SBC's Richard Land is retiring, next October

Next October? Seriously, and having lost his radio show over racially charged remarks and plagiarism, the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty head Richard Land says that retirement will free him to consider other options.

He has experience Nazi-baiting Democratic officials, offering apologies and unapologies and then reneging on his promise to stop making such comparisons.

He has been ardent in his support for the Defense of Marriage Act, which is apparently unconstitutional.

Remember his doubletalk about sexual predators?

And he was closely identified with the 2010 Lie of the Year:

PolitiFact editors and reporters have chosen "government takeover of health care" as the 2010 Lie of the Year. Uttered by dozens of politicians and pundits, it played an important role in shaping public opinion about the health care plan and was a significant factor in the Democrats' shellacking in the November elections.

Land's resume for political perspicacity includes pushing the disastrous Sarah Palin toward the thereafter doomed John McCain presidential campaign.

It goes on and on. As it will apparently continue to.

Plurality American support for gay marriage

A clear plurality of American public support for gay marriage is evident in polling by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in a survey of 2,973 adults conducted from June 28-July 9. This is a dramatic change from 2004, when 60% of those polled opposed gay marriage. The long-term trend has been inexorable, in part because "Younger generations express higher levels of support for same-sex marriage." Both the magnitude and strength of opposition have declined.

Among religious groups, majority opposition is sustained only by evangelical protestants. That leaves the Catholic bishops out of touch with self-described Catholics, 52% of whom Pew found to be in support of gay marriage. More specifically:

Nearly six-in-ten white non- Hispanic Catholics (59%) favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry, as do 57% of Hispanic Catholics.

Politically, support has risen among Democrats and independents. Some two thirds of Democrats support gay marriage.

For years, the trend for men and women has been an increase in support for gay marriage.

There was then every public opinion reason for the Biblical Recorder to expect a strong response to its Chick-fil-A story.

The argument by Louisiana Baptist Message Editor Kelly Boggs for majority support of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's anti-gay views, willfully confuses various ballot box results with overarching public opinion. Nor does Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A appreciation day alter either the data or its direction.

The challenge for evangelicals is better addressed by Southern Baptist Pastor Wade Burleson of Enid, Oklahoma, who is concerned about who will best witness to "the next generation." For among the young, the there is clear majority (and growing) acceptance of gay marriage. The polling data suggests that the view most likely to prevail was expressed by Rev. Dr. Angela M. Yarber, of is Wake Forest Baptist Church at Wake Forest University, in an open letter to Chick-fil-A's Cathy:

We are the only Baptist church in the country with two lesbians as head pastors. I serve a diverse congregation; many of our members are LGBT families raising children. And I refuse to look into their eyes and tell them that their families do not deserve the same rights as your family. For me, that is unethical. It is un-American. And it is unchristian.

CHA again steps forward to remind us of health reform's benefits

Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, President of the Catholic Health Association (CHA) reminds us that the Affordable Care Act is providing new or better insurance coverage to children, young adults, seniors and small business owners:

The Catholic health ministry worked hard to enact this law because it would defend life and human dignity, provide health care access to vulnerable persons and hard-working families and reflect the values of a fair and compassionate nation. In large measure, the law is already achieving these important goals.

Just a few examples of how provisions in the ACA are helping Americans right now:

• At least 3 million young adults (under the age of 26) have been able to stay on their parents’ insurance plan.
• Some 54 million people of all ages have received free or preventive services like mammograms, colonoscopies, physical exams and cholesterol screenings.
• At least 3.6 million seniors have saved $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs, an average of $600 per senior.
• More than 50,000 people with serious illnesses have obtained coverage through state high-risk plans put in place by ACA.
• Small businesses across the country have received tax credits to help offset the cost of providing coverage to their employees.

The law also includes funding for states to develop programs that assist pregnant and parenting women. The funds grant women access to a network of supportive services that can help them complete high school or postsecondary degrees and gain access to health care, child care, family housing and services for those who are victims of domestic or sexual violence .The ACA’s provisions for pregnant and parenting women have often been lost in the clutter of coverage but represent pro-life policies that CHA strongly supported as the law was being written.

In 2014, additional parts of the law will take effect, beginning with state-based health insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for affordable health insurance policies. Those who qualify for subsidies will receive help paying premium costs. Medicaid will expand to cover more people who do not currently qualify for the program but also can’t afford insurance on their own.

For low-income families, and for the hospitals and other providers that treat them, Medicaid is a lifeline – a crucial program that connects vulnerable persons with the medical and preventive care they need.

These benefits are for the CHA, and were from the beginning intended to be, a reflection of Catholic religious values:

In 2007, CHA collaborated with our members across the country to develop a set of principles outlining our expectations for health reform. That document, “Our Vision for U.S. Health Care,” drew inspiration from Catholic social teaching and named the core values of human dignity, concern for the poor and vulnerable, justice, the common good and stewardship as the optimal foundation of a system that “creates and sustains a strong, healthy national community.”

The document included six principles for a smart and equitable health care system, starting with 100% access, and it became an advocacy tool for CHA and our members. In 2010, we published an updated version of the document, “Realizing Our Vision for U.S. Health Care” to show how the ACA corresponds with most of the expectations we had named.

This is in refreshing contrast with those among the Catholic Bishops and evangelical protestants who have been busy trying to cripple health reform, rather than celebrating its benefits.

[H/T dotCommonweal]

Oops: Jesus wasn't an Anglo Saxon ('White')

Put aside the Mormon white Jesus of Mitt Romney and one may seek the truth Jamie Reno writes:

Romney 2008 campaign pin

Most, if not all, scientists and theologians now agree that Jesus was likely neither the black man espoused by Obama's former longtime church nor the tall, blue-eyed white man of Romney’s lifelong church.

Back in 2000, a cover story in Popular Mechanics, of all publications, titled “The Real Face of Jesus,” sought scientific answers to this ancient question. With the help of Israeli and British forensic anthropologists and computer programmers, the magazine concluded that Jesus probably had a broad peasant's face, dark olive skin, short curly hair, and a prominent nose. And, the researchers concluded, he would have been 5-foot-1 and weighed 110 pounds.

Not at all the image a lot of us saw on our Sunday School class walls when we were children. But we were children, then.

Regnum Christi school says it is reforming ...

The Legion of Christ's Regnum Christi, reports the Los Angeles Times, "says it is revamping a specialized high school program for teenage girls after dozens of alumni denounced psychological abuses they say they endured that resulted in eating disorders, stress-induced ailments and depression."

Former students of Regnum Christi schools have been blogging about their ordeals at a blog called "49 Weeks A year."

The totalitarian management style of the Legion is well-documented, as is its corruption and eventual Vatical-forced change.

Founded by a man who apparently abused his own offspring, the Legion has finally been told by the Vatican that it needs to rethink its identity before going forward with internal reform.

Indeed.

Baptist predator victim wins and still has to go back to court

Clerical sex abuse victims are repeatedly retraumatized in court, albeit not usually to degree of a Lake County, Florida, man.

Jurors in May found "the Florida Baptist Convention liable for a former pastor who sexually abused a 13-year-old boy,” but at least part of the blame for his abuse "rested with the Florida Baptist Association."

Now the question of what organization is financially liable for the abuse inflicted by Southern Baptist pastor Douglas Myers is to go back to court again, possibly twice.

---

Southern Baptists have made it almost impossible to get any kind of verdict against a state convention, despite a proliferation of issues like those raised in the Myers case..

Want to know more? Christa Brown explains how the Southern Baptist Convention masks its clerical sex abuse problems [.pdf].

Clerical sex offenders are worse

Clerical sex offenders are more likely to use force than their peers who are not men of the cloth. A scientific study comparing matched samples of clerical and non-clerical sex offenders found:

The majority of cleric-sex offenders suffered from a sexual disorder (70.8%), predominantly homosexual pedophilia, as measured by phallometric testing, but did not differ from the control groups in this respect. The clerics were comparable to the other two groups in most respects, but tended to show less antisocial personality disorders and somewhat more endocrine disorders. The most noteworthy features differentiating the clerics from highly educated matched controls were that clerics had a longer delay before criminal charges were laid, or lacked criminal charges altogether, and they tended to use force more often in their offenses.

Church sex offenders in general apparently do more harm than their unchurched peers:

… that stayers (those who maintained religious involvement from childhood to adulthood) had more sexual offense convictions, more victims, and younger victims, than other groups. Results challenge assumptions that religious involvement should, as with other crime, serve to deter sexual offending behavior.

Special pleadings on behalf of clerical and otherwise churched offenders, pleadings like and more extreme than those which greeted Msgr. William J. Lynn's sentence this week, are indeed outrageous, as Susan Matthews argues. It will be good and just if the Irish Times is right and leaders who have protected and enabled predators are more frequently brought to justice.

H/T: Bilgrimage

Scotland on the way to legalizing gay marriage in civil & religious ceremonies

Opposition has come from religious institutions:

The Roman Catholic church, backed by senior Muslim organisations and evangelical and presbyterian churches, organised a huge postcard and internet petition campaign against the proposals.

It has been overwhelmed by popular support:

...detailed responses using the Scottish government's own online consultation document showed a majority in favour of gay marriage: by 65% to 35% against. Major public opinion polls also showed that most Scottish voters supported same-sex marriage, with about two-thirds of Scots in favour.

So it is expected to pass, and not as an isolated phonomenon:

he measures are expected to be passed by Holyrood next year before similar but weaker measures in England and Wales, to allow same-sex marriages in registry offices, are put before Westminster.

Church-led opposition continues but BBC reports:

Scotland could become the first part of the UK to introduce gay marriage after the SNP government announced plans to make the change.

Ministers confirmed they would bring forward a bill on the issue, indicating the earliest ceremonies could take place by the start of 2015.

'Anglo Saxon'? [Updated]

Yes, it was racially provocative. The Mitt Romney campaign offered his "Anglo Saxon heritage" as the basis for a better foreign policy relationship with Great Britain.

Specifically, John Swaine of the London Daily Telegraph wrote:

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

Cornell Law School's Eduardo Peñalver, whose duties include a course on Catholic social thought and the law, responded derisively for the Catholic magazine Commonweal:

Shorter Mitt Romney advisor to the British press: He’s white ya’ll. He’s white ya’ll. He’s whitily white white white ya’ll.

As for Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, Irish Catholics, Scottish Presbyterians, African American Baptists, Jews and other citizens who aren't specifically Anglo Saxon, it may comfort some of us to know the reference is silly and outdated. Going back to the London Daily Telegraph, Tim Stanley writes:

There are two problems with the "Anglo-Saxon" bomb. First, the extent of the division between our nations is up for debate. Yes, Obama took the Churchill bust out of the Oval Office and hasn’t been super supportive during Britain’s spat with Argentina. But David Cameron’s last visit to the White House was a veritable love-in (“Get a room, guys”), and Obama’s popularity in the UK is undiminished. Many Brits love him because they see him as an antidote to the misdirected machismo of the Bush years. Few of us are keen to revive an alliance that led to the bloody mess of Iraq and Afghanistan.

More importantly, the adviser has a terrible way with words. The emphasis upon the “Anglo-Saxon” identity of the Atlantic alliance is out of date. Both countries are more multicultural than ever before, and both have forged alliances with countries that are decidedly un-Anglo-Saxon: the US is part of a trading bloc with Mexico and the UK is trapped in the engine room of the EU Titanic.

Update

Predictably, the Romney campaign is most obliquely denying the whole thing. Andrea Saul, Romney's press secretary said:

"It's not true. If anyone said that, they weren't reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign," she told CBSNews.com in an email. Saul did not comment on what specifically was not true.

The Daily Telegraph is standing by the story and "has not received a request from the Romney campaign to retract or correct the story." Although MoveOn.org would like Romney to apologize.

Update II

Romney has disavowed the staff claim. ABC News reported:

Team Romney distanced itself from the quote and, in an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams. Romney did some damage control as well: "I can tell you that we have a very special relationship between the United States and Great Britain. It goes back to our very beginnings-- cultural and-- and-- historical. But I also believe the president understands that. So I-- I don't agree with whoever that advisor might be."

No to licensing exemption for church child day care

One Indiana child drowned in a baptismal font at a church daycare cited for 18 violations when inspected in November 2011. But, Christianity Today reports, "Indiana is one of 13 states that exempt faith-based childcare providers from licensing."

The price of regulatory neglect in lives is paid elsewhere as well:

In Missouri, 41 children died in unlicensed daycares between 2007 and 2010. Lawmakers focused on improving safety but rolled back rules for religious daycares in 2009 because of church-state concerns.

That was a mistake and should be reversed, applying appropriate regulation:

Licensing has not been an issue in other states, advocates say. For example, California requires it; yet Michael Stewart, director of the Central Coast Baptist Association, says this has not affected the religious identity of his association's daycares. "Accountability is a good thing [when] dealing with kids who can't talk or defend themselves," he said. "Safety is not a religious issue."

Holding Bishop Finn to account

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., will go on trial September 24 for charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.

The alleged failure to report involves Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who is charged with possession of child pornography.

The Kansas City Star reported:

Authorities arrested Ratigan in May 2011, five months after officials and staff at the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph found hundreds of lewd images of young girls on a laptop computer that the priest had sent for servicing.

In the ensuing furor of how church officials handled the discovery, authorities charged Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese in Jackson County each with a misdemeanor count of failure to report suspicions of child abuse. A trial on those counts is scheduled for September.

That is how church officials should be held to account for such failures: In open court.

Exporting homophobia wholesale [Updated]

Homophobia is being sold abroad by the evangelical Christian right, concludes Boston-based Political Research Associates. It is being sold by the American Center for Law and Justice, Human Life International and Family Watch International, reports the Guardian:

Each of these "frame their agendas as authentically African, in an effort to brand human rights advocacy as a new colonialism bent on destroying cultural traditions and values", the report says.

In the past five years, the report alleges, all "have launched or expanded their work in Africa dedicated to promoting their Christian right worldview". A loose network of rightwing charismatic Christians called the transformation movement joins them in fanning the flames of the culture wars over homosexuality and abortion by backing prominent African campaigners and political leaders."

Read the entire story here.

Update

Download the full report here [.pdf]. It begins:

Uganda’s infamous 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would institute the death penalty for a new and surreal category of offenses dubbed “aggravated homosexuality,” captured international headlines for months. The human rights community and the Obama administration responded forcefully, the bill was tabled, and the story largely receded from U.S. headlines. But as the Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma reveals in this important exposé, the “Uganda problem” is continental in scale and its underlying cause continues unabated: the U.S. Christian Right, which engineered Uganda’s so-called “Kill the Gays” bill, continues to open new fronts across the African continent in its distinctly American culture war against homosexuality and abortion.

After three decades

In Australia, a victim has come forward over an apparent cover-up by the Catholic Church over a self-confessed paedophile known as Father F.

Lynn gets three to six years

Catholic Monsignor William Lynn "was sentenced on Tuesday to three to six years in prison" for covering up sex abuse, often by transferring predatory priests to unsuspecting parishes, where they continued their predation:

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Lynn, 61, the former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, that he protected "monsters in clerical garb who molested children.

Lynn is the highest ranking church official thus far "found criminally liable for child-sex crimes by a priest."

It sets an example by holding an administrator responsible for his involvement. Specifically, the "just following orders" defense was rejected:

Key to Lynn's conviction on June 22, according to the jury foreman, was the monsignor's own testimony that he followed the cardinal's orders to attribute priest's moves to health reasons but never to sex abuse accusations. Testimony also showed Bevilacqua ordered the list of accused priests be destroyed, although a lone copy was found in an archdiocese safe.

Tuesday's sentence sent a message that should be underline for churches of every faith. As the New York Times reported:

“I think this is going to send a very strong signal to every bishop and everybody who worked for a bishop that if they don’t do the right thing, they may go to jail,” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “They can’t just say ‘the bishop made me do it.’ That’s not going to be an excuse that holds up in court.”