Baptist Joint Committee Supporting Bodies Capital Campaign Update Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Churches USA Baptist General Association of Virginia It’s time to narrow the gap; enter the campaign now Baptist General Conference Baptist General Convention of Texas The 2008 presidential campaign is not the inroads, we have made plans to bring our Baptist General Convention of only campaign taking place this dream to reality. We are retain- Missouri year. This year we’re hoping to ing a realtor to help us find the Baptist State Convention of North meet our goal for the capital perfect property needed for the Carolina campaign for the Center for BJC to expand its advocacy and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Religious Liberty. Thanks to the educational efforts, and we are National Baptist Convention of summer’s matching challenge, exploring various ownership America we ended 2007 with a bang. But options. National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc. National Missionary Baptist we’re still in the primaries. For more information con- Convention Pledges at the end of 2007 tact Kristin Clifton, develop- North American Baptist Conference totaled $2,624,471.10, and so far ment officer at 202-544-4226 or Progressive National Baptist we’ve received $1,595,807.90. In [email protected]. Convention Inc. 2007 alone, you gave more than Religious Liberty Council $1 million to the capital cam- Seventh Day Baptist General paign ($1,099,065.82) and still Partners in Giving Conference helped us fund 97.4 percent of We invite you to become a from the Capital our general budget expecta- Partner in Giving by establish- REPORT tions. Thank you! ing an automatic monthly gift to To help us complete the cam- the BJC on your credit card. paign in 2008, we will pursue Partners provide income that J. Brent Walker additional “matching funds” opportunities, the BJC can count on for ongoing budget needs Executive Director plan more hometown meetings in key areas and are given the opportunity to help sustain across the country and continue to engage our the BJC as we work to secure religious liberty. Jeff Huett denominational bodies. And, of course, we Editor Simply call or e-mail us or go online to invite you to join our efforts by pledging to be www.BJConline.org to make a credit card gift. Phallan Davis a part of the campaign or by continuing to If you wish to set up an automatic monthly Associate Editor honor your pledge with payments this year. credit card gift, simply tell us so on the online Since we continue to make significant form. Report from the Capital (ISSN-0346- 0661) is published 10 times each year by the Baptist Joint Committee. For sub- Our Challenge — Their Future scription information, please contact the Baptist Joint Committee. Securing religious liberty for our children and grandchildren Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Riverdale, MD Permit No. 5061 200 Maryland Ave., N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002-5797 Phone: 202.544.4226 Fax: 202.544.2094 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.BJConline.org REPORTfrom theCapital Appeals court upholds ruling against funding for Christian prison programs ST. LOUIS — A federal appeals court has than $1.5 million in state funds it paid to affirmed a lower court’s decision saying state operate InnerChange at the Newton facility funding for a Christian prison program in prior to the lower court’s ruling. That ruling Iowa was unconstitutional. came in June 2006. But the three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Nonetheless, InnerChange will still have to Circuit Court of Appeals, in its Dec. 3 ruling, return state funds received between the 2006 overturned the lower court’s decree ordering ruling and last July, when Iowa officials the Christian group to stopped funding the pro- reimburse the state of Iowa gram. Newsletter of the for most of the funds it “While the First Baptist Joint Committee spent on the program. Amendment and other reli- The judges said the gious liberty laws require Vol.63 No.1 lower court was correct in accommodation of reli- ruling that the gious practice for prison- InnerChange program at ers, the government is not Iowa’s Newton allowed to endorse religion Correctional Facility violat- or sponsor religious con- ed the First Amendment, as version programs,” January 2008 well as provisions of the Hollman said. “The pro- Iowa constitution. That was gram challenged in this because participants were case should never have offered living-arrangement been funded with tax dol- advantages unavailable to those who did not lars.” participate in the program, the prison had no The program has continued to operate at way to monitor whether government funds the Newton facility, but it does so under an INSIDE: given to it were spent on sectarian purposes, agreement with the Iowa Department of and the program was focused on Bible study Corrections that private funds would under- and conversion. write it. A stipulation of the agreement was Reflections . .3 “Under these facts, the claim that prisoners that the state could end the program if the participated ‘voluntarily’ mocks religious appeals panel ruled against it. Church divided . .4 freedom,” said BJC General Counsel K. It was not immediately clear whether Iowa Hollyn Hollman. “The government contracted would exercise that option. All God’s children .7 with one vendor and prisoners had no access Prison Fellowship released a statement to comparable secular services.” focusing on the reversal of the lower court’s In the case, a group of Iowa taxpayers and decision to force it to reimburse Iowa to the BJC gifts . .8 inmates represented by Americans United for tune of $1.5 million. Separation of Church and State sued “The Eighth Circuit has acknowledged Hollman Report . .10 InnerChange, which also operates in other that the operational changes we have made to prisons around the nation. It is run by Prison the program have enabled it to remain in Fellowship, the ministry to prisoners founded good constitutional standing,” Mark Early, News . .11 by former Nixon White House official, Chuck the group’s president, said. “We are apprecia- Colson. tive of the court for today’s guidelines that The panel was joined by retired Supreme provide clearer ground rules as we continue Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who is to address a crime problem that threatens the filling in for the 8th Circuit temporarily. safety of our nation’s communities.” The appellate judges said the lower federal The case is Americans United v. Prison court erred in ordering InnerChange and Fellowship, No. 06-2741. Prison Fellowship to reimburse Iowa for more — ABP and staff New Baptist Covenant, Huckabee rank as top stories in ‘07 WASHINGTON — The biggest news story among Baptists 4. Strife on IMB board continues as trustees censure in 2007 was about an event that has not even happened yet. Burleson. A long-simmering dispute between Wade Burleson, This according to an informal survey of journalists in the Baptist an Oklahoma pastor, and many of his fellow IMB trustees media world. boiled over again in November. The board voted to censure Here’s the top-10 list, according to Baptist editors, journalists, Burleson and bar him from official participation in board activi- bloggers and public relations professionals who responded to ties. They claimed his blogging in opposition to two controver- ABP’s call for voting: sial IMB policies violated trustee rules. Burleson countered that 1. Carter, Clinton announce New Baptist Covenant gather- the rules themselves were un-Baptistic. ing. The two Baptist ex-presidents hope the “Celebration of a 5. SBC messengers declare BF&M “sufficient.” One of New Baptist Covenant” draws as many as Burleson’s arguments is that the IMB policies 20,000 Baptists from a broad array of racial, in question — regarding the baptisms of theological and political backgrounds to the missionary candidates and their beliefs gathering to hear from high-profile Baptist about speaking in tongues — went beyond ministers and laypeople. They will discuss the parameters of the 2000 version of the ways to cooperate in areas on which they all SBC’s “Baptist Faith and Message” state- agree, such as promoting social justice and ment. At the denomination’s annual meeting evangelism. in June, he and like-minded bloggers encour- But some SBC leaders — including con- aged the successful passage of a motion vention president Frank Page — criticized the declaring the document the “sufficient” doc- event, complaining that the SBC had not been trinal guide for convention agencies. invited to participate on an official level. However, some SBC agency heads quickly Some of them, as well as conservative politi- noted they will continue to use other doctri- cal commentators, said the event had a left-leaning political nal restrictions in addition to the document. bias, with some claiming it was aimed at shoring up the presi- 6. Texas Baptists elect first female president. At their annu- dential candidacy of Clinton’s wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham al meeting in October, the moderate-controlled Baptist General Clinton, D-N.Y. Convention of Texas elected retired Texas Woman’s Missionary Organizers countered that many Southern Baptists were Union Director Joy Fenner as its president in a contested elec- involved with the planning and that the denomination was not tion. Fenner became the first woman to head the largest state involved on an official level because it dropped out of the North convention affiliated with the SBC. American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. 7. (tie) Geoff Hammond elected NAMB president. After a They also noted that prominent Baptist Republicans had been tumultuous year at the SBC’s domestic-missions agency, in invited to speak, including Huckabee — who later dropped out which a previous president was dismissed after an investigation in protest over remarks that Carter made about President Bush’s into his management and financial dealings, Hammond was policy toward Israel.