Crowds recall the faith that animated MLK’s unfinished dream

WASHINGTON (RNS) Fifty years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr. knocked on the nation’s conscience with his dream, religious leaders gathered in a historic church to remind the nation that he was fueled by faith.

Later, in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial where King thundered about America’s unmet promises, King’s children joined the likes of President Obama and Oprah Winfrey to rekindle what Obama called a “coalition of conscience.”

At Shiloh Baptist Church, where King preached three years before his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh clergy summoned King’s prophetic spirit to help reignite the religious fires of the civil rights movement.

King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice A. King, said at the service that her father was a freedom fighter and a civil rights leader, but his essence was something else.

“He was a pastor,” said King, who was 5 when her father electrified the nation in front of the Lincoln Memorial. “He was a prophet. He was a faith leader.”

“We can never forget as we celebrate, as we remember . . . that it was that faith and the spirit of God itself that fueled, that infused the movement that led to great change and transformation in the 50’s and 60’s.”

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Martin Luther King’s own spiritual home, Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said they had come together to celebrate a servant of God, “whose ministry stretched far beyond the four walls of the church, and whose parish was America and the world itself.”

Other clergy recalled with pride how members of their own faiths joined with King 50 years ago to non-violently challenge racism and demand equal opportunity and jobs.

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, read from a letter written to King by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him during the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in 1965.

“Even without words, our march was worship,” Heschel wrote. “I felt like my legs were praying.”

Schonfeld said that in the years after the Holocaust, King gave Jews in America a spiritual rebirth, a reason to believe that “God had not forsaken all mankind.”

Born in Sudan, Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, said King’s legacy made it possible for 28 faith communities came to his mosque after 9/11 to pray alongside his congregation.

King taught that “hate cannot drive out hate,” Magid said. “Only love can do that.”

After the morning prayer service, throngs gathered at the site of King’s speech to mark decades of progress but warn that justice remains elusive for some.

“We’re not here to claim any victory. We’re here to say that the struggle continues,” said Andrew Young, a King aide who went on to become mayor of Atlanta, U.N. ambassador and president of the National Council of Churches. “Pray on and stay on and fight on.”

Added King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III: “No one ever told any of us that our road would be easy. I know that our God, our God, our God would not bring all of us this far to leave us.”

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, one of the last living icons of the civil rights movement, spoke from a wheelchair close to the imposing statue of Abraham Lincoln and challenged the crowd to battle modern-day efforts to deny rights and restrict freedom.

“We come here to Washington to say we ain’t going back,” said Lowery. “We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard … bled too profusely and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.”

By Lauren Markoe and Adelle M. Banks. Source: http://www.religionnews.com/2013/08/28/crowds-recall-the-faith-that-animated-mlks-unfinished-dream/

Can Sanford Pastors' Success Work in Other Cities?

A diverse group of 40 pastors gathered in a Detroit hotel today to hear a remarkable tale: how the pastors of Sanford, Florida, spared their city from the racially charged protests that erupted nationwide last month after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman of murdering Trayvon Martin.

Sanford could have understandably been the epicenter of outrage over the controversial July verdict, which inspired significant protests—some marred by vandalism and violence—from New York to Los Angeles. Instead, this commuter suburb of Orlando weathered the aftermath so successfully that its pastors are now on a mission to spread the progress they've made toward calm and reconciliation to urban centers nationwide.

Already on the list after Detroit: Toledo, Charlotte, New York, Denver, and Minneapolis.

"The timing is absolutely right for this. There is no question about it," said Derrick Gay, pastor of Sanford's Dominion International Church and an organizer of the tour. "We as the church have been given, according to 2 Corinthians 5, the ministry of reconciliation. There's no other institution on earth that has been given this authority—not the government, not the banks, not the education system that we have."

The collaboration, in which pastors across racial, ethnic, and denominational lines meet to eat, pray, and candidly air racial concerns, is even more notable in a city with the historical distinction of being where Jackie Robinson was ousted from minor-league baseball training in 1946.

Leading the charge is Sanford Pastors Connecting (SPC), the interracial, cross-denominational group first organized by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to help the city of Sanford navigate fallout from the shooting death of unarmed, 17-year-old Martin there in February 2012.

The Department of Justice sent veteran mediator Thomas Battles to Sanford to help keep the peace after Martin's death. He, in turn, organized pastors to form SPC. The pastors were given four reserved seats daily in the local courtroom during Zimmerman's trial. The pastors rotated through to witness the proceedings firsthand and to relay what was going on to courthouse crowds and to their own congregations.

SPC pastors agreed to support the jury's verdict, whatever it was, and keep the peace afterward. When the jury acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, it seemed it might be a problematic promise to keep.

But solidarity and prayers played a big part in diffusing any violence that might have broken out in Sanford, either during the initial unrest over Martin's death or when Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted, said Joel Hunter, a SPC member perhaps best known as one of President Barack Obama's spiritual advisors.

"We had already built up a very solid core of people who were committed to not just reacting to a verdict, but sifting through how we could improve the community because of this," said Hunter. His congregation, Northland: A Church Distributed, near Sanford is predominantly white, and is the largest evangelical church in central Florida.

Hunter said that sitting together through the somber, racially charged Zimmerman trial ironically helped to bridge some of the long-entrenched disconnect between Sanford's black and white clergy.

Positioned side by side, chatting before and after court proceedings, and having lunch together during breaks "has built a much closer relationship between many of the African-American pastors and Anglo pastors," said Hunter. "You can say talk is cheap. But when you go through something like this and you have an ongoing dialogue, the closeness of relationships that happens is really remarkable."

Despite their different races, genders, and religious backgrounds, 30 to 40 clergy have continued to meet monthly for breakfast at Sanford's Cracker Barrel restaurant since the start of the trial. That's no small feat, given that getting any group of pastors to work together can be "like herding cats," said Jeffrey Krall. The Assemblies of God pastor chairs SPC alongside pastor Valarie Houston, whose Allen Chapel AME Church is regarded as "Ground Zero" for the public outcry over Martin's death.

Krall, lead pastor of Sanford's mostly white Family Worship Center, said the seeds for this momentum were actually sown 22 years ago.

"It's always been racially divided down here," said Krall of his city's 55,000 residents. (Today, 30 percent are African American, 20 percent are Hispanic, 3 percent are Asian, and the rest are white.) In response, he launched the Sanford Ministers Fellowship in 1991. Though the group has been working to cultivate reconciliation in Sanford a lot longer—and is just as steadfast in praying and interceding toward that end—Krall conceded the fellowship never became as large, high-profile, or diverse as SPC has become over the past year.

"I actually feel like Thomas Battles used his leverage to accomplish what I have been trying to do for more than 20 years," Krall said of the DOJ regional director, who is African American. "I'm rejoicing that he got involved. There's just a great humility and fear of God on everybody."

"That doesn't mean that the issues have all gone away. We have a lot of work cut out for us," said Charles Holt, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and School in neighboring Lake Mary. "But what's changed in Sanford is the communication taking place [between] various churches across the spectrum, and between the church and the community. That's a huge step in the right direction."

Another local Christian leader who has been very ambitious in mobilizing pastors to seek racial reconciliation is Steve Strang, founder and CEO of Charisma Media. From his headquarters in Lake Mary, a city barely more than 2 miles from where Martin died last year, Strang has rallied Sanford-area pastors to hold special prayer meetings and forums in the wake of the shooting.

Last year, his company produced Sanford: The Untold Story, a documentary of Sanford-area church leaders speaking out on race relations. In July, Strang brought together 30 faith leaders from around the country to publicly issue a covenant of racial reconciliation. Called The Sanford Declaration, the July 31 announcement at Charisma Media served as a prelude to the National Reconciliation and Relationship Initiative now being mapped out.

"We invited some pastors from different cities that actually came on their own dime to see what's happening in Sanford," said Gay, who is African American. Attendees included Promise Keepers president Raleigh Washington and such megachurch leaders as Touré Roberts of One Church International in Los Angeles, Dale Bronner of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral in greater Atlanta, and Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in suburban Washington, D.C. The plan is now for Sanford pastors to visit these urban centers with their message. The first stop: Gay keynoted Promise Keepers' Reviving Detroit Summit today at the struggling city's iconic Hotel St. Regis.

A former star football player at Florida A&M University, Gay has become key among Sanford ministers in pushing for racial reconciliation. In November 2011, he moved his multicultural, nondenominational congregation to the Sanford area from Altamonte Springs.

"It was a tough decision because in the transition, we probably lost a third of our church," said Gay. "However ... as a 34-year-old, for the first time in ministry, I feel like I'm in the right place and God has ordered this thing. ... When everything began to jump off, I really felt strongly that this city needed someone who was not from this city, and could identify with the people there, particularly the young people."

Despite the enthusiasm SPC pastors have for their undertaking, some counter that there's still a long way to go to forge any kind of lasting, substantive advances in race relations in Sanford, let alone nationwide.

There are still "layers and layers of issues" that need to be addressed, said Bridget Watson. Involved with SPC when it first got off the ground but no longer, she and her husband lead Dunamis Community and Outreach Ministries, a small multiracial church near Sanford.

"I have a 17-year-old son and a 14-year-old son, both who are excellent students and very mannerly," said Watson. "We have to teach them to never appear in such a way as to [seem] threatening. I know my white friends don't have to worry about that."

Parris Baker is not a minister, but the charismatic Northland attendee was invited to work with SPC at its onset. However, the 25-year-old African American said he eventually cut ties with the group, frustrated by their steady calls for meetings about reconciliation, healing, and prayer.

"While I appreciated those efforts, they were inadequate," said Baker, a Sanford actor and rap artist who is studying to become a teacher. "As a young man, I am painfully aware of how young people, by and large, are unchurched. Conscious of how deeply I and other young people were affected by Trayvonʼs killing, I knew we needed to be reached, but it could not be accomplished through church or youth conferences."

But SPC wants to go beyond Cracker Barrel meals. After Zimmerman's acquittal, they started prayer meetings at the Sanford police station and issued a joint proclamation for peace. Next they hope to launch a Swap-A-Pulpit Sunday, a monthly youth worship service, and develop sports programs and other after-school activities so that Sanford youth and law enforcement can interact.

Meanwhile, other faith-based groups are also trying to unite the community. Examples include the Love Sanford Project, headed by community activist Paul Benjamin Sr., and a youth mentoring project for inner-city youth that Benjamin's Central Florida Dream Center is developing with St. Peter's.

Krall says he's finally witnessing the manifestation of a breakthrough he got wind of decades years ago. "I was on a fast when the Lord [revealed to] me that he wanted to do something very, very significant in the city of Sanford," he said. The experience led him to create the older Sanford fellowship. "People would actually fly into our little airport to see what God was doing here." He thinks the cooperation could offer a glimpse of heaven a la Revelation 7:9-10, with "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people" praising Jesus.

Gay admits that visions differ a bit between members, just as they differ in other areas. "In all honesty, we may [still] be divided on what we feel justice should be in this situation," he said. "But we're not going to allow this thing to have a negative impact on this city.

"Our feelings were put on the back burner for the sake of this community," he said. "This is the way that we believe Christ would operate, and we've seen tremendous things happen. It is essential for us to now move forward."

By Angela G. King. SOURCE: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/august-web-only/sanford-florida-pastors-reconciliation-trayvon-zimmerman.html?paging=off

Sanford Pastors Commit to 'Seize the Moment'

More than 15 months ago, pastors from around the country gathered near Sanford, Fla., for a historic meeting to attack the spiritual darkness of racism exacerbated by the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. Wednesday, pastors and national church leaders returned to the area to continue the battle less than three weeks after the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Several local pastors who have been working behind the scenes to tackle the issue of race relations in Sanford were present in the offices of Charisma Media along with Promise Keepers President and CEO Dr. Raleigh Washington and Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church and a leader of the High Impact Coalition. Pastors from Ohio, California and Georgia also attended the meeting to help start a racial reconciliation initiative.

Washington said the task of bringing racial harmony and unity to Sanford has only begun, and he reiterated his challenge to spiritual leaders to continue to “cross racial lines” to make it happen.

“You, as the leaders of the church here in Sanford, have the opportunity to seize the moment—the moment to establish genuine relationships that will bring about racial reconciliation here,” Washington said. “Establishing genuine relationships across racial lines are what’s going to make a difference. You cannot fall asleep at the wheel. Seize the moment.”

Derrick Gay, pastor of Dominion Church International in Sanford, said the historical roots of racism are why the separation of races continues today.

“Why don’t we talk? Why do we still have an issue with each other? Why don’t we like each other?” Gay asked. “Simply because of history. The answer is we need anointed leadership in place, where everyone will submit to that leadership. We need to make this a lifetime effort to link arms with each other.”

Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church, said that tide could be broken.

“The inertia of history can only be interrupted by relationship,” Hunter said. “There’s a difference between justice and law. ... Justice is something that only happens through relationship."

Ron Johnson, pastor of One Church in Longwood, Fla., said, referring to racism, “To break this, it can’t happen by default. It has to happen by design.”

While riots and violent protests broke out in spots around the country in the days following the July 13 not-guilty verdict for Zimmerman, only peaceful protests were staged in Sanford.

“People are going to point to Sanford one day and say, 'These people have learned to do it right,'” Washington said. “You, the leaders, have stayed on the battlefield and continued the challenge we gave you. Other cities simply don’t know how to deal with this issue.”

Sanford Pastors Connecting, a group of pastors formed after the initial meeting in April 2012, have met on a monthly basis and are building initiatives to bridge the racial gap in the community. Jackson said he hopes other communities follow Sanford’s lead.

“You are an example and a model. What would happen if we could replicate the concepts you have put in place here?” Jackson asked. “We must continue to pray prayers that will touch black, white, Asian and Hispanic kids that are losing their way everywhere.”

SOURCE: http://www.charismanews.com/us/40461-raleigh-washington-sanford-pastors-must-seize-the-moment

CNN: Pastors aim to keep peace at Zimmerman trial

SANFORD, Florida (CNN) – As opening arguments begin, courtroom seats are at a premium at the trial of George Zimmerman, charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

But in an unusual arrangement, four seats in the second row, just steps from the jury box, have been assigned to a group called “Sanford Pastors Connecting.”

The multi-racial ministerial association has pledged to bear witness to the high-profile proceedings during the trial and to keep the peace afterward.

All of the clergy in the courtroom project have agreed to support the jury’s verdict in the racially-charged case, which sparked large rallies and marches led by civil rights figures like the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

As needed, the pastors will report courtroom events to crowds expected to gather outside the courthouse, as well as to their congregations, and have agreed to head off inflammatory rumors.

“Regardless of what the verdict is, we can avoid the violence," said the Rev. Robert K. Gregory Jr., of the Good News Jail & Prison Ministry in Sanford. "If we work together, trust can be built.”

Zimmerman, a member of the Neighborhood Watch in his gated community, is accused of stalking and fatally shooting Martin, who was staying with his father, on February 26, 2012.

The defense claims that Martin, returning from a convenience store, turned on Zimmerman, who then fired in self-defense.

Two dozen media spaces on the courtroom’s polished wooden seats have been assigned by lottery, with an equal amount set aside for the general public. Another twelve spots in the rectangular chamber are reserved for the Zimmerman and Martin families.

The pastoral rotation is the idea of the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service. A Seminole County Sheriff’s inspector, who is also an ordained minister, handles the scheduling. Among the Christian clergy who have signed up, there are evangelical and mainline congregations; tiny, urban parishes and suburban megachurches.

“We’re looking at providing leadership, to comfort people through the word of God and prayer,” said the Rev. Sharon Patterson, of Getting Your House in Order Ministries, a small African-American congregation.

“We want our presence to encourage them to understand that as long as God is in control, everything will work out all right,” the pastor said.

Patterson brings a particular past to her courtroom witnessing. She once aspired to be a lawyer herself, spending summers when she was first teaching public school, and had no air conditioning at home, going from trial to trial.

While most Sanford-area African-American congregations rallied around the Martin family and their call for justice immediately following the shooting, some predominately white churches and clergy were divided.

The Rev. Alan Brumback, pastor of Sanford’s Central Baptist Church, was one of the first – and few – local white clergy to join the predominately black marches and demonstrations in the wake of the Martin shooting.

However, Brumback, whose congregation is multi-racial, said he would not be a part of the courtroom program.

“I am calling my church to pray for our city and to share the only news that can bring reconciliation,” he said, “the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is my only agenda.”

Whatever it is, the verdict will be God’s will, said the Rev. Lowman J. Oliver III of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford.

“We pray that the outcome will be just and fair to all parties,” he said. “How will it look? I’m not able to answer that. Our roles are as peacemakers. It’s more important that we send a message that we sustain the peace.”

However, Oliver said, peaceful acceptance of a verdict does not mean people will have to agree with it. They can certainly have “a righteous response,” as long as it is nonviolent.

“There is a history of division in this community, and there is a history involving violence against black youth” that must be addressed, said the Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland Church in Longwood, Florida. A prominent evangelical, Hunter is also a close confidant of President Obama's.

After a long, tedious day of sitting together during jury selection, Hunter, Oliver and Gregory were finishing each other’s sentences.

Laughing, they admitted that they were unused to sitting still and silent in unpadded pews for so long – while others did the talking.

SOURCE URL: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pastors-aim-to-keep-peace-at-zimmerman-trial/?iref=allsearch

The new evangelicals: A return to the original agenda of Christ

I am one of those evangelicals who, in Professor Marcia Pally’s words, have “left the right.” As a former President-elect of the Christian Coalition of America, I resigned that position and all other positions that would box me into ideologies that were becoming insidiously narrow and negative. As a 64-year-old pastor, I may not yet be representative of my generation or profession in my political openness, but I am one of a growing number of white evangelicals who are making biblically-based decisions on an issue-by-issue basis, in a wider circle of conversations than ever. We are put off by the “hardening of the categories” that is stifling not only intellectually, but also spiritually. Part of this transition is cultural. As Professor Pally pointed out, it is not only a generational shift that naturally declares independence from traditional religious reactions (especially paternalistic ones). The transition is for others a distancing from the institutionalism of the church and the inelasticity of a movement that began as personally charitable but has become dogmatically xenophobic.

The greater part of this change, however, is a generic return to the original agenda of Christ. As the world becomes more complex and less predictable, we are seeing a “back to basics” trend. It is an expansion beyond a preoccupation with the more recent monitoring of sexual matters, to a more ‘whole life’ helpfulness. It is the turn from accusation to compassion, and it is much in keeping with the priorities and example of Jesus. His focus on helping the most vulnerable is also our concern. Thus more and more evangelicals are expanding the definition of pro-life. They are including in a pro-life framework concern with poverty, environmental pollution, AIDS treatment, and more. And issues like abortion are being expanded from focusing on only “in utero” concerns—increasing numbers of evangelicals now see prevention of unwanted pregnancy and support for needy expectant mothers as pro-life.

More evangelicals simply want to live our lives according to our spiritual values—unselfishness, other-centeredness, non-presumptuousness—so that when people see “our good works, they will give glory to our Father in heaven.”

Lastly, practically all sustainable change is relationally based. In an increasingly connected world, an increasing number of evangelicals are developing a broader range of relationships, both interfaith and inter-lifestyle. These make us think twice before we declare those who have different values as adversaries. As we “love our neighbor,” we want to cooperate in ways that express our own values while allowing others to express their own.

Professor Pally has established a masterful and nuanced summary of the change in the evangelical political voice. I hope that we will continue the dialogue.

FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2013/01/16/a-return-to-the-original-agenda-of-christ/

Sanford pastors seek unity over Trayvon Martin case

Pastor Derrick Gay delivered the bad news. As the newest member of the Sanford Ministers Fellowship, Gay had been asked to talk with Trayvon Martin's parents about the pastors' desire to hold a community-wide memorial service for their son.

"The initial response was no," Gay told the group of predominantly white pastors, explaining that the Martin family knew that a group of black pastors also was making plans. "They want all pastors to come together. If this area is to be reconciled, it has to be a united effort."

FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-24/news/os-trayvon-martin-sanford-ministers-20120424_1_pastors-holy-cross-episcopal-church-strang-communications

When asked why the Martin family rejected their overture to begin the healing process in a city sharply divided by race, Gay was blunt to his fellow pastors.

"Look around you," said Gay, one of the few black members of the Fellowship. "Frankly, there is a group missing from the room collectively."

The shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman has exposed not only the racial divide that shapes Sanford's politics, neighborhoods and culture, but also its churches.

Pastors on both sides — black and white — agree on some things. One is that God has a hand in what is going on and is using Sanford to uncover problems that exist in every city. The second is that for the death of Trayvon to become a transformative event for Sanford's race relations, it must start with the churches.

"We know if there is no unity within us, you won't see it in the community," said Pastor Harlan Walker, senior pastor of Word of Faith Ministries in Sanford.

Sanford finds itself in the unwelcome spotlight of a nation watching it work through the problems of race common in every city. It is both unique and ordinary.

"Sanford is a microcosm for America," said Father Rory Harris, rector of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Sanford. "We are a broken community, and we need to step forward to show spiritual leadership."

Bringing pastors of all colors, denominations and theologies together was the original idea for the Sanford Ministers Fellowship, said Pastor Jeff Krall, who co-founded the group. The concept was to build personal relationships among ministers, friendships forged over weekly lunches and prayer.

Krall believes that is one of the reasons God chose Sanford: The city could become the model of how crisis can create change.

"We believe that it happened here because there has been some ground work of people of God who want to see communities come together," said Krall, pastor of Family Worship Center in Sanford.

But from the beginning, Krall said, it was hard to enlist black ministers. Some who joined left, saying they felt more comfortable among their own kind. Some members, black and white, left when the group tried to move from talk and prayer to action. Others stayed but became discouraged by too little action and too much talk.

After 20 years, the Fellowship had only about a dozen members.

Trayvon Martin has changed that. A recent Fellowship meeting drew 50 pastors. At another gathering of Seminole County pastors organized by religious publisher Strang Communications, 75 ministers attended, including Northland Church Pastor Joel Hunter and Episcopal Bishop Greg Brewer.

"This event has given us a crisis moment to create unity," said the Rev. Paul Benjamin, a longtime member of the Fellowship.

But the effort to unite must overcome a long history of separation, pastors said. There is no past precedent to follow, no regular interaction between black and white pastors.

"There is no relationship. We are not together," said the Rev. Harry Rucker, senior pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford.

Rucker contends there can be no coming together of black and white pastors until there is an honest and heartfelt reckoning of the racism and injustices that exist in Sanford. Until Trayvon, Sanford functioned as if the racial divide was nonexistent and the problems below the surface of everyday life were unimportant.

"What happens with racism is there is a norm that's not written law, but you know how to move around and you know how to survive under the system," said Rucker, a Sanford pastor for 29 years. "We accepted the separateness, but the white community did as well. The prevailing race problem hinges on comfort."

But the expectation within the black community that religious leadership needs to step forward also revealed the disunity among even Sanford's black churches. An organization of black churches in Seminole existed for a time before dwindling away in the 1990s, Rucker said.

A new group of about a dozen black pastors is in the process of forming. The group will meet again this week, Rucker said, to decide on a name and designate its leaders. Once that is completed, he said, a meeting between white pastors and black pastors might be possible.

"We have to sit down and vent the truth. We have a black and white problem here," Rucker said.

A Bitter Pill?

Joel Hunter was an unlikely ally of Barack Obama’s in the 2008 election. The Christian evangelical, who leads a mega-church in central Florida, had backed fellow pastor Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary that year. At Obama’s inauguration, Hunter found himself sitting next to Muhammad Ali in the 12th row.

Obama’s outreach to the faithful during the 2008 campaign—unprecedented for a Democratic candidate—paid off. He did 8 percentage points better than 2004 nominee John Kerry had among voters who worship weekly or more, although he lost regular worshippers overall to Republican John McCain. With strong support from minorities, Obama beat McCain by 9 percentage points among Catholics (who favored George W. Bush over Kerry by 5 points in 2004) and made smaller inroads among evangelicals such as Hunter.

Those gains are now in jeopardy, according to Hunter and other religious leaders fuming over the Obama administration’s requirement that church-affiliated institutions such as hospitals, schools, and charities cover birth control in their employee health insurance plans.

“The boundaries of religious freedom and identity are being trespassed,” said Hunter, who still writes weekly devotions for Obama and visited the Oval Office last week; he said he keeps his spiritual guidance separate from any policy recommendations he funnels to the president. “I do think this will have political repercussions in the religious community,” Hunter added. “This has the potential to be a breaking point.”

Obama’s Republican challengers certainly hope so. Newt Gingrich has accused Obama of waging a “war against religion.” Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic who has put issues such as abortion and marriage at the center of his campaign, used his victory speech after the Missouri primary to accuse Obama of steamrolling the First Amendment.

Campaigning earlier this week in Colorado, front-runner Mitt Romney, said sharply, “We must have a president who is willing to protect America’s first right, a right to worship God.”

The issue is potentially advantageous for Romney, a Mormon who once held moderate positions on abortion and gay marriage, because it allows him to align himself with the social conservatives who have resisted his candidacy. (Both Gingrich and Democrats, however, have called Romney a hypocrite on the birth-control issue. As governor of Massachusetts, he enforced a rule requiring Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, after the Legislature overrode his veto of the measure.)

On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner put the dispute at the center of his party’s agenda, taking to the House floor to condemn “an unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country.” He vowed to overturn the provision stemming from Obama’s sweeping health care reform plan. The fight over that legislation has already sorely tested the president’s relationship with religious leaders, who feared that it would allow taxpayer dollars to cover abortion.

To the extent that Republicans succeed in framing the current debate as one over religious liberty, the controversy over the so-called conscience clause could damage Obama at the polls. A perceived threat to religious freedom could pull more-casual churchgoers, who typically lean Democratic, closer to regular churchgoers, who tend to vote Republican, said John Green, a University of Akron political-science professor who specializes in the intersection of religion and politics.

In 2008, exit polls showed that the more frequently white Catholic voters went to church, the less likely they were to favor Obama. He got the votes of only 41 percent of white Catholics who attended church weekly or more; 47 percent of those who attended a few times a month; and 54 percent of those who attended a few times a year or never.

The relationship of religion and politics could influence the outcome of the 2012 election in battleground states with large Catholic communities, including Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Green added. “The real problem for the Obama administration would be if the [birth-control] issue moved some of those less religious Catholics,” Green said. “The issue might also move the regular Mass-attending Catholics to vote even more Republican.”

But if Democrats win the message war and frame the issue as a matter of public policy that involves women’s health and access to contraception, Republicans may find themselves on the losing side of the argument. In a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, 52 percent of Catholic voters agreed that employee health plans should cover birth control. The Obama administration is also touting a Guttmacher Institute study that found 98 percent of Catholic women have used birth control.

“Obviously, this is not a war against the Catholic Church. I’m Catholic, and I don’t find that there’s a war against me at all,” said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and a member of one of the nation’s most prominent Catholic families. “This is about women’s health and protecting the rights of all citizens. If Republicans want to fight about contraception being available for women, I think they will be on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of women’s health.”

A Wall Street Journal column this week by three Democratic senators—Jeanne Sheehan of New Hampshire, Barbara Boxer of California, and Patty Murray of Washington—tied critics of Obama’s policy on contraceptive coverage to the decision by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. A massive public outcry forced the breast-cancer charity to reverse itself. “Once again,” the senators wrote, “they are trying to force their politics on women’s personal health care decisions.”

Young voters, women, and independents helped to elect Obama in 2008. If Republicans overreach on contraception, those voters will help offset any support the president loses from religiously devout voters, who lean Republican anyway. But if the GOP succeeds in wrapping the issue in the mantle of religious liberty, Obama will struggle to rebuild the diverse coalition that put him in the White House.

FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: BECOMING COMPLETELY PRO-LIFE

Part 7 in a series of teachings from Dr. Joel C. Hunter about how to approach today’s issues biblically, respectfully and effectively.

Evangelicals: Abortion, Moral Relativism Top Moral Issues List

Evangelical leaders have identified the greatest moral issues facing America today and topping the list is abortion. Moral relativism and mistreatment of others followed closely behind.

Evangelical leaders have identified the greatest moral issues facing America today and topping the list is abortion.

"The moral scandal of abortion tops my list…not because murder is worse than other moral evils, but because of the massive numbers of this killing field and intentionality of so many to put self-gratification, greed and political advantage above life itself," said Jeff Farmer of the Open Bible Churches in Des Moines, Iowa.

Abortion, moral relativism and mistreatment of others almost came in a three-way tie as the top concerns among America's evangelical leaders, according to the survey released Monday by the National Association of Evangelicals.

While abortion has traditionally remained a major moral concern, the recent push by Congress for health care reform and the possible coverage of abortions with federal dollars have prompted new opposing efforts and louder voices among prominent evangelical leaders.

Pastors such as Joel C. Hunter from Florida and groups like the Evangelical Church Alliance have released statements urging members of Congress not to violate the sanctity of human life in allowing abortion to be funded by tax dollars.

Following abortion, moral relativism was listed as the second greatest moral issue facing America. NAE board member Ron Carpenter said the problem is "a non-belief in Absolute Truth which permeates every other arena of our society.”

Many of the surveyed evangelical leaders cited the Old Testament passage Judges 17:6 (“every man did that which was right in his own eyes”) as they identified moral relativism as a major concern.

Mistreatment of others was third on the list.

"The greatest moral issue in America today is our blindness and silence to injustices here and around the world," said Sammy Mah, president of World Relief, according to the report on the survey. "Social ills like poverty, malnutrition, homelessness, human trafficking, and so many more are rooted in injustices that must be fought."

Other moral issues named by evangelical leaders included secularization, homosexuality and pornography.

The Evangelical Leaders Survey is a monthly poll of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals. They include the CEOs of denominations and representatives of a broad array of evangelical organizations including missions, universities, publishers and churches.

Audrey Barrick Christian Post Reporter FIND THIS ARTICLE AT: http://bit.ly/5UNrJP

Becoming Completely Pro Life

My goal is to lead Christians in becoming completely pro-life (John 10:10), protecting the vulnerable inside and outside the womb and sharing eternal life with them. We must protect the vulnerable from harm, starting with the baby in the womb (Matthew 18:10). To do this, we must offer a full range of approaches: from personal to legal, from prevention of unintended pregnancies to medical, financial, personal and spiritual support, including options for adoptions in our support for pregnant women. Our ultimate goal encompasses both the eventual elimination of abortion and the demonstration of Christ’s love through our care for mothers and babies (Psalm 127:3). We must also work to protect the vulnerable outside the womb, protecting the most vulnerable (the poor and least insulated) by reducing the disease, displacement and death that comes from pollution (Psalm 72:13). Christians are, also, given the charge of caring for the sick and promoting the full range of healing in this world (John 14:12). From epidemics such as AIDS, to individual sicknesses, to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual disabilities, we are to be agents of His healing and love.

Furthermore, our treatment of all people must take into consideration that they are made in the image of God. Therefore they are to be treated with respect and dignity. Jesus summarized this in what we now refer to as the “Golden Rule” (Matthew 7:12). We should not use or oppress anyone (Luke 4:18). All people are created equal and can choose their religion (Joshua 24:15), and the way they will live their lives. We must work for human rights and religious freedom for all people.

Because God loves justice, and because we are commanded to live a simple lifestyle of doing justice (Micah 6:8), we must stand against different forms of exploitation, systems of advantage for only particular groups, and discrimination based upon circumstances beyond one’s control. We are blessed in order to help the disadvantaged to advance to the place where they help others (Luke 12:48b).

We are to give to those who cannot help themselves as a matter of immediate compassion and eternal reward (Luke 16:19-25).

As we expand the agenda into other areas of moral importance—caring for vulnerable people outside the womb as well as inside it—we will motivate and mobilize many, like never before. More importantly, we will be obeying God's Word and putting it into practice.