WASHINGTON (BP)--The United States Supreme Court handed Congress a victory May 19 in its effort to combat child pornography after a previous effort fell short in the justices' eyes.
The high court voted 7-2 to reverse a lower court and uphold a 2003 law that bars the promotion or solicitation of actual or ostensible child pornography through such means as mail or the Internet.
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia rejected the unanimous decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the law was overly broad and vague.
"There is no doubt that this prohibition falls well within constitutional bounds," Scalia wrote. "[W]e hold that offers to provide or requests to obtain child pornography are categorically excluded from the First Amendment."
Supporters of the law applauded the ruling.
"Friends of children and decency throughout the land have cause for rejoicing today," said Richard land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "This decision is an encouraging sign that the Supreme Court is prepared to once again begin allowing Americans to exercise their authority and responsibility to protect children in this culture.
"This question needs to be asked: If society is not allowed to protect children from those who would pimp and pander pornographic images of children to their potential adult predators, how could you call that society decent?" Land said. Read More
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ELECTION 08: Obama uses cross in flyer; NARAL endorsement elicits backlash
WASHINGTON (BP)--Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was criticized by some for an advertisement with a supposed "floating cross," but Democratic candidate Barack Obama is going one step further in Kentucky, where a flyer paid for by his campaign shows him at a pulpit, with a cross hanging on a wall in the background.
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Fla. amend. 'deceptive' mailer decried
ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)—Florida voters who signed petitions to place a proposed constitutional marriage amendment on the November ballot are receiving from opponents a mailing that one leader in the pro-amendment campaign is calling "dishonest and factually incorrect."
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Ky. pastor Bill Henard is 1st VP nominee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Bill Henard, senior pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., will be nominated for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a fellow Kentucky pastor announced May 19.
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Thousands at Bell Shoals Baptist Church celebrate lives of Forrest, Preston Pollock
BRANDON, Fla. (BP)--Thousands paid tribute to senior pastor Forrest Pollock and his son, Preston, 13, May 17 at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla.
The two perished in an airplane crash May 12 on Cold Mountain in the Shining Rock Wilderness area of North Carolina, 20 miles from Asheville.
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Extreme Makeover blesses N.O. church
Meet needs, share Christ, panelist urges
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Frank Page
Evangelism initiative (part 3)
TAYLORS, S.C. (BP)--I have been speaking recently about the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis, where our North American Mission Board will share a national evangelism strategy.
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