Is a Paper Bible Better Than a Bible App? Pastor’s Comment Provokes Discussion

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March 28, 2022

Is a Paper Bible Better Than a Bible App? Pastor’s Comment Provokes Discussion — Source: Adobe Stock

Is reading a paper Bible better than reading the Bible on a device such as an iPhone? An offhand comment by a pastor last week has generated some discussion around this topic, with another pastor explaining why he believes the remark, though well-intentioned, was “unwise.”

“I just haven’t arrived in the present age,” said Harry Reeder, pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala., at the 2022 National Conference of Ligonier Ministries. “Reading my Bible on an iPhone is like kissing my wife through a screen door.”

Paper Bible vs. Bible App—Is One Better?

Reeder made his comment as he asked the audience to turn to Genesis 1 during a talk he gave called “Gender & Sexuality.” The audience laughed in response and a few people tweeted or retweeted the quip.

Others, however, disagreed with the remark and even had concerns about it. Steve Meister, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Sacramento, Calif., took time to explain why he believes Reeder’s comment was unhelpful. Before he got into his reasons, Meister noted, “I’ve said plenty of unwise things while preaching, so I mean no harsh judgment. And I used to ‘Amen’ remarks just like that.”

Meister even acknowledged that digital versions of the Bible have their problems, saying, “Digital media can form us to think of Scripture in a cavalier way, as just another ‘App.’” Meister added that paper Bibles have “less distractions and it’s proven our comprehension and recall of what we read in paper books is better.”

At the same time, said Meister, “I have blind friends for whom the technology to have the Bible read by a device is a real blessing. I have church members with very poor eyesight, so the ability to adjust font size or lighting is really a wonderful mercy.”

Meister’s thread continues, “There are young moms whose husbands are police officers or firemen and they have to juggle multiple young kids in church. I’m so glad they’re aided in the difficulty of just getting to worship by the ability to carry Scripture without having to add something else to carry.”

The pastor also pointed out that the Bible being compiled into one book was a technological development in its own time “and quite a controversial one at that.” And reading a paper Bible does not mean that people cannot misuse it, say, by neglecting to read it in community with others.

“With factors like these,” said Meister, “I’d encourage my fellow preachers to avoid the kind of quip circulating. You may bruise sheep who are already burdened by life and grateful for the mercy of available technology. And you may even be adding commands that have no biblical warrant.”

Hillsong Atlanta To Dissolve, Story Church To Take its Place

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Dale Chamberlain

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March 28, 2022

Sam Collier Hillsong Atlanta Story Church — Screengrab via Facebook.

Less than a week after Sam Collier announced his resignation as pastor of Hillsong Atlanta amid the ongoing controversies that have scandalized the global Hillsong Church, Collier announced on Sunday that Hillsong Atlanta will dissolve entirely.

A new church will take its place, a church that Collier had always intended to plant, called Story Church.

“I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying, ‘This isn’t a step back.’ God is saying, ‘This is the birthing. This is the birthing of something new.’ I hear the Lord saying, ‘At this month, it’s exactly nine months.’ It’s exactly nine months,” Collier said as the Hillsong Atlanta worship team finished leading the church in song. “And what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this moment is, ‘I’ve been preparing you.’ Hillsong has been the ground in which the seed was planted, because He does nothing on accident. And He used the incubation period to birth something new.”

“Does anybody believe God for the new,” Collier asked the congregation. They responded with applause and shouts of affirmation.

After Collier invited the band and congregation to take their seats, Collier said, “So, we’ve got some business to cover, and I’m going to jump right in, because we’ve got a lot of things to do today.”

Collier began by acknowledging that people in the room may be feeling different ways about him and Hillsong at the moment and asked for grace, as he promised to do his best to address everything he could.

Collier first addressed why he made the decision to leave Hillsong.

He explained that in 2020, he felt a calling from God to plant a church amid the deep social unrest taking place both throughout the nation and locally in Atlanta, in order to be a place of racial reconciliation in the name of Jesus. Collier further explained that these conversations with Hillsong began before the recent scandal involving Carl Lentz and the latest revelations surrounding Brian Houston.

The result of those conversations would be Collier leading a “Hillsong Family Church,” meaning that the church would not be corporately owned by Hillsong Church but rather would be locally governed. At the time, Collier had planned on naming the new congregation Story Church.

However, then Houston offered for the church to become “Hillsong Atlanta,” with Collier being the first African American pastor to lead a Hillsong church.

A week after the announcement was made, Carl Lentz was fired from Hillsong East Coast, bringing on an onslaught of negative media attention. Collier explained that scandals continued to unfold as Hillsong Atlanta prepared for its launch six months later and into the present moment.

Pruitt Preaches the Gospel, Promotes Who’s Your One? During Winter Jam

By

Timothy Cockes

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March 28, 2022

More than 26,000 students have texted saying that they made a decision to follow Christ during the Winter Jam tour, where Shane Pruitt delivered a Gospel message each night. Photo courtesy of Baptist Press.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Since the New Year, Shane Pruitt has preached the Gospel message to thousands of students as the headlining speaker during the 2022 Winter Jam tour.

Pruitt, national Next Gen director for the North American Mission Board, said more than 26,000 students have texted saying that they made a decision to follow Christ thus far during the tour, which holds its last stop Sunday (March 27). The 2022 tour is the first full-length tour for Winter Jam since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“The people are there because they want to be there,” Pruitt said. “I feel that there is every excuse in the world not to come to something like this, so if you’re here then you want to be or you are looking for hope and answers.

“I think the last two years have definitely proven the world is broken, so people are looking for hope and answers. We want to tell them hope has a name, and it’s the name above all names, Jesus Christ.”

Pruitt spoke during the January and March shows on the tour, as he was out of the country during February for the adoption of his family’s new son. He explained he has two designated speaking slots during each show.

During the first one, he spends time challenging students with NAMB’s Who’s Your One? evangelism initiative. He implores the students and leaders to find one lost person they can be praying for and sharing the Gospel with. NAMB serves as one of the sponsors of this year’s tour.

In his second time slot in the middle of the show, Pruitt gives what he describes as the “pure Gospel” message. After briefly showing a way in which Jesus is portrayed throughout each book of the Bible, he offers an invitation to follow Jesus.

“You always will feel like something is missing as long as Someone is missing, and that Someone is Jesus,” Pruitt tells the crowd of students.

Started in the 1990s by contemporary Christian band NewSong, the “Winter Jam Tour Spectacular” is an annual traveling concert event that invites young Christians to hear a variety of Christians speakers and musical artists for the price of a $10 ticket.

This year’s musical artists include K.B., Colton Dixon, Tauren Wells and Skillet.

Pruitt told Baptist Press Winter Jam is not only a great opportunity to minister to students, but to youth leaders as well.

During the night’s pre-show ceremonies, Pruitt and other tour leaders invite the youth leaders in attendance to gather for a short time of encouragement and prayer.

“That has become one of my favorite times to get to spend some time with all these youth leaders,” Pruitt said. “One of the biggest pieces of Winter Jam is those youth leaders who are actually taking the time to invite the students, so we just want to encourage them and reward them for that. That’s our heartbeat at NAMB because our target is really those leaders who are influencing the next generation.”

Pruitt shares a word of encouragement with the leaders and lets them know about resources that are available through NAMB’s NextGen ministries. Then the group prays for the upcoming Gospel presentation.

“I believe a reason we’ve seen so many decisions always starts with this time at the very beginning with a couple hundred youth leaders literally on our knees in prayer,” he said.

Pruitt said this is a crucial time for youth ministry.

“I think it’s a great opportunity right now, and I think I’ve seen more young people get saved in the last two years than I have in 15 years of ministry combined,” he said.

“I think because of the internet students are realizing at an earlier age that the world is broken and something is wrong with them. I think they are searching for something and they don’t know what it is yet. They know that something is missing, and we know there is only one thing that can satisfy them.”

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

Canada Indigenous Tell Pope of Abuses at Residential Schools

By

Nicole Winfield

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March 28, 2022

Indigenous Canada Vatican — President of the Metis community, Cassidy Caron, speaks to the media in St. Peter's Square after their meeting with Pope Francis at The Vatican, Monday, March 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Indigenous leaders from Canada and survivors of the country’s notorious residential schools met with Pope Francis on Monday and told him of the abuses they suffered at the hands of Catholic priests and school workers, in hopes of securing a papal apology from him and a commitment by the church to repair the harm done.

“While the time for acknowledgement, apology and atonement is long overdue, it is never too late to do the right thing,” Cassidy Caron, president of the Metis National Council, told reporters in St. Peter’s Square after the audience.

This week’s meetings, postponed from December because of the pandemic, are part of the Canadian church and government’s efforts to respond to Indigenous demands for justice, reconciliation and reparations — long-standing demands that gained traction last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the schools.

Francis has set aside several hours this week to meet privately with the delegations from the Metis and Inuit on Monday, and First Nations on Thursday, with a mental health counselor in the room for each session. The delegates then gather Friday as a group for a more formal audience, with Francis delivering an address.

Caron said Francis listened intently as three of the many Metis survivors told him their personal stories, and showed sorrow but offered no immediate apology. Speaking in English, he repeated the words Caron said she had emphasized in her remarks: truth, justice and healing.

“I take that as a personal commitment,” Caron said, surrounded by Metis fiddlers who accompanied her into the square. “We hope that in committing to us, committing to real action, the church can finally begin its own pathway towards meaningful and lasting reconciliation.”

Caron was wearing a traditional handmade beaded jacket that was made for the audience, and members of the Metis delegation presented Francis with a pair of red, beaded moccasins.

The moccasins were being presented “as a sign of the willingness of the Metis people to forgive if there is meaningful action from the church,” the group explained in a note. The red dye “represents that even though Pope Francis does not wear the traditional red papal shoes, he walks with the legacy of those who came before him, the good, the great and the terrible.”

In a statement issued after Francis met with the Metis and then the Inuit delegation, the Vatican said each meeting lasted about an hour “and was characterized by desire on the part of the pope to listen and make space for the painful stories brought by the survivors.”

More than 150,000 native children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture, Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous governments considered superior.

The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant, with students beaten for speaking their native languages. That legacy of abuse and isolation has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction on reservations.

Nearly three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.

Earliest Mention of ‘Yahweh’ Found in Archaeological Dump

By

Jerry Pattengale

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March 28, 2022

yahweh tablet — This curse tablet was discovered by Mount Ebal, which is near the Palestinian city of Nablus. Photo by Michael C. Luddeni

(RNS) — An ancient tablet discovered near the Palestinian city of Nablus may contain the earliest known mention of God’s name in proto-alphabetic Hebrew.

Scott Stripling, director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, announced the discovery of the lead tablet Thursday (March 24).

He said it could push back the written record of the name “Yahweh” a couple of centuries earlier, to at least 1200 B.C. and perhaps as early as 1400 B.C.

The finding may also spur renewed debate on the dating of biblical events, especially those told in the Book of Exodus. A peer-reviewed article is in process.

The artifact, less than 1 inch in length and width and known as a curse tablet, also recalls the account of Joshua building an altar nearby, which Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal excavated in the 1980s.

The curse tablet was discovered near Mount Ebal, also called the Mount of the Curse in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Stripling found it in a dump site, part of the structure Zertal identified as Joshua’s altar. Stripling said the finding was a confirmation of the biblical account.

In recent years, Stripling also announced the discovery of a Tabernacle platform during his ongoing excavations at biblical Shiloh.

But the 2-centimeter-square (.78-inch) amulet may be the signature discovery of a lifetime. Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa said this type of discovery is made only once a millennia.

Galil deciphered the hidden internal text with another paleographer, Pieter Gert van der Veen of the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. A release from the Associates for Biblical Research press said they employed advanced tomographic scans to recover the hidden text.

‘Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed’ Paints Brian Houston as a Man Bent on World Domination

By

Dale Chamberlain

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March 28, 2022

Hillsong docuseries Brian Houston Carl Lentz — Screengrab from Discovery+

The docuseries titled “Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed” was made available to stream on Discovery+ on Thursday, March 24. The three part series follows Hillsong’s journey from small church plant to global empire, chronicling the various scandals surrounding Carl Lentz, Brian Houston, as well as Houston’s father, Frank Houston.

Throughout the documentary, Hillsong is characterized not as a church with a mission to build a global movement of Jesus followers but as a corporate empire led by a man bent on world domination.

How It All Began

Tanya Levin, who is a former Hillsong Sydney member and author of “People in Glass Houses,” described the early years of Hillsong Church, which began in 1983 under the name Hills Christian Life Centre. She referred to the congregation as a “small suburban church,” which was an offshoot of Sydney Christian Life Centre, a church founded and pastored by Frank Houston. Houston helped his son, Brian Houston, plant Hills Christian Life Centre in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales.

Levin went on to describe how some time in the late 1980s, the church began to change after Brian Houston became friends with American Pentecostal pastor and televangelist Casey Treat. It was then that Houston got a vision for a global church movement that would leverage the tactics and practices that were being popularized by American televangelists and prosperity preachers.

As the documentary showed archival footage of Houston preaching his vision for a global church that influenced culture and raised up a new generation of leaders, ominous music played beneath.

In the early 1990s, Hillsong Worship’s ability to meld Christian themes with current musical styles served to catapult the church into global influence with songs like “Shout to the Lord All the Earth.” While the moniker “Hillsong” originally only referred to the worship band, after their music became so popular, the church changed its name from Hills Christian Life Centre to Hillsong Church.

One interviewee described Hillsong’s process for creating new music as weekly product testing on a live audience, every Sunday morning. Singing new songs and gauging the congregation’s response, Hillsong was able to cultivate music that would connect with a broad audience of individuals and church communities.

The success of Hillsong’s music served as a lucrative revenue source to expand the ministry, allowing Hillsong to open dozens of new campuses throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The documentary characterized the church as a marketing machine, as Hillsong expanded from merely being a church, to building a music empire and leadership college, and putting on lucrative conferences where tickets cost upwards of $500.

Ben Kirby of PreachersNSneakers fame described the process as “a sales funnel” leading to “sales conversions,” that is “donations.”

“You’re not supposed to make consumers. You’re supposed to make disciples,” Kirby said.

Hillsong NYC and Carl Lentz’s Rising Star

Having already made an indelible mark on the culture of American evangelicalism through its music, in 2010, Hillsong launched a campus in New York City—its first in the United States. Interviewees who had attended Hillsong in New York described the music as “approachable” and the sermons “like a really dope TedTalk.”

Hillsong NYC was pastored by Carl Lentz, a Virginia native and Hillsong College graduate. Fit, fashionable, charming, and good looking, Lentz was the perfect fit for the brand Hillsong was seeking to build in New York.

Raising Spiritual Kids in a Sexual World

By

Andrew Linder

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March 28, 2022

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s not hard to see that we live in a sexualized world in just about every way. Themes and images of sexual and sensual things are lurking around every corner that we turn.

And if we can’t help but notice it, our children certainly are as well. Granted, they may not know any different because that’s the way things have always been as far as they know. But as parents, we know better.

In a culture where mom and dad struggle to watch a Super Bowl as a family without having their finger readily on the remote, and where multiple forms of unbiblical sexuality are now promoted as common in kid’s shows and movies, what are parents to do? Well, first, we must recognize the obvious of what we can’t afford to do:

We can’t trust the media. Long gone are the days of simply putting our kids in front of a television on Saturday morning and not having to worry about what they might watch. Hollywood lost it’s family-friendly card years ago.
We can’t simply overlook the sensuality of our culture and hope that our children will as well. Our kids hearts and minds are soft and impressionable. They have to be given boundaries and be taught from us what is right from wrong in the daily culture around us.
We can’t live by default, thinking that because ours is a ‘Christian’ home, “Well, my kids just know better.” It’s not enough just to be a Christian family or to raise our kids in church, thinking that all will be well. We must be more intentional than that.

As a nation, we’ve sadly come to the point where we need to fix a generation of sexually broken kids. From rampant abuse, pornography, and the media’s saturation of sexual content, children are growing up with a wrong idea of what sex is all about. And with research showing that the average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography is now as young as 8 years old, we can’t be afraid to address the issue.

Our children need to understand that sex is a good and beautiful thing because it’s God’s idea, but that the world’s perspective of sex is distorted and dangerous.

Parent teaching tips: how to help kids avoid sexual sins

1. Consciously Oversee Their Media Diet

In a culture where kids spend more time watching TV and on the Internet than they spend in school, we must guard what they watch, read, and listen to. (For more ideas on how to do that, click here)

They are developing appetites at a very early age for what brings them pleasure and satisfaction. We have to cultivate healthy appetites while starving out unhealthy ones.

2. Don’t be Afraid to Talk About Sex

In many Christian families, the issue of human sexuality is taboo. Maybe because that’s the way it was in our home when we were growing up, or maybe because some parents have convinced themselves that if they don’t talk about it, it just doesn’t exist in the heart and mind of their kids.

Nothing could be further from reality. Our kids are thinking about it because they are created as sexual beings. They are wanting answers. And they need to find them from the one source they should most be able to trust—their parents.

Parents should not be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create.

A Humble Leader Is an Effective Leader: Here’s Why

By

Eric Geiger

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March 28, 2022

According to research, the most effective leader is a humble leader. Research led by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman discovered that leaders who underrate themselves are more effective than those who rate themselves high on self-assessments.

These results are no surprise to Christians. One of the greatest leaders in our collective story is Moses, God’s servant who led God’s people out of Egyptian slavery. Of Moses the Scripture says, “Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).

Humility is a mark of the Christian faith. We belong to God because He humbled Himself for us, stepped into our world, and suffered a humiliating death for us. We become His when we humble ourselves as children and trust Him fully, knowing we cannot stand before Him in our goodness. We become more like Him as we walk in humility before Him.

A Humble Leader Is an Effective Leader: 3 Reasons Why

1. Benefits From Others

A humble leader benefits from the wisdom of others because he/she doesn’t claim to have all the answers. A humble leader benefits from the competence of others because a humble leader doesn’t act omni-competent. A godly leader benefits from the gifting of others because a humble leader doesn’t believe he/she has all the gifts. Humble leaders enjoy others, bless others, and are blessed by others.

2. Energizes Others

Zenger and Folkman’s research also discovered that leaders who underrate themselves have more engaged employees. Such a leader is going to lead a more engaged team because the humble leader values the people, their perspectives, and their contributions. A godly leader energizes others because he/she needs the gifting and the contribution of everyone on the team.

3. Receives From the Lord

Augustine is credited with saying, “God is always trying to give us good things but our hands are too full to receive them.” A true leader doesn’t have full hands but open ones ready to receive wisdom and power and mercy from the Lord. The Lord resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

This article originally appeared here.

Starting a New Ministry Project? Put These 5 Pillars in Place First

By

Charles Stone

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March 26, 2022

I began as Lead Pastor at my current church, West Park Church in London, Ontario four years ago. When I started I faced a steep learning curve. I not only needed to understand a new church culture, but a new country culture as well. So, I developed what I called my six month on-boarding plan to best discern what needed to be done early on. If you are starting a new ministry role or are simply starting a new ministry project, if you’ll put in place these 5 essentials as you begin, your chances of success will increase. In this post I state those 5 essentials.

A book that’s helped me create my plan and one that I recommend for pastors transitioning to a new church is, The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael D. Watkins. He also has an iPhone app as well. The book is a must read. He suggests that before you implement a change, you must make sure you have these five supporting pillars in place.

Awareness. A critical mass of people aware of the need for change.
Diagnosis. You know what needs to be changed and why.
Vision. You have a compelling vision and a solid strategy.
Plan. You have the expertise to put together a detailed plan.
Support. You have developed a sufficiently strong group of supporters to implement your plan.

So the next time you plan a new ministry initiate, consider these 5 pillars.

What other pillars would you add?

Thou Shalt Offend Pharisees

By

Mark Batterson

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March 25, 2022

How you handle offense has the potential to make you or break you as a leader.

You will offend.

The only question is: who will you offend?

And you will be offended.

The only question is: how will you respond to offense?

As God expands your sphere of influence, you’ll offend more and more people. It’s inevitable. But there is a right way to handle it and a wrong way to handle it.

First things first: who are you offending? Some leaders are so afraid of offending people that they offend God instead. Let me tell you who you should offend: thou shalt offend Pharisees! That is who Jesus offended. And he did so regularly and intentionally. He could have healed on any day of the week, right? I think he chose the Sabbath to confront the Pharisees who couldn’t see the miracle through the theological trees.

So go ahead and offend Pharisees, but while you’re at it, make sure you aren’t one of them!

How do you know? Well, read the Gospels and see the distinctives of Pharisaicalism. Self-righteousness is chief among them. Pharisees are low on humility and high on criticism. That critical spirit results in a focus on the letter of the law with very little room for grace.

Pharisees use, or I should say misuse, the Bible as a weapon.

And they have an uncanny habit of focusing on what’s wrong instead of celebrating what’s right.

They bring division instead of unity. The sow discord instead of peace. They aren’t advancing the kingdom of God. They are actually undermining it by backbiting and infighting. And instead of building up, they tear down. That’s the tip of the iceberg, but I think a pretty good caricature.

Pastor ‘Ashamed’ of Senator’s Questioning of Ketanji Brown Jackson; Jackie Hill Perry Draws Fire for Retweet

By

Jessica Mouser

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March 25, 2022

Two pastors in Tennessee have spoken out publicly against Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) for the way she questioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during Jackson’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings this week. Meanwhile, Christian author and speaker Jackie Hill Perry has drawn criticism for retweeting a viral photo of Jackson and Jackson’s daughter, Leila.

“I was dismayed that [Blackburn] took her time to pose a line of questioning to Judge Jackson that she ought to have known would be inappropriate to answer,” said Rev. Brandon Berg in a statement to ChurchLeaders. “She quite effectively highlighted Judge Jackson’s professionalism and poise and made herself look ill-informed, at best. I was ashamed at the way she represented the faith she professes and the state we call home.”

Berg is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Bristol, Tenn., and a member of the Southern Christian Coalition (SCC). He and fellow SCC member, Rev. Billy Vaughan, told Fox 17 News they see Blackburn’s line of questioning as being driven by a political agenda and out of line with the values of Jesus. Blackburn attends church and has described herself as a “woman of faith.”

“She took past statements by the nominee grossly out of context solely to make political points,” said Vaughan. “Those points had nothing to do with either the truth of the statements or the qualifications of Judge Jackson.”

Ketanji Brown Jackson: Some Notable Moments

One moment of Blackburn’s line of questioning that has drawn quite a bit of attention was when the senator asked if Jackson could define what a “woman” is. Jackson said that she could not because she is not a biologist, to which Blackburn expressed alarm that Jackson could not offer “a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is.”

Blackburn asked this question in the context of probing Jackson’s views about gender identity in education and said that she sees the judge’s answer as indicative of “the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about.”

Specifically, Blackburn cited the fact that transgender athlete Lia Thomas won the NCAA swimming championship on March 17. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has refused to acknowledge Thomas as the champion and has issued a proclamation declaring runner-up Emma Weyant (a Florida resident) the “rightful winner.”

While some conservatives are slamming Jackson for not knowing what a “woman” is, others see her response as conservative since she rooted the definition in biology.

When asked what he specifically found off-putting in Blackburn’s line of questioning, which included a variety of topics, Berg said that he was surprised the senator would ask Jackson about pending or future cases pertaining to abortion that could come before the Supreme Court, instead of focusing on the judge’s past experience. “It felt a whole lot like, well, grandstanding really,” he said.

Jackie Hill Perry Draws Heat for Retweet

Another moment from the hearings gaining quite a bit of attention was captured in a photo taken by The New York Times’ Sarahbeth Maney. The photo, which has gone viral, shows Ketanji Brown Jackson’s daughter, Leila, smiling at her mother during the hearings. When Jackie Hill Perry retweeted the photo, saying, “A mood,” some responded with sharp criticism, even questioning whether Perry is a true Christian.

Leaked Report Faults Hillsong for Promoting Reed Bogard, Who Now Faces Rape Allegation

By

Stephanie Martin

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March 25, 2022

reed bogard — L: One of last times Brian Houston spoke at Hillsong Church. Screengrab via YouTube @Hillsong Church R: Reed Bogard announcing his and his wife's resignation from Hillsong Dallas. Screengrab via YouTube

Another scandal is unfolding for the beleaguered Hillsong Church, which earlier this week announced the resignation of longtime Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston. Now a leaked internal investigation indicates that Hillsong leadership promoted Reed Bogard to become lead pastor in Dallas despite knowing about his questionable relationship with a junior staff member at Hillsong New York City.

The report, commissioned by Hillsong Global and conducted by New York law firm Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman, also indicates Hillsong failed to “conduct any meaningful inquiry into the details or circumstances of the affair,” which the female staffer—years later—said did not begin consensually. Despite what is now a rape allegation, no report has apparently been made to police.

Both Bogard and the staffer, who has requested anonymity, have declined further comment. In a statement, Hillsong tells The Christian Post, “Brian Houston categorically denies he had knowledge of this serious allegation when Reed Bogard was selected as the Lead Pastor for Dallas.”

Brian Houston Blamed Dallas Closure on Financial Misconduct, Pandemic

When Houston announced in April 2021 that Hillsong Dallas was being shuttered, he cited the pandemic as well as the misuse of funds by Pastors Reed and Jess Bogard. The married couple had resigned three months earlier, saying they wanted to pursue health and transition into a new season of their lives. Then in April, Houston informed congregants the Bogards had reportedly used church offerings to pay for luxury items for themselves and their three children.

“Many factors, all amplified by the pandemic, have resulted in the difficult decision,” Houston wrote in an email to church members at the time. Although he referenced leadership failures, Houston didn’t cite any claims of sexual misconduct against Reed Bogard. Yet by then (early 2021), the New York law firm had submitted its 30-page report to international leaders of Australia-based Hillsong.

This week, the same day Houston resigned from Hillsong, the Australian news outlet Crikey published a story about the confidential report, indicating someone leaked it to them. That, writes David Hardaker, is “a signal of how determined some senior Hillsong figures have become to change a culture of protection around those close to the Houstons.” He adds, “They also want to see a change to the boys’ club mentality at Hillsong, where virtually no women are in leadership roles.”

Leaked Report: Female Staffer Spoke Years Ago of Affair With Reed Bogard

According to the investigation, Reed Bogard’s extramarital relationship with the junior staffer at Hillsong New York occurred from September 2013 through January 2014. By the end of 2014, leaders at Hillsong Australia were apparently aware of the affair yet didn’t “look into matters.” Initially, they were told it was consensual and that both parties had faced appropriate “consequences.” At the time of the affair, Bogard’s boss was Ben Houston, Brian’s son, and Bogard was ordered to take time away and undergo counseling.

Near the end of 2020, the report states, the junior staffer “apparently for the first time” told Hillsong leaders “that her sexual experience with Mr. Bogard, at least initially, had not been consensual.” In fact, she “stated that at least in their initial sexual intercourse, Mr. Bogard had raped her.”

The accuser describes meeting Bogard in a bar and accepting a ride home from him. In the car, she alleges, the pastor forced himself on her. Bogard, meanwhile, told investigators he didn’t recall the woman saying no—but admitted the alcohol he consumed that night had caused memory loss. According to the report, interviewers found Bogard to be “less than entirely reliable and forthcoming.”

Investigators also interviewed other current and former Hillsong employees, including one who described Bogard as having “an enormous amount of power” and the alleged victim as “probably the most vulnerable” person at the workplace.

Independent Investigation Points to Power Imbalance

Hillsong’s failure to inquire about what it initially believed was a consensual relationship overlooks a substantial power differential, the report notes. “There can be no doubt that given the extreme power imbalance between the two, as well as the ‘don’t say no’ culture which permeated the New York Church at that time, there was ample opportunity for Mr. Bogard to take advantage of a systemic inability for [the woman] to have meaningfully consented at the time in question,” states the report. “The fact that no church leader appears to have considered this [power imbalance] is a cause for concern.”

The Babylon Bee Founder, Editor-in-Chief Locked Out of Twitter for ‘Hateful Conduct’

By

Dale Chamberlain

-

March 25, 2022

Adam Ford, who founded the Christian satire site The Babylon Bee and currently runs the humor-based news and opinion site Not the Bee, along with current Babylon Bee Editor-in-Chief Kyle Mann, is among the latest to be locked out of Twitter for violating community guidelines.

On Sunday (March 20), The Babylon Bee Twitter account was suspended after sharing a satirical article in which Transgender US Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine was dubbed “Man of the Year.” The article also called out Levine’s pre-transition first name, an act known as “deadnaming,” and referred to Levine as a man throughout.

Twitter told The Babylon Bee that they violated the platform’s rules against hateful conduct, saying, “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”

Twitter told The Babylon Bee that their account would be unlocked if they deleted the tweet, something The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon is refusing to do.

“[Twitter] could, of course, delete the tweet themselves. But they won’t,” Dillon said. “It’s not enough for them to just wipe it out. They want us to bend the knee and admit that we engaged in hateful conduct.”

Two days later, Babylon Bee Editor-in-Chief Kyle Mann received a similar message from Twitter after tweeting, “Maybe they’ll let us back into our @TheBabylonBee Twitter account if we throw a few thousand Uighurs in a concentration camp.”

Mann’s remark was a jab at Twitter, who has allowed the accounts of officials from corrupt government regimes to remain active, including accounts of people in power in China, a government which has been systematically persecuting the Uyghur people.

Ford tweeted a screenshot of the message Mann received.

“Babylon Bee editor-in-chief @The_Kyle_Mann has now been locked out of Twitter for this tweet,” Ford said. “So, literally perpetuating genocide will not get you booted off Twitter, but making jokes criticizing those who do, will. Got it.”

The next day, Ford got himself locked out of Twitter for a tweet that read, “Don’t retweet this or you’ll get suspended from Twitter.” It appears that tweet may have been a retweet of an earlier statement Ford made, which said, “Yes @TheBabylonBee has been suspended from Twitter for hate speech for calling Rachel…Levine a man. Which is objectively true. The price of getting our account back is deleting the tweet. This is real life.”

Al Mohler Explains to a Podcast Listener How Baptism Doesn’t Bring Salvation

By

Jesse T. Jackson

-

March 25, 2022

briefing_Mohler — Al Mohler during "The Briefing" podcast. Screengrab via YouTube @Southern Seminary

This week, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler took questions from listeners on his podcast “The Briefing.” One of the questions dealt with a listener’s mother, who is nearing the end of her life on this earth and believes she is saved because she was baptized as a teenager.

“My mom is now facing several health challenges and it looks as if her time on earth is short,” the listener wrote, expressing concern that his mother had placed her sense of eternal security in the ordinance itself. “Is she really going to hell because she thinks that one must also be baptized to go to heaven?”

Mohler answered, “No. No one’s going to hell for that.” The theologian then pointed out the fact that “theologically and biblically, just remember we go to hell as God’s just verdict on our sin, unless God’s just verdict on our sin falls on Christ rather than on ourselves.” Mohler explained that salvation comes through the substitutionary atonement which was achieved by Christ on the cross.

Salvation can only come from those who faithfully confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior and repent of their sins, Mohler shared.

Baptism is what takes place in a believers life after they decide to give their life to Christ and follow Him. Mohler explained, “Baptism itself is not the saving work.” It doesn’t regenerate and if someone places confidence in it doing so, it is “misplaced confidence.”

Jesus is the only thing a believer places their confidence in—”our understanding is that salvation comes by Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone,” he answered.

Mohler encouraged the listener to share the gospel with his mother in order to make sure she understands that baptism alone does not bring anyone salvation. “Bear witness to Christ to your mom and do everything you know to just repeat over and over again and emphasize in every way you know that salvation comes to those whose faith is in Christ,” Mohler concluded, “not whose faith is in baptism.”

Transgender Sports Ban Veto Likely To Be Overridden in Utah

By

Lindsay Whitehurst and Sam Metz

-

March 25, 2022

Transgender Sports Ban Veto Likely to Be Overridden in Utah — FILE - Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks during an interview at the Utah State Capitol, Friday, March 4, 2022, in Salt Lake City. Cox vetoed a ban on transgender students playing girls’ sports on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, becoming the second Republican governor to overrule state lawmakers who have taken on youth sports in a broader culture war over how Americans view gender and sexuality. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer ,File)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s Republican lawmakers were preparing for a Friday push to override Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of legislation banning transgender youth athletes from playing on girls teams, a move that comes amid a brewing nationwide culture war over transgender issues.

Cox was the second GOP governor this week to overrule state lawmakers on a sports-participation ban, and his veto letter drew national attention with a poignant argument that such laws target vulnerable kids who already have high rates of suicide attempts. But 11 states have enacted similar bans, and they are a key topic for the party’s vocal conservative base.

In Utah, there are also fears that the law’s passage could scuttle the NBA All-Star game set for February 2023 in Salt Lake City. The owner of the Utah Jazz, tech entrepreneur Ryan Smith, tweeted: “The bill rushed, flawed and won’t hold up over time. I’m hopeful we can find a better way.”

The team is also partially owned by NBA all-star Dwyane Wade, who has a transgender daughter. NBA spokesman Mike Bass has said the league is “working closely” with the Jazz on the matter.

Leaders in the deeply conservative Legislature, though, say they need to pass the law to protect women’s sports. As cultural shifts raise LGBTQ visibility, the lawmakers argue that transgender athletes can have a physical advantage and could eventually dominate the field and change the nature of women’s sports.

Utah has only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban. There have been no allegations of any of the four transgender youth athletes in Utah having a competitive advantage.

A majority of the residents — and lawmakers — are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what has historically been among the nation’s most conservative states. But an influx of new residents and technology companies coupled with the growing influence of the tourism industry often sets the stage for heated debate over social issues.

Friday’s deliberations come after more than a year of debate and negotiation between social conservatives and LGBTQ advocates over how to regulate transgender participation in school sports. A year ago, lawmakers scuttled a proposed ban amid concerns about lawsuits and pushback from Cox, who indicated he would veto the legislation if it landed on his desk.

The issue resurfaced when lawmakers reconvened earlier this year. Its primary sponsor, Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland, worked with Cox and civil rights activists at Equality Utah before introducing legislation that would require transgender student-athletes to go before a government-appointed commission, which would evaluate whether their participation would distort level playing fields.

Duo Kenny and Claire Reimagine Hymns That Helped Guide Them Through Trials

By

Timothy Cockes

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March 25, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – Music duo Kenny and Claire has spent the last several years modernizing and rewriting classic hymns as a way to reintroduce them to the Church.

Yet for the married couple, their own musical journey is deeply connected to how these hymns helped them through times of deep suffering.

Kenny and Claire Hilliard met in college at North Greenville University, where they quickly bonded over their love of music. Soon, they were writing music and traveling to various events to play together.

Kenny Hilliard said music was almost foundational for the couple’s relationship.

“We both grew up with music as essential to who we are and what we do,” he said. “Our personalities already went together so well, so when we started playing music together it was just natural. Music is one of the ties that binds us together.”

The two married in 2008 and have three children. Kenny enrolled in Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., with a plan to get some education before moving to Nashville to pursue music. But he ended up accepting a position as a pastor of a church in Wake Forest in 2014 while working on a Ph.D.

All of their plans came to a halt when Hilliard was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor on New Year’s Eve in 2015. At the time, the couple’s third child was a newborn. Hilliard described the doctor’s diagnosis as essentially saying “good luck.”

After a long and thorough search, the couple found a doctor confident that he could successfully remove the tumor, but there were no guarantees.

“For me the hardest moment was when I held our youngest child before they took me back for surgery, and there were no guarantees that I would come out, or that I would come out unchanged,” Hilliard said. “I was trusting that the Lord would either bring me through or bring me home.”

The doctor was able to successfully remove the brain tumor, but the family’s health complications were just beginning.

Hilliard already suffered from an auto-immune disorder called Elhers-Danlos syndrome, which causes a variety of difficult symptoms.

The surgery was successful in removing the tumor, but made the symptoms from Hilliard’s auto-immune disease get much worse. The effects of the disease eventually became so bad that Hilliard had to step down from his pastoral position.

A few years later the couple decided to move to Nashville, taking local jobs that were less physically demanding while teaching music students on the side. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, both Kenny and Claire lost their jobs and did not expect to get hired back.

The music teaching business they had started became their main focus, allowing them more time to work on their own music. They soon began taking classic hymns that had been a source of encouragement to them during hard times and rewriting and modernizing them for a modern audience.

“The things that would come to us during the dark times would be the lyrics from different old hymns that we knew,” Hilliard said. “They took on new meaning to me when I was walking through fear of dying, and a very invasive brain surgery. They brought things into perspective.”

The couple would release an EP titled “Are You Weary” in 2021, which contains several modernized and rewritten hymns including “Approach My Soul,” and “For the Beauty.”

Arizona Legislature Approves 15-Week Abortion Ban

By

Bob Christie

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March 25, 2022

Abortion Ban — FILE - A number of Arizona reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates protest an abortion bill at the Arizona Capitol on Monday, April 26, 2021, in Phoenix. The Arizona Legislature has approved a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. The House approved the measure Thursday, March 24, 2022, a month after the Senate gave its ok, and it now heads to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey for his expected signature. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature on Thursday joined the growing list of Republican-led states to pass aggressive anti-abortion legislation as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court is considering ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

The House voted on party lines to outlaw abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, mirroring a Mississippi law now being considered by the nation’s high court.

The bill explicitly says it does not overrule a state law in place for more than 100 years that would ban abortion outright if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that enshrined the right to abortion in law.

The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, an abortion opponent who has signed every piece of anti-abortion legislation that has reached his desk since he took office in 2015.

Florida lawmakers passed a similar 15-week abortion ban early this month that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign. A bill in West Virginia failed to pass the state Senate by the time its legislative session ended earlier this month after passing the House.

An Arizona proposal that would outlaw abortion after about six weeks has not advanced. A bill enacted in Texas last year allows private citizens to enforce the ban, and the Supreme Court refused to block it. Idaho’s governor signed a copycat bill this week. Those measures are unique in that they allow private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who helps someone else get an abortion after six weeks. It has made legal challenges difficult because the government is not involved in enforcement.

The Arizona 15-week abortion ban bill contains no exceptions for rape or incest or for a medical emergency. It would also bar abortions for families that learn in pregnancy later on that a fetus is not viable.

The measure was pushed by the Center for Arizona Policy, a prominent social conservative group that pushes religious freedom, anti-abortion and parental rights bills that wields great power among Republican lawmakers.

Democrats criticized what they called GOP lawmakers’ disconnect between opposing abortion and refusing to provide more funding for the poor and uninsured.

Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, a Catholic from Cashion, said he was strongly in favor of abortion rights and called the abortion ban politically motivated and “dangerous to the women in our lives.”

“I wish we had the same fervency for the living as we do for issues like this. That we would offer the loving dignity, education, shelter, nourishment,” Sierra said. “Instead we’re doing this, and we’re getting in between a woman, her doctor and her God.”

Republican backers said little during the floor debate.

Minority Democrats have said the measure is unconstitutional and that any ban would disproportionally impact poor and minority women who won’t be able to travel to states without strict abortion laws.

But Sen. Nancy Barto, the Republican sponsor of the bill, has said she hopes the high court upholds Mississippi’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks.

“The state has an obligation to protect life, and that is what this bill is about,” Barto said during Senate debate last month.

The debate and vote on the 15-week abortion ban came the same morning that the House also passed a ban on transgender girls from playing on the high school or college sports team that aligns with their gender identity. The House voted Thursday to approved a bill banning gender reassignment surgery for anyone younger than 18. Both passed with no Democratic support.

Arizona already has some of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, including one that would automatically outlaw it if the high court fully overturns Roe.

Republicans hope to put the 15-week ban in place so it takes effect quickly if the Supreme Court further limits abortion rights but stops short of fully overturning Roe. The measure closely mirrors the Mississippi law.

Under current abortion rulings, abortion is legal until the point a fetus can survive outside the womb, which is usually around 24 weeks.

Barto’s bill would make it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion after 15 weeks but would prohibit the prosecution of pregnant people for receiving one. Doctors could face felony charges and lose their license to practice medicine. There is an exception for cases when the mother is at risk of death or serious permanent injury, but not for instances of rape or incest.

Of the 13,186 abortions performed in Arizona in 2020, 636 were after 15 weeks of pregnancy, according to the latest data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

This article originally appeared here.

Pope Francis and Kirill Could Meet, Vatican-Orthodox Relations Expert Says

By

Claire Giangrave

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March 25, 2022

patriarch kirill — Pope Francis walks with his pastoral staff among Cardinals and prelates wearing FFP2 masks at the end of an Epiphany mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — War in Ukraine might have set back the clock on Vatican relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, but according to one expert on Catholic relations with Eastern churches a meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, originally planned for June is not yet off the table.

Since Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 21, Francis has strongly urged an end to the fighting, but he has not blamed Russian Vladimir Putin for the war, nor named Russia as the aggressor. The Vatican has remained above the conflict and has not taken an official position on whether Ukraine should join NATO and the European Union, become part of Russia or be an independent state.

In his speeches and sermons Francis has “never spoke clearly about Ukraine or Russia, he never even mentioned the Ukrainian Catholics,” said the Rev. Stefano Caprio, who teaches Russian history and culture at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome and served as a missionary in Russia between 1989 and 2002.

Nor did the Vatican release a statement after Francis spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (March 22), as it did after his video call a week earlier with Kirill.

Francis’ dovish approach may also be explained in part by “the usual Ostpolitik,” Caprio explained, referring to the West’s Cold War foreign policy toward the Soviet bloc, “where doors are kept open to the enemy.”

But the Vatican “must be very careful,” he said, that Francis’ overture to Kirill is not interpreted as supportive of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to Caprio, Francis and Kirill are juggling relations with multiple political and religious actors. While their views of the conflict in Ukraine may seem at odds, the two religious leaders are attempting to court all sides in the conflict, and a meeting between the two in Kyiv would crown centuries-old ecumenical efforts, Caprio said.

The pope and the patriarch were scheduled to meet this summer in neutral territory until the crisis pushed back the date indefinitely. According to Caprio, the March 16 call between Francis and Kirill, who both had mediators present, “showed that the meeting, if it could not happen as scheduled in Canada this June, has already begun.”

Caprio said Kirill’s meetings with both Francis and the Church of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, soon after giving a fiery sermon against Western ideology justifying Putin’s holy war in Ukraine show that while the patriarch must support Russia’s military intentions, “he doesn’t want to break relations with the world.”

Kirill has mastered the art of “jumping from one side of the river to the other,” the priest added, “not unlike Pope Francis.”

In 2016, Francis and Kirill became the first heads of their respective churches to meet in person in 1,000 years when they sat down to talk at the airport in Havana. Together they signed a joint declaration, which among other topics addressed growing tensions in Ukraine.

$100 Million Media Campaign Depicts Human Side of Jesus in Outreach to Skeptics

By

Adelle M Banks

-

March 25, 2022

(RNS) — A $100 million media campaign is attempting to attract people who are skeptical about Christianity but may relate to Jesus by highlighting his upbringing as a homeless, bullied son of a teenage mother.

The “He Gets Us” campaign, which launched in mid-March, is an initiative of The Signatry, a Christian foundation based in Kansas that is channeling more than $100 million in funding from what it describes as “like-minded families who desire to see the Jesus of the Bible represented in today’s culture with the same relevance and impact He had 2000 years ago.”

The Signatry has bought time for its advertisements on broadcasts of the NCAA’s popular March Madness basketball tournament as part of a blitz on TV, radio, billboard and social media.

Jason Vanderground, president of Haven, a creative hub based in Michigan that is working with The Signatry on the project, said the initiative is based on broad research.

“We talked to thousands of people who, while of course they have heard of Jesus, they don’t know the full extent of His ministry,” he said in a statement to Religion News Service. “We see a light go on for them when they begin to recognize that Jesus was fully human — and that carries them forward in being able to take in and understand that He was fully God, too.”

In a 15-second spot called “Anxiety,” black-and-white photos show people in despair, hands to their heads, before the words “Jesus suffered anxiety, too” appear on the screen. On YouTube, viewers are told in the video’s memo field: “Yet, despite this total failure to quell his anxiety, Jesus found the strength to face his accusers and submit to them willingly and without violence — knowing that his death would only further spread his message of radical love.”

He Gets Us social media posts. Courtesy images

The campaign’s website, offering alternatives to an “increasingly divisive and mean-spirited world,” gives visitors the option to chat online, to text to ask for a volunteer to “pray encouragement for you” or access a seven-day Bible reading plan. Gloo, the Colorado-based technology partner for the campaign, is training the volunteers who connect with those seeking to chat or receive prayer.

The Signatry, also known as Servant Foundation, defines itself as existing “to inspire and facilitate revolutionary, biblical generosity.” It reported gross receipts of more than $658 million on a 2020 tax form. In 2018, it reported having more than $1 billion in contributions.

Partners who have joined the initiative include the Luis Palau Association, the National Association of Evangelicals and Christianity Today magazine.

“I was grateful that the campaign is not designed to recruit for any particular church or denomination, but to simply encourage folks to explore faith in Jesus,” said Kevin Palau, president of the evangelistic association founded by his father, in a statement to RNS. “I think the ads themselves will provide the spark for a lot of interesting spiritual conversations, and that’s a good thing.”

Ed Stetzer. Courtesy photo

Last Friday (March 18), Ed Stetzer, a missiologist and board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, led an online briefing about the campaign to encourage participation from other faith leaders.

“We want people to be talking about Jesus and the gospel, and Christians having the opportunity to start conversations with people who’ve seen ads,” said Stetzer, who also is the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois.

“At a time when everyone seems to want to talk about everything but evangelism, this is going to be a kind of tool that helps us.”

The campaign was previewed for two months in 10 U.S. markets and drew more than 30 million YouTube views, more than 10 million prime-time TV ad views and 95 million outdoor impressions, according to its organizers. In addition, it said 10,000 people signed up for YouVersion Bible reading plans, 3,000 participated in live chat conversations and 1,000 made prayer requests.

High Court Ruling for Texas Inmate Praised

By

Tom Strode

-

March 25, 2022

WASHINGTON (BP) – Southern Baptists at national, state and local levels commended the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday (March 24) in support of a condemned Texas inmate’s request to have his pastor lay hands on and pray aloud for him when he receives a lethal injection.

In an 8-1 opinion, the high court said John Ramirez, who was convicted of a 2004 murder, “is likely to succeed in showing [the state’s] policy substantially burdens his exercise of religion.” Ramirez had sued Texas prison officials for refusing to permit Dana Moore, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, to minister to him as requested when he is executed.

With only Associate Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, the Supreme Court reversed a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and returned the case to federal court. That court should issue an injunction requiring the state to grant Ramirez’s request if prison officials continue to refuse to allow Moore to touch and pray audibly for him at a rescheduled execution, the high court said in its opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

“This is a significant affirmation of religious liberty,” said Brent Leatherwood, acting president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). “The Supreme Court affirmed that religious freedom does not end at the execution chamber door.

“In the majority opinion, the court provided significant guidance about how this case should be handled moving forward,” Leatherwood said in an ERLC news release. “The state of Texas should accommodate Mr. Ramirez’s sincere requests based on his religious beliefs and allow Pastor Moore … to minister to Mr. Ramirez in his final solemn moments of life.”

Tony Wolfe, associate executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, called the decision “a win for religious liberty.”

“Baptists have long confessed their conviction toward ‘full freedom in the pursuit of spiritual ends,’ noting that such religious liberty ‘implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men’ (The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the SBC’s confession of faith),” he said in written remarks.

“Even those among us who are convicted of the most heinous of crimes are to be cared for and ministered to by religious officials at their request and upon the church’s agreement,” Wolfe said. “A pastor’s presence and spiritual ministry at the moment of death [are] among the most solemn of ministerial occasions.”

Moore told Baptist Press, “It is a blessing that if John does receive a date and if he is executed, that at least I’ll be able to hold his hand [or otherwise touch him] and pray” with him.

It also is a blessing “from the precedent that we can practice our faith, even in the death chamber,” he said. “[A]s a Baptist, that’s important, to be able to practice our faith where and when we need to be allowed to do so. There’s nothing compelling to keep us from doing that, even in the death chamber.”

Though, Moore said, “the downside is this opens up the opportunity” for him to receive a new date for execution.

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