Ted and Gayle Haggard, who began holding prayer meetings in their Colorado Springs home last November, have incorporated to become a church, reports The Colorado Springs Gazette. Officially becoming St. James Church brings with it a tax structure that helps “keep the accounting in order,” said Ted, as the couple has been giving paid talks at U.S. churches for the past 18 months.
But noting the turnout at last year’s prayer meetings, the first of which drew 110 attendees, Haggard hinted that St. James might end up becoming an actual traditional congregation: “Sometime, somewhere we will do some type of ministry,” he told the Gazette. The church Ted started in the couple’s basement 25 years ago became the 14,000-member New Life Church.
The Haggards’ public talks have detailed their recovery from Ted’s public scandal in 2006, in which he confessed to sexual immorality and purchasing drugs, stepping down as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and as senior pastor of New Life. Gayle detailed her own recovery in Why I Stayed: My Choice to Love, Hope, and Forgive, released this January, and in a related CT interview.
A cross at the crux of a recent Supreme Court case has been stolen from the Mojave National Preserve in Southern California, the Associated Press reports. The World War I memorial cross, erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), was at the center of the Court’s April ruling about whether such memorial crosses violate church-state separation.
The National Park Service told the AP that someone cut the bolts holding the metal cross late Sunday. Preserve spokesperson Linda Slater told the Desert-Dispatch that the cross’s wood covering was noticed missing Saturday. The uncovered cross was seen Sunday but was missing later in the day when preserve staff went to replace the wooden cover.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on April 28 that Mojave’s cross could stay for the time being, as the First Amendment “does not require the eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm.” It sent the case back to lower courts that had ruled against the cross as governmental endorsement of religion. Christianity Today has followed the case since it went before the Court in October 2009.
Meanwhile, the VFW is offering $25,000 for leads on the cross’s whereabouts and the perpetrators. Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Institute, a Texas-based group “guided by principles that limit government and promote Judeo-Christian values,” said they ” . . . will not rest until this memorial is re-installed,” reports The Press-Enterprise. “This is an outrage, akin to desecrating people’s graves. It’s a disgraceful attack on the selfless sacrifice of our veterans.”
Breaking news, update: 9:30 p.m. Monday
This evening, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia released by email this updated statement about Dr. Ergun Caner, president of the university seminary:
Liberty University Provost Dr. Ron Godwin is forming a committee to investigate a series of accusations against Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Internet allegations have questioned public statements Caner has made regarding the details of his personal life story. Godwin is forming a committee to conduct an official inquiry with a goal of issuing its conclusions by the end of June. Following inquiries from several members of the mainstream media, Liberty decided to initiate its own investigation. “Liberty does not initiate personnel evaluations based upon accusations from Internet blogs,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. said. “However, In light of the fact that several newspapers have raised questions, we felt it necessary to initiate a formal inquiry.”
One week ago, ChristianityToday.com published online a report highlighting extensive questions about Dr. Caner’s background, speeches, and comments. Bloggers have alleged that Caner has knowingly deceived the Christian community about his Muslim background.
Some of these allegations include:
* Growing up in Turkey, when he actually grew up in Ohio.
* Being raised in a devout Muslim home, rather than a nominal one.
* Having been involved in Islamic jihad.
* Having debated dozens of Muslims about the Islamic faith, although there is no video or audio evidence.
Contrary to my earlier posting, this inquiry will be overseen by Vice Chancellor and acting Provost Dr. Goodwin. The names of the members of this committee were not released as yet.
CT will update this story as events develop.
A Christian street preacher in Britain will stand trial for telling a passerby — in earshot of a policewoman — that God views homosexuality as a sin.
Police arrested Dale McAlpine, a 42-year-old Baptist, under Britain’s Public Order Act 1986, which forbids “using threatening, abusive or insulting words … tending to and causing harassment, alarm or distress.”
McAlpine told The Daily Telegraph newspaper that he was arrested after a part-time police officer said she heard him reciting a list of “sins” against God, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same-sex relationships.
The preacher denied mentioning homosexuality, but he did concede he had told a passing shopper that it was a sin in the eyes of God.
At a magistrates court hearing in Workington, England, on Friday, McAlpine pleaded not guilty to the public order offense charge but was arraigned for trial at an unspecified date.
“My freedom was taken away on the hearsay evidence of someone who disliked what I said, and I was charged under a law that doesn’t apply,” he said.
The newspaper report said McAlpine was fingerprinted, given a DNA swab and retina scan, and was locked in a police cell for seven hours on April 20.
“I am not homophobic,” he insisted, “but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator.”
McAlpine’s arrest comes days after a top British judge was criticized for ruling that Christian beliefs are not entitled to special protection under the laws of the nation.
Southern Baptist leaders, grappling with several years of declining baptisms, unveiled a proposal Monday challenging members and mission leaders to commit to new approaches to evangelism.
The report calls for individuals to increase financial support beyond the current average of 2.5 percent of annual income, and for its International Mission Board to evangelize foreign populations within U.S. borders.
“When the Southern Baptist Convention was founded, the world was rather easily divided into `home’ and `foreign’ missions,” states the report from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. “Now, with revolutions in transportation and the movement of peoples, the world has come to North America.”
The proposal calls for a “refocused” North American Mission Board that will prioritize starting new churches and working in regions where there is not a high concentration of Southern Baptists.
The report suggests that individual Southern Baptists strive to give at least 10 percent of their income to their churches, and that families use vacation time for mission trips. It also seeks greater giving from churches and state conventions to the denomination’s central funding program to aid missions work.
The report will be voted on at the annual June meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla.
Gao Zhisheng, the prominent Christian human rights lawyer abducted in 2009 who reappeared in late March after renouncing his activism, has disappeared again as of April 20.
CT covered the significance of Zhisheng’s case here.
Carl Esbeck tells CT that today’s Supreme Court ruling on the Mojave cross is more newsworthy to evangelical church-state watchers than most media have portrayed.
Esbeck, professor of law at the University of Missouri, explains that Justice Anthony Kennedy sent the case back to the district court for additional fact-finding on whether Congress’ purpose in ordering the land swap was religious or secular, i.e. an evasion of the trial court’s injunction or an accommodation to those wanting to preserve a war memorial. But Esbeck believes that Kennedy actually says quite a lot about how he thinks a court majority—and hence the Establishment Clause—should handle this kind of religious symbol on government property case.
“It would be a shame for evangelicals to think nothing has changed,” said Esbeck. “The way this will be spun is ‘everything was murky and unclear before, and everything is still murky and unclear.’ That is a way of covering up the loss, because the ACLU victory below was reversed. Are things crystal clear? No. But the ball has moved towards religious symbols on government property not violating the Establishment Clause, and now we know where [Chief Justice John] Roberts and [Justice Samuel] Alito—who are new to the Court—stand.”
“Press releases from the usual crowd probably overstate the scope of the opinion,” said Esbeck. “But it would be wrong to just say this case was not a loss for the ACLU. Kennedy has language that says of course the Roman cross is a Christian cross, but symbols can have multiple meanings, and it is clear in this case that the 70-year-old cross has taken on the message of a war memorial. This language will help the briefs of ACLJ, ADF, etc. And Roberts and Alito signed on to this language in Kennedy’s opinion. Further, Kennedy has never been so forthright on these Establishment issues.”
Esbeck says debate will now shift to whether the congressional purpose in swapping land was religious or not. The case could potentially go all the way back up to the Ninth Circuit and maybe the Supreme Court again, though this process will take years.
The ruling may improve of the odds of religious symbols remaining in public spaces, but Esbeck sees the justifications cited as a mixed blessing.
“I’m not a big fan of religious symbols on government property,” said Esbeck. “I believe there is a detriment because it dilutes the real purpose of the symbol. They’ve taken a symbol of the church and turned it into civil religion. This can be bad for evangelicals because when people look at a nativity scene or a Roman cross, we want people to think of the God of the Bible. If these too become simply civil religion to Americans, it makes the task of evangelism harder for Christians.”
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that the much-debated war memorial cross in Mojave National Preserve may remain because Congress’ attempted transfer of the plot of land to private hands would resolve any constitutional concerns.
Unsurprisingly, the Court did not directly address the bigger Establishment Clause question of religious symbols on public land, instead ordering a lower court to reassess its challenge to the land transfer solution.
CT previously asked experts to weigh in on the case here.
Update: Carl Esbeck tells CT that today’s Supreme Court ruling on the Mojave cross is more newsworthy to evangelical church-state watchers than most media have portrayed.
Esbeck, professor of law at the University of Missouri, explains that Justice Anthony Kennedy sent the case back to the district court for additional fact-finding on whether Congress’ purpose in ordering the land swap was religious or secular, i.e. an evasion of the trial court’s injunction or an accommodation to those wanting to preserve a war memorial. But Esbeck believes that Kennedy actually says quite a lot about how he thinks a court majority—and hence the Establishment Clause—should handle this kind of religious symbol on government property case.
“It would be a shame for evangelicals to think nothing has changed,” said Esbeck. “The way this will be spun is ‘everything was murky and unclear before, and everything is still murky and unclear.’ That is a way of covering up the loss, because the ACLU victory below was reversed. Are things crystal clear? No. But the ball has moved towards religious symbols on government property not violating the Establishment Clause, and now we know where [Chief Justice John] Roberts and [Justice Samuel] Alito—who are new to the Court—stand.”
“Press releases from the usual crowd probably overstate the scope of the opinion,” said Esbeck. “But it would be wrong to just say this case was not a loss for the ACLU. Kennedy has language that says of course the Roman cross is a Christian cross, but symbols can have multiple meanings, and it is clear in this case that the 70-year-old cross has taken on the message of a war memorial. This language will help the briefs of ACLJ, ADF, etc. And Roberts and Alito signed on to this language in Kennedy’s opinion. Further, Kennedy has never been so forthright on these Establishment issues.”
Esbeck says debate will now shift to whether the congressional purpose in swapping land was religious or not. The case could potentially go all the way back up to the Ninth Circuit and maybe the Supreme Court again, though this process will take years.
The ruling may improve of the odds of religious symbols remaining in public spaces, but Esbeck sees the justifications cited as a mixed blessing.
“I’m not a big fan of religious symbols on government property,” said Esbeck. “I believe there is a detriment because it dilutes the real purpose of the symbol. They’ve taken a symbol of the church and turned it into civil religion. This can be bad for evangelicals because when people look at a nativity scene or a Roman cross, we want people to think of the God of the Bible. If these too become simply civil religion to Americans, it makes the task of evangelism harder for Christians.”
Leading New Testament scholar N. T. Wright, 61, will retire after seven years as the Bishop of Durham on August 31. He will take a chair in New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
‘This has been the hardest decision of my life,” Wright said in a statement. “But my continuing vocation to be a writer, teacher and broadcaster, for the benefit (I hope) of the wider world and church, has been increasingly difficult to combine with the complex demands and duties of a diocesan bishop. I am very sad about this, but the choice has become increasingly clear.”
Wright’s recent books include Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, and
Justification: God’s Plan & Paul’s Vision. A review of After You Believe is in Christianity Today‘s May issue. The diocese announcement explains what Wright is working on next.
As a writer, Bishop Tom has been working on three series of books – Christian Origins and the Question of God (at a scholarly level), The New Testament for Everyone (at a popular level) and a sequence of studies to introduce the Christian faith, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope and most recently Virtue Reborn (US Title After You Believe). He hopes now to be able to complete these collections, and other ongoing research, while teaching (particularly graduate students) in the Faculty of Divinity at St Andrews. He has also been approached to head up various broadcasting projects to bring the results of good biblical scholarship to a wider audience.
Wright has worked in the past at at Cambridge, McGill (Montreal) and Oxford Universities before holding church appointments. “Tom Wright ranks among the most distinguished New Testament scholars in the world, and his profile as a churchman, writer and communicator is simply outstanding,” St. Andrew’s Head of School Ivor Davidson said in a statement.
Wright responded to CT’s April cover story on the historical Jesus. Wright and John Piper became the focus of a debate over justification. Wright has also been interviewed several times.
The man who originally introduced the name “Earth Day” was a Pentecostal minister, according to the Assemblies of God (AG) Heritage magazine.
John McConnell introduced “Earth Day” at the 1969 UNESCO Conference on the Environment. The next year, Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) moved Earth Day to April 22, when he held a political protest.
“So the next thing I knew they stole my name Earth Day and they used it for April 22,” McConnell told the AG Heritage. “I was urged to sue, but I didn’t. I didn’t believe in suing.”
McConnell’s grandfather was at the Azusa Street Revival and his parents were founding members of the AG. Darrin Rodgers also did a video interview with McConnell.
“If there had been no Christian experience in my life there would be no Earth Day – or at least I would not have initiated it,” McConnell said. “We love God … [and therefore should] have an appreciation for His creation.”
