High court allows pro-life plates in two states
The United States Supreme Court permitted pro-life license plates in Louisiana and Tennessee by refusing June 26 to accept challenges to those states’ approval of such auto tags. By declining to review lower court decisions, the high court allowed to stand rulings in the Fifth and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals upholding the legality of license plates bearing the message “Choose Life” in Louisiana and Tennessee, respectively. The Tennessee pro-life plates are expected to be available this fall. Louisiana resumed sale of “Choose Life” tags in January after a favorable appeals court action. The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the cases means there are conflicting opinions in the circuit court system regarding pro-life tags. While the Fifth and Sixth circuits have ruled in favor of pro-life plates, the Fourth Circuit has ruled against them. In 2005, the Supreme Court declined to review a Fourth Circuit opinion that said South Carolina’s “Choose Life” tags violate the First Amendment by not permitting an abortion rights message in the same forum.
250 Baptists attend Romania meeting
Two hundred fifty Baptists from 11 countries met June 23-24 at Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania, for a conference on evangelism and church planting. “This is a new day for Baptists who wish to recover and emphasize what God blessed in the formative years of our movement,” said O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources. Paul Negrut, president of Emanuel University in Romania, served as co-chairman of the conference. “This meeting is not a (Baptist World Alliance) replacement assembly and, in fact, no negative word was offered toward anyone, including the BWA,” Negrut said. “Rather, this gathering is about conservative, Bible-believing, like-minded Baptists whose hearts are knit together in compassion for an unregenerate world.”
Warren to preach in North Korea
Evangelical pastor Rick Warren has been invited to preach this summer to some 15,000 Christians in North Korea, a communist country infamous not only for its nuclear threats but also for its religious persecution. Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the bestselling book, “The Purpose-Driven Life,” said he would make the trip as part of a nearly 40-day journey to meet with the leaders of 13 foreign countries. Warren said North Korea would allow him to preach in a stadium seating 15,000, but that he could preach in a larger venue if he could fill the seats. Since 2001, the State Department has designated North Korea a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom violations.
Should government promote ‘moral values’?
The number of Americans who believe the federal government should promote “moral values” has dropped significantly in the last 10 years, according to a recent Gallup poll. In 1996, 60 percent of Americans thought the government should promote moral values, but that number fell to 48 percent in 2006. “Moral values” are not defined in the poll. So-called “values voters” emerged after the 2004 elections, when exit polls found that “moral values” ranked highest among voters’ concerns. In September 2005, half of Americans said the government should promote “traditional values” and 47 percent said it should not favor any values. – RNS