OUR COLUMNISTS The Solution for the Evangelical Scandal Commentary by Matt Friedeman How are we to produce disciples who believe in the full authority of the Bible -- or "super-saints" -- in our churches today? The surprising answer is: convince them of a biblical worldview. Sex Without Value Commentary by Jane Jimenez Some would have us believe that condom-friendly programs will teach our children exactly what they need to know about sex. Think again. Simplicity and Complexity Commentary by Brad Locke Football is a complex beast, as is any sport. Yet its bedrock is always its simplicity. Christianity is no different. Its basic message is that we are all -- as Caedmon's Call so beautifully puts it -- "stillborn and dead in our transgressions." Who's in First? Commentary by David Sisler Spring is when a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of baseball. And with opening day in sight, that means Barry Bonds is his old surly self. Protecting Christian Health-Care Providers Commentary by Mark Creech What happens if a pharmacist elects not to sell the "morning-after pill"? If over-the-counter sales of the drug become legal, will they be forced to provide it? Amazingly, pharmacists across the country are already dealing with this issue because they have decided not to fill birth-control pills.

...Religious groups participating in federal job-training programs could hire employees based on their religious beliefs under a jobs bill that passed the House on Wednesday (March 2). The vote to extend and rewrite the 1998 Workforce Investment Act came a day after President Bush chided Congress for failing to pass his faith-based initiatives. Under current law, religious organizations that participate in federal job-training programs cannot discriminate in hiring or firing for taxpayer-funded jobs. The House bill would remove that prohibition, meaning that a faith-based group could limit such employment to fellow believers. Supporters of the clause stress that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects the rights of religious organizations to take religion into account in their hiring practices. The bill's prospects in the Senate are uncertain. [AP]

...Congressman Walter Jones has reintroduced legislation that would let clergy endorse candidates from the pulpit without jeopardizing their churches' tax-exempt status. It is his fourth attempt to win passage of the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act. At a Capitol Hill news conference with clergy and fellow Republicans from the House and Senate, Jones said, "This will happen in God's time and I believe the time has come." Several ministers said they should not have to worry that the IRS is reviewing their sermons. Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, who heads the Interfaith Alliance, responded that preachers already can say anything they want as long as they are willing to forfeit their tax-exempt status. But supporters of Jones' bill -- HR 235 -- say that effectively muzzles ministers who they say should be able to offer guidance to their flocks without fear of government reprisal. [AP]

...A pro-family leader is criticizing a recent Field Poll that claims Californians support a proposed "assisted suicide" bill in the state legislature. Randy Thomasson of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading West Coast advocacy organization, says the misleading poll is "out of touch with the majority of people who are naturally opposed to hospitals killing patients." He says if those surveyed in the Field Poll had been asked whether they approve of doctors killing patients or whether they feel depressed patients should receive counseling or suicide pills, the responses would have been very different. According to Thomasson, the liberal poll has been touting the popularity of physician-assisted suicide for the last 25 years, but California voters have known better and defeated assisted suicide when it was on the ballot. "People who are ill need support, spiritual care, and counseling if they are depressed and want to end their lives prematurely," the CCF spokesman says, but he contends that legalizing assisted suicide would only "ensure the death of innocent Californians at the hands of an increasingly unscrupulous insurance industry which regards dead people as cheaper to take care of." Thomasson says CCF opposes assisted suicide because it lessens the value of human life and turns doctors and nurses from healers into killers. [Jenni Parker]

...A pro-life activist who has worked to expose the criminal conduct of abortion clinics says the abortion industry profiteers like Planned Parenthood are the allies of pedophiles and other sexual predators. The attorney general of Kansas is embroiled in a legal battle to force Wichita abortionist George Tiller to release patient information that is crucial to his investigation of incidents of child rape. Mark Crutcher, director of the group Life Dynamics, Inc., says the large abortion providers do not want authorities to catch sexual predators, because their criminal actions lead to more pregnant girls seeking abortions. He contends that is why "what Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation sell to these men is secrecy, and that's why this is such a big thing to them; because they full well realize -- they've even said it -- if it becomes known that they will adhere to the state's mandatory reporting laws ... these men will quit bringing these girls there. [The abortion mills] are worried about losing those dollars." Crutcher says there is lots of money in selling protection to pedophiles, and his undercover investigations have revealed that Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and basically the entire abortion industry are doing just that. [Rusty Pugh]

...The president of Michigan's American Decency Association is encouraging Christians not to stand by while disguised pornography gets a foothold through local checkout stands. Bill Johnson says now that the yearly Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit Edition" is in retail outlets everywhere, it is an opportunity to let those stores know the magazine's special edition does not agree with Christian standards and values. Johnson suggests believers ask store managers to remove the issue altogether or at least place it out of sight of young children coming through the stores. Also, he adds, "It's important to tell the manager you're a regular shopper and that you have other friends who, if they were made aware that the store is carrying this magazine, you're certain they would stand together with you." Johnson says the kind of exhibition of women as sex objects that takes place in the popular sports magazine's swimsuit issue should bother Christians, because that is the starting place for the lust that drives millions into eventual addiction to hardcore pornography. [Ed Thomas]

...A radio talk-show host says many Christian men do not understand their role as a husband. Bob Lepine is co-host of "Family Life Today" with Dennis Rainey and author of a new book called The Christian Husband. In it, Lepine explores the role a husband should take in the home. He says men should be on a quest to find out what God expects from them according to biblical principles, not cultural fads. Lepine notes, "Being a husband is one of those assignments we get in life where, there's no training required and yet there's a lot of experience that would be helpful. So I tried to look at what the scriptures have to say about what it means to be a husband and how to live out our job description and share that with other guys." The Christian author emphasizes that being a husband is the most important calling in a married man's life; and although Christ never married, he is a perfect model for believing husbands. "The Bible says that we're to love our wives as Christ loved the Church," he points out, adding, "We look at the relationship that Jesus has with His Church and ask the question of how that should inform us as husbands in loving our wives well." Lepine says if a husband follows Christ's model, his love for his wife will be covenantal, sacrificial, and unconditional. [Allie Martin]

...Conservative commentator Ann Coulter says college campuses are inconsistent when it comes to free speech. She contends that, at many American colleges today, anyone perceived to have a bigoted message is banned from speaking on campus; however, she feels another limitation should be added to those whose expression is being curbed. "How about adding traitor to the list of things that professors can't be? That's our political correctness," she says, adding, "And yes, I realize I've just proposed the entire Harvard faculty." Coulter feels colleges ought to be consistent: she says if David Duke is not to be allowed to speak at American universities, neither should Ward Churchill. Churchill is the California professor who praised the 9/11 hijackers and called the victims "Nazis," but according to Coulter, he is just a sham who "faked an ethnic credit to get his cushy job" and should have kept his mouth shut and lain low. [Bill Fancher]

...An English language advocate is praising a Tennessee judge for compelling some of the Mexicans that have appeared before him to learn English. Judge Barry Tatum, who handles child abuse and neglect cases in Wilson County, recently ordered an 18-year-old Spanish-speaking woman to learn English after she failed to immunize her toddler and show up for medical appointments. Last October, Tatum issued a similar order to another Mexican woman who had been cited for neglect of her 11-year-old daughter. Jim Boulet, executive director of the group English First, says the judge is clearly frustrated, as are many American citizens. He says all too often Spanish-speaking immigrants come into U.S. communities demanding more and more services in their native language while taxpayers are forced to foot the bill. "I think what we have here is a judge who, with the best of intentions, is ... standing up and saying, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'" Nevertheless, many immigrants apparently make little effort to learn English or otherwise become integrated into English-speaking society -- a problem Boulet says is the result of an "unlimited, unchecked flood of immigration" without any demonstration of a commitment to assimilation. [Chad Groening]

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