THE BRIEFING | Posted by Meredith Flynn
It wasn’t a typical Sunday night at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Decatur. While Tabernacle Pastor Wes Feltner did occupy the worship center platform, he was joined by four panelists to whom he served as moderator.
Billed as the “Great Debate: Faith and Politics 2012,” the panelist were there to discuss, “How high the wall? Faith, Politics and the Public Square.”
One-issue voting proved to be a hot topic among the panelists, who came from a variety of perspectives.
“It’s not wrong, but I do have concerns with it,” said Shaun Lewis, who ministers to Illinois lawmakers through the Capitol Commission. “The problem being one issue voting tends to define the church by that one issue and it does a lot of damage to the image of the church. It shifts the identity of the church to elevating one issue more than it should be.”
Chad Brand, a professor of theology at Southern Seminary, added, “There are many issues we ought to be concerned about. We cannot help ourselves from reacting to certain issues. The church is gifted with diverse people. We can’t let ourselves be driven by gay rights and abortion. We must recognize there are other issues.”
James Estep, a dean at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary in Lincoln, Ill., said one solution is to train young thinkers to look critically at the issues. “It is essential to have a strong education system so you have intelligent voters to make informed decisions,” he said. “That one issue, 10, 20 years later might not be an important issue anymore.”
Reported by Lisa Sergent, contributing editor of the Illinois Baptist. Look for the full story in the October 8 issue, or read it online here.
In other news:
Gender-specific events banned by school district
A school district in Cranston, Rhode Island, has banned father-daughter dances and mother-son baseball outings, which are gender-specific and could be interpreted as going against state law. The decision came in response to a complaint from the ACLU on behalf of a single mother whose daughter could not attend a father-daughter dance because she did not have a father in her life. According to the Providence Journal, the Cranston School Committee soon will consider a resolution asking lawmakers to modify state law to preserve the father-daughter dances. Read more at BPNews.net.
Mohler on ‘Jesus’ wife’ claim
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said a small fragment of papyrus said to mention Jesus’ “wife” is “sensationalism masquerading as scholarship.” After Harvard professor Karen King announced in mid-September the discovery of the tiny (smaller than a business card) document, Mohler blogged about the real meaning of the supposed discovery. “…Do not miss what all this really represents – an effort to replace biblical Christianity with an entirely new faith.” Read Mohler’s full blog post here.
Pakistani Christians victimized
As many as 600 families were forced to evacuate their neighborhood after a 14-year-old girl in Pakistan was accused of blasphemy. Rimsha Masih has since been released on bail and Khalid Chisti, the Muslim cleric who accused her, was arrested when witnesses alleged he framed the girl. Chisti reportedly had earlier called for the massacre of Christians in the neighborhood. The displaced families were assisted by Baptist Global Response partners, who helped by providing meals and praying with them. Read the full story at BPNews.net.
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