Those ministries have formed coalitions, including the DFW Alliance and the Faith Connection.

State government: Texas started a program in 2003 that sends recruiters into churches to train and certify foster parents. The Congregations Helping in Love and Dedication initiative has a $500,000 budget this year.

National groups: Conservative Christian groups like Focus on the Family have picked up the pro-adoption banner and are organizing national coalitions to disseminate the message. A coalition steering committee met in Dallas last month to lay out a two-year strategy.

James Hohmann

McChurch - More Money for Farms

Jul 17, 2007 Religious Groups Push Farm Policy Reforms to Combat Poverty Publisher: The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy By: Roundtable Washington Correspondent Anne Farris Please forgive my cynicism… $17B in farm subsidies have created a dependent class of farmers…At the trough are rural churches in the Bible Belt that depend on successful farmers for their income but who otherwise would decry subsidies for any other lobby…Their interest is carefully couched in terms of relieving world hunger…Let’s be real here…There is an incredible gap between farm income and relief of world hunger that is plugged by a layer of bureaucracy… Even in past times when farmers have done very well, people were starving here and abroad…One has nothing to do with the other… It is very true that farms need protection against extinction and suburban sprawl…But to tackle one problem by advocating for an unrelated remedy seems a bit self-serving on the part of McChurch and other fine folk… Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry Congress this week takes on a task it faces every five years: rewriting the nation's Farm Bill - a hefty and always politically sensitive law that covers almost every imaginable policy on agriculture, land use and feeding programs in America. Among the varied groups of competing interests over the bill are interdenominational religious organizations that have entered the scene with a strong and savvy show of organizing, coalescing and lobbying. They are drawing connections between farm policies and the larger issues of poverty and nutrition. The religious groups' value-based mission falls into the broad category of eliminating poverty worldwide. In practical terms, they believe that goal can be forwarded by making subsidies available to smaller farmers, increasing the eligibility and numbers of people receiving food stamps, increasing investments to combat rural poverty, and expanding international food aid. Faith-based reformers also want a stronger emphasis on land conservation. "More than $300 billion in taxpayer dollars is at stake over the next five years. These resources must be managed more responsibly and used to create greater balance in our public policies and ultimately in our farm and food system," says a statement from the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, a self-described alliance of farm, rural, public health, anti-hunger, nutrition, conservation, renewable energy and faith-based groups. In pushing for such reforms, the religious groups are at times at odds with agricultural lobbies who advocate that Congress maintain what they refer to as a financial "safety net" in years of reduced production and low market prices. The American Farm Bureau Federation, for instance, has called for maintaining the funding balance in the existing law, passed in 2002. Religious groups have been gearing up for months in anticipation of this week's legislative action. In April, more than a dozen churches and faith-based organizations formed the Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill to urge major reforms in the law in order to reduce hunger and poverty and promote the livelihood of farmers and rural communities globally. The group, representing Christian denominations, issued a statement of legislative principles for reform including rural investment, more support for small farm families, land conservation, and trade policies that do not have a negative impact on the poor in other countries. In June, Bread for the World, a Christian organization of 57,000 members, sponsored "Sowing Seeds, Growing a Movement" in which 60 religious leaders and thousands of followers joined in Washington, D.C., to urge lawmakers to give nutrition programs priority over commodity payments in the farm bill. Members of Church World Service visited the offices of 10 Senators and House members to encourage reforms. Many of these religious groups have made it as easy as pushing a computer button or dialing a toll-free phone number to lobby Congress on the bill. Five mainline Protestant denominations - Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and United Methodist - have collaborated to build state "Faith Farm Teams." People who sign up for the teams receive alerts about the Farm Bill and are connected to local groups to write letters to newspaper editors, attend local events and meet with congressional staff. "Our church policies ... compel us to work for an end to hunger, both in the United States and around the globe; to protect God's creation; and to support the livelihood of farmers and rural communities," according to a statement by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA Washington office has set up an electronic forum to allow Lutherans to say what they think about farm policy. Bread for the World also has a "Seeds of Change: Take Action" website, featuring a photo of the rock singer Bono, which lists a toll-free number to call Congress and a boilerplate e-mail message to send Congress. The message calls for a stronger food stamp program and support for U.S. farmers that does not make it more difficult for competitors in developing countries to sell their crops at a fair price and feed their families. Other religiously based groups have also invoked the names of celebrities to rally their cause. "It's not well-known that Catholics have been way ahead of Willie Nelson or Wendell Berry when it comes to a populist, environmental vision for rural America," stated the opening lead in a July 6 article in the National Catholic Reporter about the National Catholic Rural Life Conference of Des Moines, Iowa. The progressive Christian group Sojourners/Call to Renewal sent electronic letters to its supporters last week saying that comedian David Letterman, former NBA star Scottie Pippen, billionaire David Rockefeller, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen receive crop subsidies as absentee landlords. "Right now, Congress is deciding whether to extend these unfair subsidies as part of the Farm Bill, a mammoth but little-known piece of legislation that governs our nation's agricultural policies," the letter stated. "It affects everyone who eats, not just those who farm." Interest in the bill is particularly heightened this week. On Tuesday (July 17), the House Agriculture Committee began three days of meetings to complete a bill to send to the full House for consideration before the current legislation expires on September 30. The Committee chairman, Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn), last week unveiled two preliminary versions of the bill. One version is similar to the existing 2002 Farm Bill. The second version provides for additional funding if cuts are made elsewhere in the federal budget. Increased funding for the food stamp program and biomass ethanol facilities must compete with disaster aid for funding. Agriculture lobbies, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Soybean Association (ASA), issued statements in support of Peterson's plans. "The Chairman's proposal represents a fair balance between farm commodity, conservation, energy, nutrition and rural development programs," ASA President John Hoffman said in a statement issued last week. "It reflects and advances ASA's interest in improving the safety net for U.S. soybean producers." But Peterson's proposals were criticized Monday (July 16) by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who said they fell short of reforming the existing farm policy and didn't go far enough to cut payments to farmers. "I feel that an opportunity is being missed here," he told reporters. Johanns said farmers have told him they want more money for rural development, research and biofuels programs. The Bush administration has called for a bill that would spend about $10 billion less than the cost so far of the 2002 farm bill. Peterson defended his position. He said reform was difficult while also reining in spending. "If [Johanns] has such a problem, he should go talk to his boss about this," Peterson was quoted saying to reporters Monday. Some religious groups were also disappointed with the chairman's proposals. Bread for the World President David Beckmann said, "Neither of the two bills presented by Chairman Peterson shows marked improvement for farmers of modest means or for the millions of hungry and poor families in this country and around the world. As usual, people who need help the most are at the bottom of the priority list. Without a guaranteed source of funding for federal nutrition programs, the 'reform' option is no more than a wish list." The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), will also draft its version of the bill. Harkin supports reducing direct payments to farmers and eliminating the payments' link to crop production or prices, while increasing funding for conservation and nutrition efforts. "I'm not going to have a Farm Bill that doesn't answer the needs of the poorest people in this country," he said last week. Since 2002, Congress has spent $2.5 billion allocated for conservation on other programs such as disaster aid and tax cuts, Harkin said. Harkin said the committee will draft its version only if there is enough time to debate the measure on the Senate floor before its August recess, scheduled to begin Aug. 6. If not, the Senate will debate the measure in September. The bill also includes an increase of $2.5 billion over five years for international food aid programs. That provision was included in June by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Since 2002, Congress has appropriated about $2 billion each year for international food aid through the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the Government Accountability Office. Supporters of food aid want increases to fight starvation globally, but opponents say the U.S. donations can prevent farmers in recipient countries from increasing food production. Religious groups are concerned about reform of the bill in these areas, although in different degrees depending on the organization: Nutrition programs. The Food Stamp Program, established in 1964 and revised in 1977, is the largest federal nutrition program for low-income households. Each month in 2006, 26 million Americans received food stamps - now electronic coupons - to buy food. Some lawmakers said it has been more than 10 years since money was added to the program. Increases for food stamps in the Farm Bill would total more than $840 million. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy has begun a campaign to lobby for reforms in the Farm Bill, using the slogan "Learn. Pray. Act." The center released a study in 2006 that showed more Virginians are enrolling for food stamps, which means more people in Virginia are living in poverty. In April, a full-time employee of Hearts to Nourish Hope in Georgia said during a congressional committee hearing that her monthly take-home pay of $960 leaves no money for food after paying for rent, child care and public transportation. She said without her monthly allotment of $462 in food stamps, she would be unable to feed her family. Other nutrition programs include The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, and Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. Funding through these programs is critical to service agencies, including many that are faith-based, that serve hungry people. Bill Bolling, executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank and a representative of America's Second Harvest food bank network, also appeared before Congress. He said there has been a dramatic increase in the severity and occurrence of hunger in America. Food banks, largely run by faith-based organizations, provide food in emergencies but also for chronic shortages of food among the working poor. "If I was sitting in your shoes with many more requests than resources, my main concern would be whether money committed to feeding people can leverage private money, food, and support," he said. "It is a network of public and private agencies that works on many different levels to transform the lives ofboth the giver and the receiver." Commodity payments. Current law provides payments and other help to supplement farmers' incomes, support crop prices and manage supplies. Twenty-five commodities ranging from cotton and sugar to mohair and chickpeas qualify for government support. Last year, the government paid $17 billion in subsidies, a decrease of $10 billion from 2000. The White House and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) want to reduce subsidy payments, especially to those farmers with annual incomes of more than $200,000. The largest eight percent of farms receive more than half of the payments, and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has proposed redirecting subsidies to rural development because less than 14 percent of rural residents actually work on farms. Some religious groups say the payment programs have contributed to global price depression and stymied economic development. Subsidy supporters say farmers, who are declining in numbers nationally, need protection from fluctuating prices. Conservation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers 20 programs that help farmers and landowners conserve agricultural lands. The proposed bill expands conservation programs for wetlands, grasslands, ranches and the Chesapeake Bay region with more funding in some grant and incentive programs. Religious groups say that land conservation programs that address water, air and wildlife preservation are not available to three-quarters of the nation's farmers, and want the program expanded. Rural development. The USDA administers the largest number of rural development programs through grants and direct loans. In some instances, faith-based organizations are grant recipients or intermediaries for economic rural development, housing, water well construction and job training. Between 2000 and 2005, nearly 80 percent of rural counties in America lost population due to a lack of employment opportunities, declining education and health services.

McChurch - The Right to Incite Members to Violence

Hate Crimes Bill Opponents Protest for Right to Preach on Biblical Sin

Christian pro-family groups from across the nation rallied at the Capitol Wednesday to protest against the hate crimes bill currently being reviewed by the Senate, which opponents argue will endanger the rights of Christians to preach about the sin of homosexuality.

Thu, Jul. 12, 2007 Posted: 13:53:28 PM EST

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The problem with the protest is that the Christian Right, benefactors of tax-free status, wants the right not only to preach against homosexuality (which right would remain under the free speech provision of the Constitution) but wants the right to bash individuals by name and campaign against them on the grounds of their sexuality…

Personally ,my take is that if a pastor preaches to incite anyone to violence against anyone, he has violated his trust and ought to be held accountable…The days should be ending where the privilege of preaching is abused by those who shoot off their mouths without accountability…The general public is paying for the privilege of church buildings and organizations by absorbing the tax burden of the church…

Stan Moody is the author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry

WASHINGTON – Christian pro-family groups from across the nation rallied at the Capitol Wednesday to protest against the hate crimes bill currently being reviewed by the Senate, which opponents argue will endanger the rights of Christians to preach about the sin of homosexuality.

“This hate crime legislation is hatred and intolerance aimed at ministers and good Christian folks who dare to call sin ‘sin,’” said Dr. Johnny M. Hunter, national director of LEARN (Life Education and Resource Network).

“Pastors not only have a right, but they have an obligation to state emphatically, that according to Scripture, a man or a woman should not perform a sex act with a person of the same sex,” he said, as a long yellow banner facing the Capitol read “Homosexuality is a Sin” flapped in the wind beside him.

Hunter noted that the “moral code” on sin does not only apply to some but to all so it is not discriminatory.

“If a lesbian kills another lesbian, would she be charged with a hate crime? If a man kills the man he calls his partner, would he be charged with a hate crime?” questioned Hunter. “If not, then that law would be discriminatory because it would only apply to heterosexuals.”

Christian and pro-family groups have been protesting the hate crimes bill for months, arguing that the federal bill is not only redundant of state and local laws, but it also threatens the free speech of those who speak on the biblical view of homosexuality.

The Senate bill, S. 1105, would expand the federal hate crimes categories to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability, adding them to racial, ethnic, and religious categories already protected under the law.

In May, the U.S. House of Representative voted to pass its version of the bill, H.R. 1592, which would expand the hate crimes categories and make it easier for the federal government to get involved in hate crime investigations.

Supporters of the hate crimes bill argue that the legislation will help protect vulnerable groups from hate-motivated violence.

“This bill helps law enforcement protect vulnerable groups from hate-motivated violence, a goal that appeals to the moral foundations of all faith traditions,” said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance, in a statement.

The Interfaith Alliance is a member of the coalition of over 30 religious organizations which released an open letter on Wednesday in support of the Senate passing the hate crimes bill. The letter was signed by 1,385 clergies representing over 75 different faith traditions.

Yet adamant opponents of the bill point out that a pastor who preaches against homosexuality can be accused of inciting violence if one of his congregants commits an act considered a hate crime under the legislation.

“Under the guise of protecting the immoral, unnatural, ungodly lifestyle of homosexuals, our government is being forced to censor the freedom of speech and freedom of religion of Bible-believing Christians,” said the Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, director of Elijah Ministries.

“We have come to Washington, D.C., to appeal to our government to back off…return to your jurisdiction, get out of our churches, quit policing our thoughts and stop trying to sear our consciences by framing mischief into law,” Thomas vented.

Others who spoke at the rally included the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND (Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny), and former U.S. Navy chaplain Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, who was dismissed earlier this year for praying in Jesus name after a long legal battle.

“We are calling upon the United States Congress to rescind [the bill] and asking President Bush to veto this hate crimes speech law because it will directly come after our pastors,” said Klingenschmitt.

The White House in May had already said the president plans to veto the hate crimes bill if it makes it to his desk, explaining that other criminal laws already address the crimes featured in the bills.

Michelle Vu
Christian Post Reporter

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