Issues
The Christian Action Commission covers a host of issues. To the left you'll see several categories with related subtopics. Select the issue(s) you're interested in. Here you'll be able to read and even tell a friend about it.
Sexuality
Internet porn a wide-ranging problem, even in the church
By By: Michael Foust
Editor’s note: This is part of a special four-part series of Baptist Press stories about Internet porn addiction.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Long before the surgeon general issued his 1964 report showing the devastating harm of smoking, much of the nation viewed cigarettes as fun and harmless, even cool.
A new report says much of America today has a similar naive attitude toward Internet pornography and that it needs to wake up and see porn’s destructive impact not only on individuals but also marriages, children and society in general—before it’s too late.
The 53-page report, called simply, “The Social Costs of Pornography,” was released by The Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J., and was signed by more than 50 scholars from a wide variety of backgrounds: conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, atheists and Christians.
Gone are the days, the report notes, when porn was …
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Help needed to fight porn’s harmful impact
By By: Hillary May & Michael Foust
Editor’s note: This is part of a special four-part series of Baptist Press stories about Internet porn addiction.
WASHINGTON (BP)--A new report calls for celebrities, educators, lawmakers and journalists to help reduce the social harms of Internet pornography.
The 53-page document, “The Social Costs of Pornography: A Statement of Findings and Recommendations,” says Internet pornography is not “a harmless and victimless pursuit” but instead is a “social and personal health hazard.” It offers a series of proposals on reducing its harmful effects.
It calls upon celebrities and other influential people to use their social status to discourage pornography usage and the “so what” mentality. There is a particular need for awareness in the music industry, and the report encourages music artists to speak out against the degradation of women.
“If Eminem were to write a song saying ‘pornography is stupid,’ that would …
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Reliance on God leads to healing from porn
By By: Erin Roach
Editor’s note: This is part of a special four-part series of Baptist Press stories about Internet porn addiction.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Two women who have dealt with their husbands’ pornography addictions said the key to restoring their marriages was found in their own reliance on God.
Renee Crosse is married to Clay Crosse, who sings the title song for the project “Somebody’s Daughter,” a CD and DVD resource for helping couples heal from the ravages of pornography.
“It was quite shocking to me to find out that this was an issue, a struggle for him, because it was completely hidden. I really didn’t know that this was going on,” Renee told Baptist Press, recounting how she felt when she learned about her husband’s addiction in 1998.
Clay asked Renee to forgive him and to pray for him as he sought restoration and renewed …
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Porn & cell phones: protecting your kids
By By: Michael Foust
Editor’s note: This is part of a special four-part series of Baptist Press stories about Internet porn addiction.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Raising children and teens in a sexually charged culture was difficult long before cell phones and the Internet came along, but when technology combined the two into one handheld device—and added a camera—it became, some would say, nearly impossible.
Add to that the mix of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, all of which allow instant and far-reaching communication, and the task gets even tougher.
Consider the fact that the fourth-most searched word on the Internet for kids ages 7 and under in 2009 was “porn,” according to data by OnlineFamily.Norton.com. For all kids up to age 18, sex was No. 4, porn No. 5.
And, Web-enabled cell phones—which are growing in popularity and are by their very nature …
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Silencing Christians: Homosexual protection & Hate Crime Bill
WASHINGTON (BP and local reports) — Despite objections that it would infringe on the religious liberty of pastors and other faith leaders, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a defense bill October 8 that includes historic hate crimes protections for homosexuals.
The 2010 defense authorization bill, which passed 281-146, has little if anything to do with hate crimes but is being used as a vehicle to pass hate crimes legislation. The defense bill (H.R. 2647) now goes to the U.S. Senate, where a similar version already passed earlier this year.
Mississippi Representatives Travis Childers, Bennie Thompson, and Gene Taylor — all Democrats — voted yes on the bill. Republican Representative Gregg Harper voted no.
Lobbyists for homosexual organizations for years have supported expanding the hate crimes law but failed, either because Republicans controlled Congress …
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Gay divorce would undermine marriage
By By Penna Dexter - Oct 12, 2009
Homosexual activists, fighting to attain legal same-sex “marriage,” are creating an unlikely battleground: divorce courts. In the latest skirmish, a Dallas judge, Tena Callahan, has ruled that her court has jurisdiction to hear the “divorce” case of two men “married” in Massachusetts in 2006 and now living in Texas.
The decision caused quite a stir in the state where, in 2005, 75 percent of voters passed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman. Everybody thought that meant: NO GAY MARRIAGES. Period. End of story.
But homosexual groups are trying to figure out how to force same-sex “marriage” on states where voters are clearly and overwhelmingly against it. This attempt to get the courts to grant divorces to gay couples is one way they’re going about it. Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director for the gay advocacy group Lambda Legal, …
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Q&A: Hate crimes bill & religious liberty
By By Michael Foust
July 17, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The hate crimes bill currently making its way through Congress has led to charges by Christian conservatives that it could impact religious freedoms.
The bill would expand current hate crimes laws to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity—terms that encompass homosexuality and transgenderism.
On Friday Baptist Press spoke with Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, and asked him about the bill, which he opposes. Following is the transcript:
BAPTIST PRESS: “Religious conservatives often charge that passage of a hate crimes law that includes sexual orientation would impact religious freedom. Supporters say it targets only criminal acts. How would it impact religious freedom?”
STAVER: “For starters, sexual orientation and gender identity gets elevated to the same level as race. And whenever you start putting sexual …
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The trouble with hate crimes legislation
By Barrett Duke
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913) is an irresponsible piece of legislation. Its most notable flaws are its determination to prosecute people for their beliefs about homosexuality and its creation of a special protected class for homosexuals. How do you prosecute someone for prejudice? You determine what that person believes about a particular issue and then you surmise that his actions were a result of that belief. Most Christians, as well as many other religious groups, believe that homosexuality and homosexual behavior are contrary to God’s design for humanity. Consequently, this bill puts Christians and many other religious groups in the government’s crosshairs.
Under this law, one’s religious belief about homosexuality can be sufficient reason to prosecute him for a hate crime if he engages in an act of violence against a homosexual. While we should never condone acts of violence against people merely …
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Who shall prevail—the judges or the people?
By By Richard Land
May 22, 2008
This column originally published at Casting Stones, a blog hosted by Beliefnet.com.
The California Supreme Court has ruled (by a 4-3 vote) in its supposedly “infinite” wisdom that the California state constitution requires that same-sex couples must have the same right to get married as heterosexual couples do. The California Supreme Court did this in spite of the fact that the people of California voted in a referendum in 2000 that marriage was only to be a man and a woman, thus ruling out not only same-sex marriage, but also polygamy.
Californians voted by a 61 to 39 percent margin to define marriage in this exclusive and specific way. When one examined the referendum votes more closely, marriage “as only between a man and a woman” carried every county in the state, including San Francisco. It also carried …
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Nashville Declaration on “Same-sex Marriage”
By By Fellows of the Research Institute
Mar 9, 2005
Across the country the American people have spoken loudly, clearly repudiating attempts to redefine marriage. In every state in which citizens have been given the opportunity, they have voted to reaffirm the historic definition of marriage as only the union of one man and one woman. Yet activist judges are still in a position to force so-called “same-sex marriage” on the American people, and have already shown a willingness to do so in a number of states. In response to the serious challenge to the traditional biblical definition of marriage, we are compelled to make the following declaration:
1. We affirm the biblical teaching that God designed marriage as a lifetime union of one man and one woman. We deny that the God-ordained institution of marriage is subject to redefinition as merely a civil institution or simply a private matter.
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What does the Bible really say about heterosexual marriage and homosexuality?
By By Hal Lane
Jul 31, 2007
The evangelical Christian community leads efforts to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and to oppose acceptance of homosexuality for one primary reason—biblical revelation. For those who believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God there is no confusion about the proper definition of marriage or the immorality of homosexuality.
The biblical basis for understanding God’s intention for marriage is found in Genesis 2. The human race began with the creation of a heterosexual couple—Adam and Eve. The creation of Adam and Eve (male and female) was the foundation of human civilization and their union the first marriage. Genesis 2:24 states: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Marriage is an institution of God designed as a lifelong covenant relationship between a man and woman (Matt. 19:1-6).
…
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Cohabitation Confusion: What does the Bible say?
By By Hal Lane
Aug 9, 2007
The fact that many couples live together without the legal commitment of marriage surprises few in our morally dysfunctional society. What is surprising is the number of professing Christians who choose to live together without the benefit of marriage.
Churches and families are increasingly faced with the question of how to respond to these individuals who believe their personal commitments to one another are morally equivalent to legal marriage.
Every moral issue is fundamentally a biblical issue. Genesis 2:18-25 describes marriage as a divine institution. God presented Adam with Eve and established the first marriage.
Genesis 2:24 is the basis for all future marriages: “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.” When Jesus was asked about grounds for divorce, He quoted this verse with regard to …
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Be Careful, Little Hands, What You Type
In the past couple of years, a new method of communicating on the Internet has exploded in growth, particularly among teenagers. Many kids have a blog (short for web log or web diary) and are posting information that is available world wide. Teens use this medium to communicate their feelings, interests, or to just say “hi” to each other. Unfortunately, sexual predators sometimes use this information to get close to the children, posing as children themselves, and try to coax them into revealing inappropriate pictures of themselves or to have an actual face-to-face encounter. Some teens are revealing their first name, age, contact information, location, e-mail addresses, Instant Messenger name, birth date, link to their home page, and in twenty percent of cases, their full name. These blogs and social networking sites are all the rage among young Internet users. Some of these sites are found at http://www.MySpace.com,
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Covenant Marriage
By Lee Yancey
Last year, Americans witnessed a national movement to legalize gay marriage, civil unions, and the overall homosexual agenda. Recently, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, signed into law a bill that recognized same-sex civil unions. Civil unions are basically marriage without the name. According to a Baptist Press article, Connecticut joins Vermont as the only states to legalize civil unions. Massachusetts is still the only state with same-sex marriage, but the laws in Massachusetts and Vermont were court-ordered while the Connecticut bill was passed voluntarily. In response to the push for homosexual marriage, last November, 86% of Mississippi voters approved the Mississippi Marriage Amendment. Mississippi was one of eleven states from coast to coast who banned gay marriage.
Studies have shown that the divorce rate among Christians is the same as that of non-Christians. With traditional marriage failing, we must take steps to strengthen it. Marriage has …
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Pornography – The Sin of Choice
By Jimmy Porter
Monday, March 18, 2002, federal authorities investigating an Internet-based child pornography ring arrested 40 people in 20 states, including two Catholic priests, youth baseball coaches, a school bus driver, a police officer and a teacher’s aide. FBI has dubbed this effort “Operation Candyman.” This Internet child pornography ring has over 7,000 members worldwide with about 1,400 in the USA. More arrests are expected. www.USAToday.com.
Here are samples of the articles found in the Clarion Ledger daily newspaper over the past several months as they relate to pornography, especially child pornography:
“Police find porn, photos in kidnap suspect’s home,” Clarion Ledger, 4/10/01
”Child porn tops U.S. concern for Internet,” Clarion Ledger, 4/3/01
“100 arrested in child porn investigation,” Clarion Ledger, 8/9/01
“Supreme Court will hear federal child porn law case,” Clarion Ledger, 10/28/01
“FBI joins …
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