Baptist Press Stories for May. 30 2012 --------------------------------------- Sex-selection abortion ban set to get vote in House of Rep. http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37932 Md. gay marriage foes exceed signature goal http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37933 Ancient inscription found by SWBTS team http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37929 GuideStone Funds garner top fi360 ranking http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37927 Eric Hankins to be SBC 2nd VP nominee http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37931 Pakistan murder inquiry called into question http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37928 FIRST-PERSON: His, hers ... hens? The push to make kids gender neutral http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37930 --------------------------------------- Sex-selection abortion ban set to get vote in House of Rep. By Staff May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37932 WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a proposal to prohibit abortions based on a baby's sex. House members were expected to vote on the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, H.R. 3541, either Wednesday night (May 30) or Thursday. Passage will require a two-thirds majority because the House will consider the measure under "suspension of the rules." The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) urged its constituents in a May 29 email alert to ask their representatives to support the ban.
In the email, ERLC President Richard Land said the proposal constitutes "basic civil rights protection for the unborn." "Astonishingly, no such federal ban on sex-selection abortion exists -- even as studies show these types of abortions are occurring here in the United States," Land said. "It is high time that Congress enacts this common-sense ban." While China and, to a lesser extent, India have become known in recent decades for the practice of sex-selection abortion by parents in an attempt to have a male baby after the birth of a girl, there is evidence of such a pattern among some immigrant communities in North America. A March 2008 study published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences found American-born children of Chinese, Korean and Asian-Indian parents were more likely than those of white parents to be boys if the first children in the families were girls, according to ABC News. The third child in such communities was 50 percent more likely to be a boy if the first two children were girls. Elsewhere, studies have shown that Canadians from some Asian countries who already have daughters are aborting unborn females in an attempt to ensure their next child is a male, according to a January editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The House vote will occur the same week a Planned Parenthood employee was shown on an undercover video seeking to help a woman who indicated she wanted a sex-selection abortion. The legislation would criminalize the following actions: -- Knowingly performing an abortion based on the sex of the child. -- Using or threatening force to coerce a sex-selection abortion. -- Seeking or receiving money to perform such an abortion. --Transporting a woman across state lines or into this country for a sex-selection abortion. A woman who undergoes a sex-selection abortion could not be prosecuted under the law. The maximum sentence for violating the law would be five years in prison. The House will vote on a revised version of a bill approved by the Judiciary Committee in a 20-13, party-line vote in February. Republicans were in the majority. That proposal banned abortions based on both sex and race. The latest version bans only sex-selection abortions. According to a Zogby International poll in March of last year, 86 percent of Americans believe sex-selection abortions should be illegal. --30— Compiled by Tom Strode, Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press. Representatives can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -- End of story -- Md. gay marriage foes exceed signature goal By Michael Foust May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37933 ANNAPOLIS, Md. (BP) -- Supporters of a Maryland referendum that would reverse the state's gay marriage law have submitted more than twice the number of signatures needed -- and have done so a month ahead of schedule. [IMG=32692@right@200]The Maryland Marriage Alliance needed to collect 55,736 valid signatures by June 30, and was required to submit a third of them -- about 18,000 -- by May 31. Instead, it submitted 113,000 signatures Tuesday (May 29), all of which it said were valid. The impressive number could bode well for traditionalists who are trying to place a referendum on the November ballot that would overturn the state's gay marriage law, which passed the legislature and was signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley earlier this year. The law is on hold while traditionalists challenge it. Elsewhere, traditionalists in Washington state are on track to submit more than enough signatures in early June in their attempt to overturn a gay marriage law there. Maryland is known as a left-leaning state, but the new law nevertheless is in danger thanks to strong opposition from churches. Last year, opposition from black pastors was critical in defeating a gay marriage bill in the legislature. It squeaked through state Senate this year, 25-22, days after it was approved by the House of Delegates, 72-67. Derek McCoy, executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, said President Obama's public support for gay marriage only helped the signature drive. "This incredible accomplishment has been possible because of our diverse partnership of allies that includes community organizations and faith-based groups from all ethnic, religious and geographic segments of the state," McCoy said in a statement. "Support for the referendum was strong from the beginning and has only intensified once President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage." The signature drive will continue until the end of June, McCoy said, in order to "give more voters the opportunity" to join the effort. The alliance includes the Maryland Family Alliance, the Maryland Catholic Conference and the National Organization for Marriage. Redefining marriage, the alliance has argued, will have negative consequences on the family. Historically, marriage has been tied to the traditional family because society has viewed that relationship as the best one to raise children, the alliance says on its website. Legalizing gay marriage "says to children that mothers and fathers don't matter" and that any "two 'parents' will do," the alliance says. "It proclaims the false notion that a man can be a mother and a woman can be a father -- that men and women are exactly the same in rearing children," the alliance said. "And it undermines the marriage culture by making marriage a meaningless political gesture, rather than a child-affirming social construct." Redefining marriage also would impact what is taught in schools and would negatively impact businessmen and businesswomen who oppose gay marriage, the alliance website says. "Refusal to accommodate and recognize same-sex 'marriages' would be [viewed as] the equivalent of racial discrimination," the alliance website says. "Not only will the law penalize marriage supporters, but the power of government will work in concert to promote this belief throughout the culture." Robert Anderson, pastor of Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, Md., was one of the pastors urging his members to sign the petitions. "We are trying to defend an institution that has stood the test of time all the way back to the book of Genesis," Anderson told Baptist Press earlier this year. Citizens in Minnesota also will vote on the definition of marriage in November, deciding whether to amend the state's constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. --30-- Michael Foust is associate editor of Baptist Press. For more information about the debate over marriage in Maryland, visit MarylandMarriageAlliance.com. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). -- End of story -- Ancient inscription found by SWBTS team By Eric Mitchell & Jason Zan May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37929 JERUSALEM (BP) -- An archaeological survey led by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has discovered a bilingual inscription at the ancient site of Tel Gezer, Israel. [IMG=32689@right@260]Gezer, a biblical city, was situated on the border between the Israelite and Philistine territories guarding the route to Jerusalem. The city was given as a dowry to Pharaoh's daughter, who married King Solomon. Gezer is well known in the later Maccabean period for its boundary stones with inscriptions in both Hebrew and Greek. In addition to finding the new inscription during the week of May 21, Southwestern's survey team has rediscovered an inscription that had been lost to the archaeological community for more than a century. The boundary inscriptions date to the period of conflict between the Seleucids and Maccabees. They show that the city had agricultural land around it and that the Jewish occupants were concerned over keeping their fields according to Jewish law. These discoveries are significant since the boundary stones have been frequently sought but with long time frames between new discoveries. According to the scholarship of Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Zvi Greenhut of the Israel Antiquities Authority, there are 12 known and published Gezer boundary stones dating to the Maccabean period. These bilingual inscriptions in limestone bedrock ring the ancient city of Gezer on the south, east and northeast. Many of these are two-line inscriptions reading "Region of Gezer" on one line in Hebrew and "Belonging to Alkios" on the second line in Greek. The new boundary stone inscription located by the Gezer survey team this season is the first to be found in over a decade, increasing the total number of known Gezer boundary inscriptions to 13. The new inscription is weathered and is a bilingual inscription like many of the others, with some minor differences. It is a three-line inscription, rather than the typical two, with the Greek name Alkiou on the first line (literally "belonging to Alkios"), remnants of the Hebrew word for "region of" on the second line and small remnants of the letters spelling "Gezer" on the third line. The Greek letters are larger than in other Gezer boundary inscriptions and both the Greek and Hebrew lines face the same direction. The survey directors will seek to publish the inscription as soon as possible in an academic publication. The second inscription discovered this season has not been seen by scholars in more than 100 years. Although originally discovered by 19th-century French explorer Charles Claremont-Ganneau, later excavator R.A.S. Macalister admitted to having spent considerable time during his 1902-09 searching for this particular boundary stone. Unable to find the inscription, he concluded that it must have been defaced to unintelligibility in the years subsequent to its discovery. Based on a published field sketch of the stone, this boundary inscription and the 19th-century discovery are one and the same. The Tel Gezer Regional Survey, including 11 master's and doctoral students in Southwestern's archaeology program, is finishing its sixth season in the Aijalon Valley west of Jerusalem. This discovery at Tel Gezer precedes Southwestern Seminary's Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible exhibition, July 2, 2012 through Jan. 13, 2013 in Fort Worth, Texas. The exhibition will feature numerous ancient Dead Sea Scroll fragments, including seven fragments that have never been seen publicly, as well as many other artifacts from the Bible lands. To learn more about the Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible exhibition, visit [URL=http://www.seethescrolls.com]www.seethescrolls.com[/URL]. To learn more about the Gezer Research Project and Southwestern Seminary's involvement in archaeology, visit [URL=hppt://www.tandyinstitute.org]www.tandyinstitute.org[/URL]. --30-- Eric Mitchell is director of the Tel Gezer Regional Survey and associate professor of Old Testament and archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jason Zan is associate director of the Tel Gezer Regional Survey and a master of arts student in archaeology and biblical studies at Southwestern. Mitchell and Zan along with Southwestern Ph.D. students Adam Dodd and Cameron Coyle have co-authored a soon-to-be-published article on the results of the first five seasons of the survey. -- End of story -- GuideStone Funds garner top fi360 ranking By Roy Hayhurst May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37927 DALLAS (BP) -- GuideStone Funds ranked No. 1 among 223 mutual fund families for the quarter ending March 31, according to Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings by fi360, a key evaluator within the finance industry. This is the first time GuideStone Funds has achieved the top ranking in fi360's quarterly rankings but follows 2011 when the funds consistently finished in the top 10. The ranking comes on the heels of the March announcement from an industry ranking firm that named GuideStone Funds No. 1 among 182 funds in receiving Lipper's 2012 Best Overall Small Fund Group award, one of the premier honors in the nation's financial sector for mutual fund families with up to $40 billion in assets. GuideStone Funds is a division of GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Rodric E. Cummins, senior vice president and chief investment officer for GuideStone Capital Management, said the accolades point to the mutual fund industry's recognition of GuideStone Funds' risk-adjusted performance from the consistent implementation of its manager-of-managers investment philosophy. "Our investment structure is built for the long-term," Cummins said. "It is designed to provide thoughtful, high-quality, strategic investment options to our participants and is executed by what we believe to be world-class investment management firms." John R. Jones, chief operating officer of GuideStone Financial Resources and president of GuideStone Funds, said he believes the recognition helps demonstrate that performance and values-based investing can walk hand-in-hand. "We believe we are dispelling the popular belief in the mutual fund industry that investors have to compromise biblical integrity to achieve acceptable investment performance," Jones said. "For the 10 and a half years that GuideStone Funds have been available, we have sought to provide that careful balance of generating performance while maintaining our convictions. The GuideStone Capital Management team works tirelessly, seeking to achieve those two goals day in and day out." GuideStone Financial Resources President O.S. Hawkins echoed those sentiments. "We are thankful, first and foremost to the Lord for these achievements," Hawkins said. "On each desk at GuideStone sits a card reminding us that we seek to honor the Lord by being lifelong partners with our participants in enhancing their financial security. That commitment drives our daily decisions at GuideStone. We are thankful for the integrity and excellence of our investment team who are now being publicly recognized as leaders in the entire industry." To determine fi360 standings, mutual fund and exchange-traded funds families are ranked by the fi360 Fund Family Fiduciary Rankings. In these rankings, fi360 determines the percentage of the individual funds in a family that have a fi360 Fiduciary Score in the top quartile of its peer group. The score evaluates investments on nine different criteria to determine if the investment meets a minimum fiduciary standard of care: regulatory oversight, track record, assets in the investment, stability of the organization, composition consistent with asset class, style consistency, expense ratio/fees relative to peers, risk-adjusted performance relative to peers and performance relative to peers. Additionally, fund families must contain at least five distinct funds with a three-year history to be considered in the report. Similarly, Lipper's benchmarking and classifications are widely recognized as the industry's standard by asset managers, fund companies and financial intermediaries. Lipper Rankings compare the performance of mutual funds with funds having similar investment objectives and include both socially screened and unscreened funds. Rankings are subject to change monthly. For more information on GuideStone Funds, including the prospectus and other funds' individual rankings, visit [URL=http://www.guidestonefunds.org]www.GuideStoneFunds.org[/URL]. Retirement plan participants who want to determine if any of the funds are an appropriate component of their portfolio can use GPS: Guided Planning Services by logging into their accounts at MyGuideStone. --30-- Roy Hayhurst is editorial services manager for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. -- End of story -- Eric Hankins to be SBC 2nd VP nominee By Staff May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37931 NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Mississippi pastor Eric Hankins will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention by North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley during the SBC's June 19-20 annual meeting in New Orleans. [IMG=32690@left@190]Hankins, 40, has been pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxford since 2005. Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, listed several reasons in a statement to Baptist Press why he intends to nominate Hankins for the SBC's second vice president. Among them: "Eric loves the Southern Baptist Convention enough to work within the convention to help it to honor the Lord as best as we can." Pressley wrote. "This is, I believe, a factor of high importance in evaluating candidates for SBC office. Eric pastors FBC Oxford, Mississippi, and his church gives 12% through the Cooperative Program. If you love the SBC, then Eric is the kind of guy you want to see in leadership." Before serving at First Baptist in Oxford, Hankins was senior pastor of Galloway Avenue Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas, from 2000 to 2005 and pastor of Gillsburg (Miss.) Baptist Church from 1997 to 2000. Hankins earned a Ph.D. in theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas in 2007, a master of divinity in biblical languages from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1997 and a bachelor of arts degree in religion from Louisiana College in 1994. Pressley, in his statement to Baptist Press, described Hankins as "an innovative young leader in the pursuit of the Great Commission. Eric was involved in the founding of the One8 church-planting network and he serves on its leadership team today. This network combines all of the best new ideas about church planting with a convictional Southern Baptist doctrinal stance and denominational affiliation. One8 is a distinctively Southern Baptist church-planting network. Guys involved in creating and leading that sort of thing ought to be the leaders of our denomination, in my opinion." The One8 Network is on the Web at www.one8.org. Pressley also referenced Hankins' father, David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, stating, "The primary responsibility of the second vice president is to assist our president in any way that he requires. Eric will serve well alongside Dr. Fred Luter," the New Orleans pastor who, to date, is the lone nominee for SBC president. "[T]here's already a good relationship between the Luters and the Hankinses," Pressley said, adding, "Eric's not the kind of guy who's going to wind up on CNN for having done something to embarrass the convention while holding office. That's important." Pressley also stated that "Eric is my friend and I know him to be a godly leader that loves his family, the church and the Great Commission." Eric Hankins and his wife Janet, have two school-age sons and a daughter. --30-- Compiled by Baptist Press editor Art Toalston. -- End of story -- Pakistan murder inquiry called into question By Staff/Compass Direct News May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37928 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (BP) -- The investigation into the 2011 murder of Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in Pakistan's cabinet, has come under fire from Bhatti's family as well as the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, according to a report by Compass Direct News. [IMG=32688@left@200]Lax investigations, a series of freed suspects and lack of coordination across law enforcement organizations have stalled the case following the slaying of the federal minister for minority affairs in March of last year, sources told Compass. Bhatti's family and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance have condemned what they describe as inaction and lack of seriousness by government authorities. A trial court in the town of Rawalpindi earlier this month exonerated yet another suspect arrested for his alleged role in the murder. Rana Masood Akhtar, special judge in Anti-terrorism Court II, freed Ziaur Rehman after an investigating officer told the court that Rehman no longer was wanted in the case due to lack of evidence. Bhatti's family cited business disputes between Rehman and Bhatti as their reason for suspecting Rehman. In February police dropped the investigation of another suspect, Abid Malik, for lack of evidence. At first, Rehman fled and managed to escape when police arrested Malik at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport. Bhatti's brother Paul said the family is not satisfied with the police investigation and authorities' low level of interest in bringing the perpetrators to justice. "We thought Ziaur Rehman's arrest would lead us to the killers of my brother because the police had obtained an international arrest warrant based on evidence," Paul Bhatti said. "I don't understand why they issued the request [for an Interpol warrant] if they did not have sufficient evidence." In June 2011, a trial court released Hafiz Nazar Muhammad for lack of evidence after arresting him for having made threatening calls to Bhatti from Sargodha. Bhatti was an outspoken critic of the country's widely condemned "blasphemy" laws. At the scene of Bhatti's murder, police recovered a leaflet, presumably left by the attackers, asserting that they had killed him for raising his voice against the blasphemy laws. Officially, police claim the Taliban was behind the murder, while Interior Minister Rehman Malik has put the blame on militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. The assailants sprayed 25 to 30 bullets at Bhatti's car after he came out of his mother's home in a residential area of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, to attend a meeting of the federal cabinet. The federal government had provided bodyguards for Bhatti but they were not present at the time of the attack. The murder came two months after Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard for supporting Asia Noreen (also known as Asia Bibi), the first Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges. Bhatti had defied death threats after the Jan. 4 assassination of Taseer, conceding in several interviews that he was "the highest target right now" but vowing to continue his work and trusting his life to God. "Shahbaz Bhatti's murder is no ordinary case," said Napolean Qayyum, who belongs to the Pakistan People's Party, as Bhatti did. "He represented the minorities in the highest forums of government, was a prominent member of a minority religious community himself and was very vocal against the blasphemy laws." Qayyum said there was some indication that officials were hesitating to publicize their assessments of the case. "But given its high-profile nature, it is important that they share the truth," he said. --30-- Reported by Compass Direct News (www.compassdirect.org), a news service based in Santa Ana, Calif., focusing on Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Used by permission. -- End of story -- FIRST-PERSON: His, hers ... hens? The push to make kids gender neutral By Mary Kassian May. 30 2012 http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37930 EDMONTON, Alberta (BP) -- Forget "his" and "hers." Sweden has introduced a new, gender-neutral pronoun: "hen." The word was added to the online version of the country's National Encyclopedia days after International Women's Day. (In Swedish, "he" is "han" and "she" is "hon.") It was sparked by Sweden's first ever gender-neutral children's book, "Kivi och Monsterhund" (Kivi and Monsterdog), Slate.com reported. The child, "Kivi," whose gender is non-specified, wants a dog for "hen's" birthday. Newspaper columnists, TV announcers, feminist bloggers and Swedish gender-neutral educators could not be more pleased. The Nordic country has always promoted gender equality. It has the highest proportion of working women in the world, and females earn about two-thirds of all college degrees, Slate.com reported. But now, activists want to push the matter to its natural and logical conclusion. They want to abolish gender altogether, and construct a utopian, gender neutral society. They're intent on raising up a new generation of children who've been freed from the limitations of stereotyped gender roles. Breaking down gender distinction is a core mission in the national curriculum for Sweden's preschools. Some have hired "gender pedagogues" (gender police) to help staff identify language and behaviors that risk reinforcing stereotypes. At the taxpayer-funded Egalia preschool in Stockholm, staff avoid using words such as "him" or "her" and address the children as "friends" or "hens" rather than girls and boys. In these gender-neutral schools, language is regulated, certain forms of play are taboo, and children's interactions and attitudes are closely monitored by teachers. One Swedish school got rid of its toy cars because boys "gender-coded" them and preferred them over other toys, Slate.com reported. Another preschool removed "free playtime" from its schedule because, as a pedagogue at the school maintained, "when children play freely, stereotypical gender patterns are born and cemented." In order to keep things gender neutral, every detail of the children's interactions are micromanaged by politically correct adults, from how they form friendships, to what games they play and what songs they sing. DOES LANGUAGE MATTER? Swedes figure that the introduction of a gender-neutral pronoun will help matters along. After all, how can you raise a child in an environment free of gender distinction when the very language you speak distinguishes boys from girls? They have a point. Language does make a difference. Obliterating gender-distinct pronouns will undoubtedly help obliterate gender distinctions. If you blur the words, you blur the meaning. Yet, the language does matter: God created us in HIS own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. We were created to display His glory. Male and female. He and she. His and hers ... not hens. The pronouns matter. Gender matters. Someday, the English language may change. As in Sweden, the politically correct gender pundits may force it on us. But I, for one, will resist the change. For in stripping our language and lives of gender distinction, we lose the depth and color of the image God has given us to display His glory. We turn off the lights, so to speak. All the rich, vibrant colors and textures fade into dull, monolithic grey. And it becomes hard to see. And that, no doubt, is Satan's plan. When we lose the image, we lose ourselves. God did not create gender-neutral beings. God did not speak in gender-neutral language. Therefore, stripping a language of its gender distinctions, and teaching children that they shouldn't think of themselves as him and her, but as hens, ought to offend our sensibilities and ruffle our collective feathers. It's just a horribly bad idea. --30-- Mary Kassian is an author, speaker and professor of women's studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. This column first appeared on her website, GirlsGoneWISE.com. Born and raised in Canada, she lives with her husband in Edmonton, Alberta. -- End of story -- Copyright (c) 2013 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press 901 Commerce Street Nashville, TN 37203 Tel: 615.244.2355 Fax: 615.782.8736 email: bpress@sbc.net