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Archives For November 30, 1999

Tuesday Briefing: Ferguson churches launch ‘adopt a block’ strategy

Meredith Flynn —  March 24, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

Amid continuing tension in Ferguson, Mo., church members will engage in a block-by-block outreach initiative to promote relationships–and healing–in the St. Louis suburb rocked by violence and protests since the shooting of teenager Michael Brown last August.

The_BriefingJose Aguayo, a Ferguson pastor and chaplain with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, will lead the effort to send out teams of church members tasked with getting to know residents on their assigned block. Eventually, Aguayo told Baptist Press, ministries resulting from the outreach could include “sports teams, community outings and study assistance for children and adults.”

First Baptist Church in Ferguson, led by Pastor Stoney Shaw, is one of the churches participating. He told The Pathway newspaper in Missouri, “We want to join with other churches and minister. Walking the streets and praying is a simple yet powerful plan.” Read more at BPNews.net.

In other news from Ferguson, Christianity Today reports on a dialogue between Franklin Graham and other Christian leaders. Graham, CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, posted March 12 on his Facebook page, “Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience.” (Read the entire post here.) But according to a group of 31 Christian leaders who wrote an open letter to Graham, the issue is often more complicated.

Family is the most central factor in how Americans identify themselves, Barna found in a new study, followed by being an American at #2, and their religious faith at #3. But the answers change, depending on how old you are.

On the day marking the Iranian New Year, President Obama issued a statement calling for the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has arrested in the country in 2012. “Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho has spent two and a half years detained in Iran on charges related to his religious beliefs,” Obama said. “He must be returned to his wife and two young children, who needlessly continue to grow up without their father.” Read more at ChristianityToday.com.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz spoke about Christianity and liberty at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., where he also announced he will run for President in 2016. Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of the Christian university, introduced Cruz but was careful to note Liberty was giving the candidate a platform rather than endorsing him, The Christian Post reported.

More than $2.5 billion is wagered on the annual March Madness basketball tournament, according to the FBI. But Christians would be wise not to throw any money in the pot, says Barrett Duke, a vice president for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Read the full story at BPNews.net.

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Tuesday Briefing: Florist ‘cannot sell’ freedom for financial settlement

Meredith Flynn —  February 24, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The Washington florist found to be in violation of her state’s non-discrimination law rejected a settlement that could have mitigated some of the damage to her financial well-being, The Christian Post reports.

The_BriefingWhen Baronelle Stutzman refused to provide florist services for a same-sex wedding, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against her. Following the Feb. 18 verdict, Ferguson offered to let Stutzman pay $2,001 in penalties and fees, as long as she committed “not to discriminate in the future.” Stutzman said no.

“Washington’s constitution guarantees us ‘freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.’ I cannot sell that precious freedom,” she wrote in a letter. “You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.”

Controversial author and former pastor Rob Bell told Oprah Winfrey that church culture is turning toward acceptance of same-sex marriage. “Lots of people are already there,” he said on the Feb. 15 episode of Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday.”

“We think it’s inevitable and we’re moments away from the church accepting it.”

Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting this June will vote on a key change to the ministry statement of the North American Mission Board. If approved, according to Baptist Press, NAMB personnel could provide assistance to the International Mission Board in planting churches overseas.

“War Room” is the newest movie from the Georgia brothers who created “Facing the Giants,” “Fireproof,” and “Courageous.”

“This film is about the power of prayer, and the necessity of prayer in our lives,” Alex Kendrick says in a video on warroomthemovie.com. He and his brother, Stephen, produced their earlier films with Sherwood Pictures, based in their Baptist church. “War Room” will be distributed by Worldwide Distribution for Sony Pictures, Baptist Press reported. Bible teachers Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore both appear in the film.

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Tuesday Briefing: Pop-up church, ‘post-seculars,’ and persistent faith

Meredith Flynn —  February 3, 2015
Rob (left) and Mona Payne (center) lead worship during "Pop Up Church" for Downtown Phoenix Church, also known as DTPHX Church. Photo by Shawn Hendricks/BP

Rob (left) and Mona Payne (center) lead worship during “Pop Up Church” in Phoenix. Photo by Shawn Hendricks/BP

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

Young adults in downtown Phoenix “don’t think about going to church on Sunday morning any more than you and I think about going to bingo on Friday nights,” says Pastor Jim Helman. To reach Millennials, his Downtown Phoenix Church “pops up” every other week at a coffee shop or in a park, and uses the other weeks to serve the community. Read more at BPNews.net.

His Seattle Seahawks may have lost the Super Bowl in stunning fashion (that second down call!), but quarterback Russell Wilson seems to already be bouncing back via Twitter. After the game, the outspoken Christian posted motivational messages and Psalm 18:1–“I will love You, O LORD, my strength.”

Imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini thanked President Obama for meeting with his wife and children last week, and for assuring the couple’s young son that he will try to secure his father’s release by March (when Jacob Abedini will celebrate his 7th birthday). “I know that as a father you can truly understand the pain and anguish of my children living without their father and the burden that is on my wife as a single mother,” Abedini wrote to Obama from Rajaee Shahr prison in Iran.

In the letter, provided online by the American Center for Law and Justice, Abedini also thanked Obama “for standing up for my family and I and for thousands of Christians across the world who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.”

The American Bible Society will relocate to Philadelphia after selling its Manhattan building for $300 million, reports The Christian Post. The 12-story facility on Broadway, which has housed ABS since 1966, is about 10 blocks from another ministry: the offices of the Metro New York Baptist Association.

Religion writer Cathy Lyn Grossman reports on the “post-seculars,” a group defined in a new study as falling between “traditional” and “modern” views of science and religion. Said study co-author Timothy O’Brien, “We were surprised to find this pretty big group (21 percent) who are pretty knowledgeable and appreciative about science and technology but who are also very religious and who reject certain scientific theories.”

Democrats feel more warmly toward Muslims than do Republicans, Pew reports in a study on how ideology and age affect American “temperatures” about Muslims and Islam.

As Boko Haram continues to wage a war of terror in Nigeria, “…God has raised up believers who have remained steadfast and bold in the midst of applied pressures to silence them,” said one Christian worker, according to this Baptist Press story.

 

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Tuesday Briefing: Praying for France

Meredith Flynn —  January 13, 2015

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

International Mission Board workers called for prayer in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks in France, Baptist Press reports. “There exists today a delicate tension in France that teeters toward breaking, and [Wednesday’s] tragic events will likely serve to further stir up the tension,” said Mark Stone, a church planter in southern France. The outbreak of violence started Jan. 7 with a shooting that left 12 people dead at the headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

“We are praying that the outcry against these heinous acts committed by religious extremists will not become outcries against anyone who claims to have any sort of religious belief,” IMB worker Tara Chaney told Baptist Press.

“Right now, we are praying that the people of France will turn toward God and not away from Him.”

The_BriefingThe Muslim actor who will play Jesus in an upcoming National Geographic Channel said he didn’t believe Jesus would judge him for playing the part. “I cannot speak for Jesus, but I can quote his teachings and He said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,'” Haaz Sleiman told Entertainment Weekly. “…How would He react to me playing Jesus? He wouldn’t judge it. He wouldn’t judge His own enemy…playing this part highlights His teaching in a very nice way.”

Sleiman will portray Christ in “Killing Jesus,” a miniseries based on a book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Read the full story at ChristianPost.com.

North Korea is atop Open Doors’ annual World Watch List for the 13th consecutive year, followed by Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The list tracks the countries “where it is most dangerous and difficult to be a Christian.”

“Under no circumstances have I been discriminatory or hateful towards any member of the department in the LGBT community or a member of the LGBT community at large,” former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran told Baptist Press Jan. 6. Cochran was fired after an investigation into his self-published book which briefly mentions homosexuality as an immoral behavior, BP reports. Cochran teaches Sunday school and serves as a deacon at Elizabeth Baptist Church, which is affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention.

Where do the majority of Congressional representatives fall, faith-wise? Pew Research breaks down the religious makeup of the current U.S. Congress in this full report.

Wondering what else happened in Louis Zamperini’s life that didn’t make it into the recently released feature film Unbroken? Check out this half-hour documentary from the Bill Graham Evangelistic Association about the war hero’s conversion to Christianity.

We’ll give this a few weeks to see how it checks out: LifeWay Research recently found only 15% of churchgoers said they would skip worship to watch their favorite football team.

 

 

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Tuesday Briefing: Year-end lists document 2014, Mars Hill says good-bye

Meredith Flynn —  December 30, 2014

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

Tis the season for best-of lists, and several interesting are already floating around the internet:

Other news:

“I’m proud of you,” Rick Warren told Mars Hill Church Dec. 28. Via video, Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Ca., preached the final message members of the multi-site church will hear before Mars Hill disbands and several of the locations become independent congregations. “You know, anybody can follow Jesus when it’s a party,” Warren said. “The real test of spiritual maturity is how you handle the storms of life, the difficulties, and even the changes that you didn’t ask for.” Mars Hill Pastor Marc Driscoll resigned in October amid charges of unbiblical leadership.

“We can support the police and talk about how to make policing better at the same time,” writes Ed Stetzer. “We can seek to insert grace into these difficult moments.” The missiologist and president of LifeWay Research (and native New Yorker) reflected on his blog in the wake of the murders of two New York City police officers.

If the United States’ unchurched population was its own country, it would be the eighth most populous nation in the world, Barna reports in these “10 Facts About America’s Churchless.”

A positive note to end on: Seven NFL players participated in a holiday Bible giveaway, reports The Christian Post. “God placed us here for a reason. Use the time you have on this platform to spread His Word,” Tampa Bay Buccaneer Alterraun Verner told CP.

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The Briefing: Court rulings could expand same-sex marriage to 35 states

Meredith Flynn —  October 14, 2014

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The Supreme Court’s decision Oct. 6 to let stand lower-court rulings on same-sex marriage combined with a subsequent appeals court ruling could mean 35 states will soon have legal same-sex marriage, Baptist Press reported.

The effort to “redefine marriage is perhaps the fastest, most effective social change in our nation’s history,” said Andrew Walker of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “The furthered erosion or deinstitutionalization of marriage that comes by redefining it will re-wire or re-circuit how we understand family arrangements.”

The_BriefingBefore the courts’ rulings, 19 states allowed same-sex marriage, including Illinois. The Supreme Court’s action legalized same-sex unions in Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah, and put Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming on the same path. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down laws marriage laws in Idaho and Nevada on Oct. 7, a decision that will likely affect Alaska, Arizona and Montana.

Walker will be part of this week’s “Elevate Marriage” conference at the Illinois Baptist State Association in Springfield, Ill. For more information and to register, go to www.IBSA.org/Marriage.

Hong Kong protestors include Christians
Some churches in Hong Kong are supporting protestors in the city this week, Christianity Today reports, and some Christians are actively objecting to the Chinese government’s control over Hong Kong’s 2017 election. CT and other media outlets explain how tensions between China’s Communist government and a growing church movement could be at the root of the protests.

Ebola survivor urges greater response
“…The reality on the ground in West Africa is worse than the worst report you’ve seen,” Dr. Kent Brantley told an audience at Abilene Christian University this month. Brantley, the missionary doctor who contracted Ebola and was successfully treated in the U.S., expressed sympathy for the family of now-deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, The Christian Post reported. He also urged listeners to avoid panic. “Let’s stop talking about that highly improbable thing and focus on saving people’s lives and stopping the outbreak where it is.”

YouVersion reaches 1,030 versions, 721 languages
A Bible app developed by a media-savvy Oklahoma church is now available in 1,030 versions and 721 languages. And counting. A ticker on YouVersion.com tracks key metrics like versions, languages and installs—currently at more than 156 million. The app, developed by Lifechurch.tv’s Bobby Gruenewald, reached the 1,000-version mark earlier this month, but there are still more than 1,800 languages that do not have a Bible translation in progress, according to YouVersion.

Care line offers help for pastors
A new telephone care line opened Oct. 1 for pastors dealing with crises in their personal lives, families, or congregations. 1-844-PASTOR1 is co-sponsored by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and Focus on the Family. “Because [pastors] have always been there for others, it’s our privilege to be there for them,” said Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, in a NAMB article about the care line. Workers from the ministry’s Family Help Center answer the confidential calls, pray with pastors, and refer the call to a counseling team as needed. The care line, open weekdays between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time, offers help in English and Spanish.

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The Briefing: New group launches for ‘pro-marriage equality’ Christians

Meredith Flynn —  September 16, 2014

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

An op-ed piece on Time.com last week announced the launch of “Evangelicals for Marriage Equality,” an effort “to change the hearts and minds of evangelicals about civil marriage equality,” according to spokesperson Brandan Robertson.

“…I represent a growing number of millennial evangelicals that believes it’s possible to be a faithful Christian with a high regard for the authority of the Bible and a faithful supporter of civil marriage equality,” Robertson wrote in the column.

The_BriefingQuoting statistics that report younger evangelicals are more likely than older Christians to support same-sex marriage, Robertson made a case for a “middle path” that “both compels evangelicals to stand for civil marriage equality as an overflow of our love for our lesbian and gay neighbors, while allowing us to have space to wrestle with and remain faithful to our beliefs.”

Andrew Walker of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission responded to Robertson’s piece in his own op-ed on Time.com the next day.

“In 800 words, there’s not a coherent argument about the nature of marriage,” Walker wrote about Robertson’s column. “And that’s what this debate Americans are having is about, isn’t it? It’s about one question: What is marriage? This isn’t just about Christianity’s teaching on marriage. It’s about the definition of marriage for society.

“It’s about whether marriage is malleable, or whether marriage has a fixed social purpose that’s been recognized throughout all of human history as something distinct from other relationships.”

Walker will appear at the “Elevate Marriage” conference Oct. 16 in Springfield, Ill. Register now at www.IBSA.org/Marriage.

Other news:

‘Third way’ church expelled from CA Baptist Convention
The California Southern Baptist Convention Executive Board voted Sept. 11 to withdraw fellowship from a church that had decided to pursue a “third way” in dealing with same-sex lifestyles in the church, Baptist Press reports. After Danny Cortez, pastor of New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, Ca., announced he no longer believed same-sex relationships are sinful, his church reportedly voted to become a “third way” church that wouldn’t condemn or condone homosexuality. A former elder later told Baptist Press the church didn’t officially vote to accept the “third way,” but peacefully separated amid deadlock.

Warren: ‘People are looking for mercy’
The church must deal with mental illness with a spirit of compassion, California pastor Rick Warren says in a video posted at www.erlc.com. The video, posted in July, also features Tony Rose, chairman of the Mental Health Advisory Group formed by Southern Baptist Executive Committee President Frank Page in response to a motion made at the 2013 SBC Annual Meeting. “If the church could be a church of mercy, we would have no evangelism problem, because people are looking for mercy,” said Warren, whose son committed suicide in 2013 after a lengthy battle with mental illness. Read more about the advisory group, who held their inaugural meeting in May, at BPNews.net.

Pew research measures American concern about extremism
As ISIS continues to terrorize groups in the Middle East, Pew Research released new data that shows Americans are increasingly concerned about Islamic extremism. 62% are very concerned about its rise around the world, Pew reported, and 53% are very concerned about the possibility of rising Islamic extremism in the U.S. Not surprisingly, more Americans now also say they are concerned the government has not gone far enough to protect the country.

Illinois volunteers assist with flood recovery near Detroit
Four Disaster Relief teams from Illinois will serve in Warren, Michigan, this month, after slow-moving storms dumped several inches of rain on the area in August and damaged tens of thousands of homes. Read the story here.

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The Briefing: Illinois issues 5,000 licenses to same-sex couples

Meredith Flynn —  July 22, 2014

The_BriefingTHE BRIEFING | A new survey shows 21% of same-sex couples in Illinois have opted to wed since it became legal in the state June 1, but a second survey asks how long those marriages will last. And two more new polls cast doubt on the percentage of homosexuals in the U.S.

Equality Illinois, a group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in Illinois, surveyed the state’s 102 counties and found at least 3,274 marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples and 1,694 civil unions have been converted to marriages. According to the most recent U.S. Census, 23,409 same-sex couples reside in Illinois. Using this data, 21.2% of same-sex couples in the state have married or plan to marry.

The group stated the exact number of licenses issued or civil union conversions is difficult to determine because not all of the state’s county clerks recorded whether licenses were issued to same-sex couples, while others recorded conversions together with licenses, not separately.

Nine counties reported no licenses issued to same-sex couples or civil union conversions and five counties did not respond to the survey.

What might the future hold for these couples? The National Review’s online blog, The Corner, reported this month in a new Scandinavian study of civil unions (more heavily equated to marriage than in the U.S.) over the nearly two decades that they have been legal in that region of the world. The study reported male couples were 35% more likely to divorce than heterosexual couples, and female couples were over 200% more likely to divorce. It also found, whether or not the couples had children made little difference in the divorce rate.

Gay, more or less

In related news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported July 15 that less than 3% of the U.S. population identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. It’s the first time the government has measured American’s sexual orientation through the National Health Interview Survey.

According to the 2013 survey just out, 1.6% of adults self-identify as gay or lesbian, and 0.7% consider themselves bisexual.

And these findings conflict with a new Pew Research Center survey that says there are more homosexuals in the United States than previously reported. The figure cited for years was 10%, based mostly on the Kinsey Report of 1948. Critics called Kinsey’s methods flawed, and said the number was more like 4% to 8%.

Pew used two survey methods, allowing for indirect responses. While the “direct report” method shows 11% of U.S. adults “do not consider themselves heterosexual,” the “veiled report” showed considerably higher numbers: 19% of U.S. adults said they “do not consider themselves heterosexual.” That’s 15% of men and 22% of women.

Using the “veiled method,” Pew also found that 27% of U.S. adults admitted having a sexual experience with someone of the same sex.

Overall, the public perception of the number of homosexuals in the U.S. has grown as same-sex marriage has dominated the news. A 2013 Gallup poll that found Americans believe 25% of the population is gay, lesbian or transgendered.

-Reported by Lisa Sergent for the Illinois Baptist

Other stories:

SBC leaders tour Texas border shelters
Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd and ethicist Russell Moore will today visit two border facilities tending to the needs of children detained after attempting to cross into the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security reports 57,000 such kids have been detained in the last nine months. The children “need immediate attention that elevates their health and safety above all,” Floyd wrote for Baptist Press last week. “From my point of view, the children must become our number one priority.” Read more at BPNews.net

Research guages ‘religious temperatures’
Americans view Jews, Catholics and evangelical Christians warmly, according to a new study from Pew Research that measures perceptions about different religious groups. Respondents ranked groups on a “feeling thermometer” of 0 to 100. The “warm” groups all received average rankings in the low 60s, while atheists (41) and Muslims (40) received the lowest numbers. Read more at PewForum.org.

Baptist school gets partial win in court
A California Superior Court ruled in July that a Southern Baptist university had the right to expel a transgender student for violating its code of conduct. Domaine Javier, a former California Baptist University nursing student who identifies as a female, sued the school for gender discrimination after being expelled for claiming to be female on his application.

Judge Gloria Connor Trask ruled the school didn’t violate the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act because its on-campus activities do not constitute a “business enterprise.” But Trask did award attorney’s fees and $4,000 in damages to Javier because he was excluded from off-campus enterprises open to the public. Read more at BPNews.net.

Movies to explore Tolkien/Lewis friendship
Christianity Today reports on two upcoming movies that will look at the relationship between beloved Christian authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The films “Tolkien and Lewis” and “Jack and Tollers” are expected in 2015, and another movie about Tolkien’s life also is in the works.

 

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In changing culture, Christianity is ‘authentically strange,’ says Moore

Meredith Flynn —  April 21, 2014
Russell Moore was joined on ABC's "The Week" by fellow panelists Franklin Graham, Ralph Reed and Cokie Roberts.

Russell Moore was joined on ABC’s “The Week” by fellow panelists Franklin Graham, Ralph Reed and Cokie Roberts. Photo from video on abcnews.go.com

NEWS | On Easter Sunday morning, ABC’s “This Week” featured a panel of guests discussing whether the influence of evangelicals is waning in the current culture. The group included Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who said it is indeed a new day for Christians.

The percentage of people that are members of a church or synagogue has fallen from 70% in 1992 to 59% in 2013, said moderator Martha Raddatz, citing a Gallup statistic. She asked Moore if the numbers worry him, and what can be done about the decline.

“I’m not worried… because I think what we’re seeing is the collapse of a cultural, nominal form of Christianity,” Moore said. There was a time in America where in order to be a good person, to be seen as a good citizen, one had to nominally at least be a member of a church. Those days are over, and so we’re at a point now where Christianity is able to be authentic, and Christianity is able to be authentically strange.”

Moore pointed out that Christianity’s foundational beliefs are hard to grasp for the culture at large, but the disconnect isn’t unprecedented.

“Many people now when they hear about what Christians believe, what evangelical Christians believe, their response is to say, ‘That sounds freakish to me, that sounds odd and that sounds strange.’ Well, of course it does. We believe that a previously dead man is now the ruler of the universe and offers forgiveness of sins to anyone who will repent and believe.

“That’s the same sort of reaction that happened in the Greco-Roman empire when Christianity first emerged. So it offers an opportunity for the church to speak clearly, articulately, about what it is that we believe, to give a winsome and clear message about what the Gospel actually is.”

Raddatz asked Moore about his recent comment that “the illusion of a Moral Majority is no longer sustainable in this country.”

“Yes, it’s a different time,” Moore said on Sunday’s broadcast, “and that means that the way that we speak, we speak in a different way. We speak to people who don’t necessarily agree with us. There was a time in which we could assume that most Americans agreed with us on life, and on abortion, and on religious liberty and other issues. And we simply had to say, ‘We’re for the same things you’re for, join us.’

“It’s a different day. We have to speak to the rest of the culture and say, ‘Here’s why this is in your interest to value life, to value family, to value religious liberty.'”

The panel’s 10-minute conversation is available for viewing at the ABC News website.

 

 

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‘True Love Waits’ movement is subject of new documentary

Meredith Flynn —  February 18, 2014

THE BRIEFING | Posted by Meredith Flynn

True_Love_Waits(From Baptist Press) A new documentary marks the 20th anniversary of “True Love Waits,” an abstinence movement that found its footing in American churches and has since made an impact in countries around the world. “True Love Waits: The Complicated Struggle for Sexual Purity” was produced by LifeWay Films; Jimmy Hester, LifeWay’s then-student ministry director, helped create True Love Waits in 1994.

“We knew from the beginning we wanted to address the criticisms as well as the successes of the True Love Waits movement,” Travis Hawkins, the documentary’s director, told Baptist Press. “We knew viewers would see through any spin we put on the story. We weren’t afraid to have an honest conversation.”

Susan Bohannon is one early “True Love Waits” committee who shares her story in the film. The young woman, who became a teen spokesperson for the movement, struggled in college with peer pressure and the commitment she’d made. Clayton King, author of the curriculum that will relaunch True Love Waits this year, told BP that Bohannon’s story exemplifies the need to return the movement to one focused on the purity found in Christ.

“I want people to know they are pure because Jesus purified them from sin, not because they have perfect behavior and have never had intercourse or looked at porn,” King said. “The good news is that temptation, lust, porn, sex, shame and guilt are no match for the grace that Jesus offers us.”

Read the full story at BPNews.net.

Other news:

Nun faces sentencing for protest at nuclear plant
Megan Rice, an 84-year-old nun, will be sentenced today for a break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Rice and two other protestors who hung banners and painted messages on the walls of a bunker could receive six to nine years in prison, according to this Associated Press story.

Research examines Russian religion
With the world’s eyes on Russia during these Winter Olympics, Pew has found the nation is much more religious since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The number of adults identifying as Orthodox Christian increased from 31% to 72% between 1991 and 2008, according to Pew’s research. And the percentage claiming no religious affiliation fell from 61% to 18%. But the number of Russians who regularly attend church only increased from 2% in 1991 to 7% in 2008 (with a peak of 9% in 1998). Read more at Pewforum.org.

Wheaton students protest former lesbian’s testimony
Collegians at Christian university Wheaton College protested a Jan. 31 presentation by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a former Syracuse University professor and author of ““The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.” The students’ actions indicate a “generational shift in attitudes about human sexuality,” writes  Baptist blogger Denny Burk.

The truth about camels
An archaeological discovery has led some scholars to renew questions about the Bible’s accuracy, Christianity Today reports. Researchers in Tel Aviv used carbon dating to determine that domesticated camels weren’t used in Israel until near the end of the 10th century B.C., almost 1,000 years after the biblical patriarchs. But some Bible scholars say their findings are “overstated,” CT reports.

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