SBC Life Articles by Gregory Tomlin

BOSTON (BP) -- A case challenging the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is being weighed by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts where state law requires schoolchildren to recite the pledge daily as a patriotic exercise. The case before the court stems from a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the American Humanist Association on behalf of atheist parents of schoolchildren in the Acton-Boxborough School District. Attorneys for the humanist plaintiffs avoided claiming that the pledge represents a state establishment of religion, as most of the pledge cases have in the past. Instead, attorneys argued in Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District that reciting the pledge, which requires atheists to say the words "under God," is discriminatory and violates the state's equal protection laws. A state Superior Court judge ruled in 2012 that the words "under God" did not violate the law, but reflected a political philosophy evident in the history of the pledge and state law itself. The judge also stated reciting the pledge is not a religious exercise. But David Niose, attorney for the atheist families, argued before the Supreme Judicial Court Sept. 4 that the case "presents a classic equal protection situation where an unpopular and wrongly vilified minority faces obvious official discrimination." "The trial court failed to apply strict scrutiny despite constitutional and statutory enumeration requiring it," Niose told the court. "[The pledge] affirms very unambiguously that the nation is 'one nation, under God.' Had the 'under God' words not been in there, it would have been 'one nation, indivisible.' But by inserting 'under God' language into the pledge, we have a pledge where children every morning are pledging their national unity and loyalty in an indoctrination format which validates religious, God-belief as truly patriotic." The phrase "under God" creates two classifications of citizens, Niose argued, because it "actually invalidates atheism, as second-class citizenry at best and downright unpatriotic at worst." Therefore, Niose said, the practice violates the state's equal protection and anti-discrimination laws. Niose's equal protection and discrimination claims make the pledge case one of the first of its kind in the nation. But it is a strategy familiar to many activists in the state. The use of equal protection as a legal strategy for social change is the same strategy attorneys used in the 2003 landmark same-sex marriage case before the Supreme Judicial Court. In its ruling in that case, issued in 2004, the court said laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are "incompatible with the constitutional principles of respect for individual autonomy and equality under law." The prospect that the court may follow a similar pattern with this case is not lost on groups like the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Eric Rassback, deputy general counsel for the group, told Religion News Service a ruling striking the words "under God" would result in similar challenges in other courts. "You would then see a rash of state court lawsuits challenging the pledge all over the country ... a win for us would completely avoid that unnecessary harm. And it would affirm that it is not discriminatory to have the words 'under God' in the pledge," Rassback told RNS.

NEW YORK (BP) -- A case filed by atheists who want the national motto, "In God We Trust," removed from U.S. currency has been dismissed by a federal district judge in New York.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The use of chemical weapons against civilians is a human tragedy with moral urgency, but the United States should not intervene in Syria because the conditions for a "just war" have not been met, according to two Southern Baptist ethicists.

ALBUQUERQUE (BP) -- An attack on religious liberty is evident in the New Mexico Supreme Court's ruling that two Christian photographers violated the state's Human Rights Act by refusing to photograph a same-sex "commitment ceremony," according to several Southern Baptist commentators.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP) -- Delegates to the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Thursday (May 23) approved new membership guidelines which open the ranks of the organization to homosexual members. Young men who openly claim to be homosexual may now participate as Scouts. The decision, the BSA leadership said in a statement, was based on "growing input from within the Scouting family." That input led to a national review of policy, or a "comprehensive listening exercise," resulting in a resolution to remove the restriction "denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone."

PHOENIX (BP)–Calling themselves “men of yesterday” in the Southern Baptist Convention, 9Marks founder Mark Dever and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson told younger pastors June 13 they should heed the wisdom of previous generations that upheld biblical authority and sound doctrine. Speaking at a “9Marks at 9” gathering following the Monday evening session […]

PHOENIX (BP)–Messengers offered 17 motions June 14 during the opening day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix, Ariz. All but one of the motions, however, were referred to SBC entities or ruled out of order during the subsequent business sessions of the convention. The remaining motion was referred by messengers for a […]

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--The Southern Baptist Convention may be facing a "death check" but the convention can overcome its illness by refocusing on being servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries, Al Gilbert, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., told messengers June 11 at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.       Gilbert, who was diagnosed in 2005 with a rare cancer called liposarcoma, began the annual convention message by recalling the grim cancer diagnosis. Told initially he would survive only five years, Gilbert subsequently visited specialists whose tests resulted in a better prognosis and surgery to remove the cancer.       The situation turned out to be "life-altering, but not life-threatening," Gilbert said.       "I'm happy to report that in the days of that death check, I went to the bottom and found that it was solid. God was there," Gilbert said. "But during those times of consideration, I asked myself those questions that we all need to ask, things like, 'Am I really dead to self and alive to Christ? Can I really say that to live is Christ and to die is gain? What difference has my life made and has it really mattered? What will be said about me when I am dead and gone? What will my wife think? Did I spend too much time at the church? Did my life make any difference at all?'"       In reality, the "death check" was a good thing, Gilbert said, adding that a similar kind of inventory would be good for the Southern Baptist Convention. "Denominational doctors" have provided a grim prognosis for Southern Baptists, but others, like Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., insist the convention is far from dead, Gilbert said. It may, however, be "top-heavy," "bloated and unfocused."       Southern Baptists must examine themselves to answer questions about the convention's priorities, Gilbert said.       "Soon, we will be passing the baton to the next generation, and I don't know about you, but they tell me they are not sure they want it," Gilbert said. "That should make us sad and that should make us ask how we want to hand it off ..."

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)--Discerning eyes are needed to recognize the spiritual condition of Southern Baptists, Frank Page said in his final sermon as Southern Baptist Convention president during the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis June 10.       Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., said Southern Baptists should develop the kind of discernment akin to that which saved the villagers of the island of Simeulue after the South Asian tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004.       Village elders noticed the water retreating from the coastline and in minutes warned islanders to run for higher ground. Their communal memory of a 1907 tsunami that nearly destroyed the entire island helped them realize the impending danger. The island lost only seven of its 75,000 inhabitants, as was reported in The Seattle Times.       "The people of that island had assiduously told the story over and over of what might be the signs for such an event again, and taking note of that history, recognizing the warning signs, the elders in just a few minutes were able to spread the alarm and the villages were evacuated to higher ground. Their physical lives were saved that day."       Page asked if Southern Baptists would be able to recognize the signs of what is happening within the convention, among its churches and in the lives of individual believers.       "Will we assiduously impart to those after us the signs that God has set forth for blessing and the signs God has set forth for judgment?" Page asked.       Preaching from the John 4:7-30 story of the woman at the well, Page said Southern Baptists need to experience the same transformation as did the Samaritan woman. But before transformation can take place, he said, believers have to examine themselves to discern their spiritual conditions.       In her encounter with Jesus, Page said, the Samaritan woman "was compelled to see herself as she really was ..."

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–God can bring revival to the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, but in many cases spiritual brokenness may be required first, speakers at the annual Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference said in Indianapolis June 9. Pastors also elected officers for the 2009 Pastors’ Conference in Louisville, Ky. Ed Litton, pastor of First Baptist Church […]