...School prayer is back in the news today. For the first time in its 80-year history, no prayer will be allowed when graduation ceremonies are held this weekend at an Illinois high school. Yesterday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Washington Community High School in Peoria. It came after a student and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit. School officials had defended the prayer, saying students -- not administrators -- were in charge of structuring the graduation ceremony. The Illinois decision appears to conflict with one last week from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of prayer at a Florida high school, provided the students chose who would pray. That court also said school officials could have nothing to do with the content of the prayer.

...The founder of the American Family Association says he is not surprised at new census figures that have some disturbing news about the state of the traditional family in America. Census Bureau data shows that for the first time, the number of "nuclear" families -- those with a married mom and dad with their children -- has dropped below 25% of all households. AFA's Dr. Don Wildmon says the traditional family is now mocked in society. "All this goes back to our culture. You have the movies and television -- night after night, day after day -- promoting this agenda of theirs," Wildmon says. "In fact, I don't know of an intact, nuclear family that's in a program on television in a continuing series." Census numbers show that as the nuclear family numbers have decreased, the number of couples living together has skyrocketed in the last ten year -- up more than 70% since 1990.

...Colorado Governor Bill Owens is joining forces with families of Columbine victims and church groups in urging shock rocker Marilyn Manson to cancel an upcoming concert in Denver. A spokesman for the governor says if Manson will not to that, Owens will be part of a citizen campaign to urge people to stay away from the June 21 event at Mile High Stadium. Students quoted after the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, in nearby Littleton, said the two gunmen were fans of Manson's music.

...A Christian center in Washington State has been told it cannot continue to operate in an industrial area. New Life Christian Church in Vancouver has been told that it is unlawful to operate in its current location. According to Religion Today, the Community Development Department defines a church as a place where "primarily 51% or more is used for worship." But Richard Howsley, attorney for New Life, contends New Life is not a church because counseling comprises a majority of its activities. However, the hearing's examiner says New Life's floor plan seems to be that of a church, "consisting of a pew and pulpit format with no provisions for offices for counseling with privacy." Howsley argues that barring the center from the industrial zone violates federal protection of religious freedom.

...An Air Force doctor who made headlines over his refusal to take the military's anthrax vaccine has resigned. Press reports say 32-year-old Captain John Buck made the move yesterday, just moments after a military judge ruled that the order to take the drug was lawful. Buck had argued that the germ-warfare vaccine was still in the experimental stage, and that it was potentially hazardous.

...A retail executive says some so-called "Christian products" today are neither biblically accurate nor culturally relevant. Bill Anderson recently told managers of Lifeway Christian stores he believes Jesus would reject some products because "not everything labeled 'Christian' is Christian." Anderson, who is president of the Christian Booksellers Association, wonders if Jesus would recommend that His disciples skip a specific song on a CD or if He would go into the home of Mary and Martha and ask them to take a decorative Christian product off their wall. Anderson tells Baptist Press that throughout scripture, whatever God put His name on He declared it holy and to be a reflection of Him. According to Anderson, "The real issue is, are we helping people understand the Word of God or simply replacing it with something more palatable?"

...The American Family Association is going coast to coast with a campaign promoting the national motto. The Mississippi-based AFA yesterday announced that approximately 18,000 posters containing the motto "In God We Trust" have been distributed to schools in the state, with an additional 14,000 still to be shipped out. Don Wildmon, AFA founder and president, says AFA is planning to go national with the campaign. "It would be great to have our national motto posted in very classroom in America," Wildmon says. A new law requiring schools to display the motto -- in classrooms, cafeterias, and gymnasiums -- was passed recently by the Mississippi legislature. According to Wildmon, distribution of the poster in Mississippi is being done with any tax money being used. Meanwhile, Associated Press reports today that lawmakers in Louisiana have decided that state's schools already have the right to display "In God We Trust" posters, and the state does not need to require it.

...Charisma News reports TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggert is attacking the Trinity Broadcasting Network, charging it with being the leader of the apostate church. Swaggert says the modern church is in the worst condition ever since the Reformation and has effectively "left the cross." He says that as a result, "every weird doctrine" that can be thought of is being embraced -- in most cases, without question. In the current issue of his ministry's newsletter, Swaggert writes that because of false doctrine, the church "is little led by the Holy Spirit anymore, but instead by spirits." According to Swaggert, TBN has become the "de facto leader" of this apostate church. The Louisiana-based evangelist enjoyed a high profile until a sex scandal in the 1980s greatly diminished his ministry.

...The man who headed the National Religious Broadcasters association for the past 11 years was laid to rest yesterday. Brandt Gustavson was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and died of the disease on Monday. Former Republican Presidential candidate Gary Bauer remembers Gustavson. "What I remember the most about [Brandt] is that no matter what the meeting was about or what the conversation was about, what came across with Brandt is that the cross and the power of Jesus Christ was the most important thing in his life," Bauer says. "He walked it the way he talked it, and [he] was a rare individual. We're going to really miss him."

© 2001 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines