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THE PASTOR'S WEEKLY BRIEFING
Vol. 9, No. 30 -- July 27, 2001
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IN THIS ISSUE:

Good Morning, Colleague (by H.B. London Jr.)

Pro-Gay Bully

Groups Boycott NAACP

Faith in Medicine

Pro-Family Votes

The News at a Glance

From My Perspective (by Ken Connor)

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GOOD MORNING, COLLEAGUE
by H.B. London, Jr.

SAYING THANKS
I was walking through the airport in Denver last week and I heard my name paged. At first, I didn't respond, but when I heard it again, I dialed the operator. I was instructed to go to the information desk in Concourse B for a message. The attendant there handed me an envelope with my name on it. When I opened the enclosed card, the words, "I prayed for you today," were in bold type at the top. The handwritten message that followed the printed one also blessed me: "Thank you for your ministry to pastors all over the nation. May God bless you richly this day! Thank you for letting God work through you." It was not signed.
I was on my way to a very challenging ministry assignment and really believe the Lord knew I needed someone to say to me, "It's going to be okay ... just be yourself."
As I reflected on that situation, I thought, "How creative of someone to take the time to encourage me and to do it anonymously." And then I thought, "When was the last time I walked into someone's life unannounced ... just to say thanks?"
There are so many of your colleagues who could use a note or a call this very day -- something that lets them know they are not alone. How about you? Who prays for you?
I just wanted you to know we are here for you. You matter to us -- give us a call (877-233-4455). "But we ought always to thank God for you" (2 Thess. 2:13).


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PRO-GAY BULLY
In an extraordinary ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the constitutionality of San Francisco's controversial domestic-partner benefits ordinance. The 1997 law requires all businesses with city contracts to offer benefits to the domestic partners of company employees.
In making its ruling, the judges decided that, if an Ohio company, S.D. Myers, wants to keep its contract with the City by the Bay, it must comply with the ordinance and offer domestic-partner benefits at its home base in Ohio.
It was the company's electrical-transformer maintenance contract with San Francisco that led to the court battle. But the ruling conflicts with Myers' moral foundation, according to Craig Osten, spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund, which funded the legal challenge. "It's a small Christian company that has religious objections to homosexual behavior," Osten explained. The S.D. Myers official logo includes a scripture reference from Acts, Osten said, and their corporate Web site even includes a page explaining salvation.
Greg Baylor, with the Center for Law and Religious Freedom of the Christian Legal Society, finds the ruling extremely troubling. "It worries me because the San Francisco government is basically refusing to acknowledge that we're a diverse country," Baylor said. "They're trying to use their economic power as a purchaser of services and goods in the marketplace to change things even in places other than San Francisco."
Baylor is also troubled about the fact that the requirement has nothing to do with the service being performed. Yet, the court ruled the ordinance was not an "undue burden."
An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is being considered.


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GROUPS BOYCOTT NAACP
For many years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has led boycotts against everything from segregation to a state's use of the Confederate flag in the name of civil rights. Now, the NAACP is itself the target of a boycott -- and by one of its own.
The African-American group, Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, is asking blacks nationwide to protest the NAACP's left-leaning politics, which have thrust the group into the "socialist wing of the Democratic Party," according to BOND founder and president Rev. Jesse Peterson. "Pay the NAACP no money. Pay it no mind," wrote Peterson in announcing the boycott.
Conservative, pro-family African-American groups, like BOND and Project 21, are breaking ranks with the NAACP because they feel the organization's current leadership has kowtowed to Democratic allies and has lost touch with mainstream African-Americans. They hope the boycott will reform that.
BOND, which has adopted the slogan "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man," is particularly disappointed at the NAACP's inaction against broken homes -- the "real problems in the black community," it says.


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FAITH IN MEDICINE
What would you think if, on your next visit to the doctor, he or she offered to pray with you? That may soon become more common, as a new generation of doctors is trained to treat the "whole" patient.
Dr. Stanford Shu is on the cutting edge of a new movement that seeks to meet patients' emotional, mental, physical and spiritual needs. He mentors physicians in training at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California. "Ideally, we'd like to teach the students how to see the patients as Jesus would see them," he said.
Experts say about 75 of America's 125 medical schools currently have courses on spiritual care. The downside to that, however, is that many of those courses also contain New Age thought.


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PRO-FAMILY VOTES
Pro-family voices were instrumental Monday as the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 (H.R. 2505). The legislation, sponsored by Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), would place a comprehensive ban on all forms of human cloning. This measure now moves to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.
Meanwhile, a bill that would expand the ability of religious groups to fund social programs with federal dollars is on its way to the Senate. The president's faith-based initiative, named the Community Solutions Act, passed the House July 19 despite Democratic objections that recipients would be exempted from federal anti-discrimination rules.


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THE NEWS AT A GLANCE
* In a controversial ruling condemned by pro-life groups, religious officials and the medical community, France's high court of appeals, the Cour de Cassation, has ruled that disabled children whose mothers did not have the chance to abort them are entitled to compensation in a sort of "wrongful life" action. In a July 13 decision, the court awarded monetary compensation to 17-year-old Nicolas Perruche from doctors who did not detect that his mother had rubella while pregnant with him. The mother claimed she would have had an abortion had she known her son would have been born disabled. The case sets the dubious precedent of giving children the right "not to be born," said the BBC.

* Philip Morris, the world's largest cigarette maker, has expressed regret that a report was prepared for the company by a consulting firm arguing that smokers save the state millions of dollars by dying early. The report was prepared for the Czech Republic government, which sold its state tobacco industry to Philip Morris in 1990, giving the company four-fifths of the domestic cigarette market. It was intended to discourage new cigarette taxes through a blunt cost-benefit analysis that cited "lower costs of health care, savings on the care of retirees and the cost of housing for the elderly due to the shorter average life span of smokers."


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FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
by Ken Connor
The Centers for Disease Control have for years been touting condoms as an answer to preventing the spread of venereal disease. Now, Congressman Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) is pointing to a report that shows, in his words, "there is no scientific evidence that condoms prevent ... most sexually transmitted diseases."
The HHS report concludes, "There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that condoms provide universal protection against gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, chancroid, trichomoniasis, and genital herpes." FRC medical advisor Dr. John Diggs has long maintained that condoms provide no protection against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer.
As a liability lawyer, I know that we will soon see infected students bring suit against school boards. The students will charge they were deceived by school officials who distributed condoms claiming they give "protection" against deadly STDs. And I think those students will win!

(Ken Connor is the president of the Family Research Council.)


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All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

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THE PASTOR'S WEEKLY BRIEFING is published each Thursday evening for pastors and other Christian leaders by the Pastoral Ministries department of Focus on the Family, a ministry sustained by the prayers and contributions of supporters.
(Editorial staff: Dan Davidson, Julie Locke, Jan Bird, Roger Charman)

For additional information, encouragement and support, visit our Web site at www.parsonage.org.

For a listening ear, referrals or prayer in a time of crisis, pastoral families are encouraged to call our toll-free Pastoral Care Line at [phone].

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Excel - Greg