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.
Christian Citizenship
Little Boy Blue, Come Blow Your Horn . . .
By By Rob Chambers
Most of us have heard of the nursery rhyme, Little Boy Blue, and you may have even had it read to you at some time or another. It reads:
Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn, The sheep’s in the meadow, The cow’s in the corn; Where is that boy, Who looks after the sheep? Under the haystack, Fast asleep. Will you wake him? Oh no, not I, For if I do, He will surely cry.
It’s obvious that Little Boy Blue has a responsibility – to serve as a watchman over the sheep and cattle. If cause for alarm arose, then it was Little Boy Blue’s responsibility to sound the horn, alert the people, and rally them toward action.
So, the sheep’s out of the fold, and the cow’s in the corn patch – a cause for alarm, but where is he? He’s …
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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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Land: Christians must battle barbarism
By Richard Land
NEW ORLEANS (BP and local reports) — Civilization stands at a fork in the road and will either ascend to greater heights or tumble into barbarism unless Christians reassert the value of all human life and absolute moral truth, Richard Land told a Founder’s Day audience October 6 at New Orleans Seminary.
Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, said the future of civilization turns on two fundamental questions: Is moral truth real and knowable or is it merely a preference? A question of human value follows: Is mankind of value because of the essence of mankind, or only for what mankind can do?
These questions are at the heart of policy debates over abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and health care reform, said Land, who is scheduled to speak October 26 at …
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Categorie(s):
Christian Citizenship,
Legislation,
Christian Home Life,
Marriage & Family,
Infertility,
Sanctity of Human Life,
Abortion,
Chimeras,
Cloning,
Euthanasia,
Elder Care,
Eugenics,
Stem Cell Research,
Adult Stem Cell Research,
Embryonic Stem Cell Research,
Social Issues,
Human Equality, |
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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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Parent-child relationship further weakened with court order
By Richard Land
The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman of New York to order the FDA to make Plan B, post-intercourse contraceptives available to 17-year-old girls without a prescription from their doctor is one more example of the government believing it has the right to interpose itself between parents and their children. It is shameful that the Obama administration has decided it will not appeal this terrible federal court decision.
Allowing drugs with such powerful physiological and emotional effects to be sold over the counter to adults without a prescription, as has been the case since 2005, has no doubt had significant consequences, none of them good. The decision to allow such drugs to be marketed and sold to underage teenagers without a prescription is absolutely incredible. No good can come out of it.
This decision will certainly lead to increased rates of sexual activity for …
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Stem Cell Research: Hype, Hope, or Both?
By by Rob Chambers
Since President Obama’s decision on March 9th to allow federal funds for research using embryos and embryonic stem cells, much has been said about the morality and ethics of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) and adult stem cell research (ASCR).
Many scientists, researchers, activists, and legislators argue that stem cell research holds great promise to cure or treat health problems. This is partially true because when supporters of stem cell research make this claim the issue is often clouded and confused. This is because the moral and ethical dilemma that embryonic stem cell research kills human life is often intentionally left out of general conversation. The media and advocates frequently bury this dilemma under the words of hope, promise, and cures of stem cell research in general.
This is done because embryonic stem cells have not proven effective in treating ANY human injury, illness, or disease, …
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A little honesty, please
By William H. Perkins, Jr.
June 12, 2008
Gambling has wrought many changes in Mississippi since it was legalized in 1992, but did you know that it has created employment for everyone in Tunica County and put a pickup in every driveway? That’s what the mayor of Biloxi apparently believes.
According to the May 14 edition of BaldwinCountyNow.com, a web site that covers south Alabama news, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway addressed the recent Southern Gaming Summit in his fair city and said the following:
“[Legalized gambling] has been a big boom for Mississippi… [Tunica County] was the Sugar Ditch of the United States before casinos came in, and they have a new pickup truck at every house now… The casinos came and everybody in and around Tunica got a job…”
Well. That’s quite a mouthful, even for a reliable gambling apologist like Holloway. The problem is, Holloway’s …
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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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The Christian Doctrine of Religious Liberty
By By Barrett Duke
Sep 8, 2005
Presented at First Freedom Conference on Religious Liberty Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, Texas September 8, 2005
Recently, the United States’ Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA) argued that a Chinese man who had been arrested and beaten in China for operating an unregistered house church could not remain in the United States but would have to return to China. The BIA denied his request to remain because it believed that the treatment the man received from the Chinese authorities was related to his illegal activity of operating an unregistered place of worship not his religious beliefs.
Essentially, the BIA made a distinction between religious belief and religious practice. For them, persecution for religious belief merits protection, but persecution for religious practice born out of that belief is not necessarily protected behavior. The BIA made this decision in …
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The Bible Speaks on Christian Citizenship
By By Staff
Jan 24, 2006
Politics is the business of deciding who gets what, when, and where. Christians must not leave such important business to unbelievers. In these times, no one can be an obedient Christian who is not also a good citizen. The Christian faith demands responsible citizenship.
Democracy, by its very nature, requires citizen participation in the processes of government at every level—local, state, and national. The Bible, moreover, explicitly calls for Christian citizenship.
The Nature of Government
Bible principles concerning the nature of government are as valid today as when they were first given.
• Civil government is of divine appointment. Civil government is a part of God’s purpose for this kind of world. God’s people have lived under many different forms of government. While no one form of government is divinely chosen, government itself is ordained of …
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Religious Expression on Public Property
By By Richard Land
A book was published in April 2007 which reflects almost a half century of reflection and study on my part concerning an issue that matters deeply to me as an American Christian deeply committed to the Baptist faith tradition. The issue is religious freedom, and the book is The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives Are Missing in the God-and-Country Shouting Match!
One issue discussed in the book that has generated considerable interest and response is my attempt to identify and analyze three major perspectives, or models, regarding religious expression in the public square in American society.
First, there are those Americans, particularly those on the left, who have adopted a position of avoidance. They assert that things pertaining to religion have no place in the public square. They oppose manger scenes or other religious displays on government property, such as courthouse lawns, and …
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The Christian and the Government: A Delicate Balance
By By Richard Land
Americans celebrated the 231st birthday of their nation last week with picnics, parades and pyrotechnics. While it may not have been a topic of conversation within most gatherings on July 4, it is worth pondering what a government ordained by God looks like.
For the Apostle Paul writing to the Romans, it was the Roman Empire—not what you would call an enlightened regime. You and I wouldn’t like it even if we had been Roman citizens. Yet Paul referred to these pagan rulers as governing authorities established by God, and he instructed persecuted Christians to submit to them “for conscience sake”:
Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves …
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Tackling the Relationship Between the Church and the State
By By Steven Griffin
Aug 1, 2007
A Summary of The Divided States of America? by Richard Land
Most conservatives think we have taken God out of this country and we need to put Him back in, asserting that God is on our side and taking patriotism to an idolatrous level. Meanwhile, most liberals think separation of church and state requires that God should not have anything to do with American politics and public life. Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, writes why both views are wrong in his book, The Divided States of America?, and why these views will lead to a “furtherance of the shouting matches that rage between the extreme worldviews on each side, resulting in lots of heat but very little light.”
Dr. Land points out that while America was not founded as a “Christian nation,” it …
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