Short Spots

42% gain in May in CP gifts over May 2001: Gifts to the SBC’s Cooperative Program in May were 42.10 % above gifts for May 2001. Year-to-date support for CP Missions has moved to 5.24 % ahead of totals at this same point last year. May's $17,977,344.47 in CP gifts to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America compared to $12,650,999.98 in May 2001, a difference of $5,326,344.49. Designated gifts of $25,616,272.95 in May, meanwhile, were 71 % above May 2001's $14,980,447.66, an increase of $10,635,825.29. In year-to-date CP giving, $123,736,793.85 has been received, compared with $117,580,589.31 in 2000-01, an increase of 5.24 % or $6,156,204.54. The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year. [BP]

Johnson named Boyce College dean: Thirty-seven-year-old Jerry Johnson, a trustee at Southern Seminary from 1989-98, will take over as dean of Boyce College 1 Aug. President R. Albert Mohler Jr. announced Johnson's appointment during Southern Seminary's spring board of trustees meeting 16 April. Johnson, a Texas native, served as a board member during what is commonly referred to as the "conservative resurgence." He was a board member when Mohler was elected president in 1993 and served as board chairman from 1996-98. Johnson is currently teaching Christian ethics at Boyce. Johnson is also well known among Southern Baptists for his role at the annual conventions. For three years he served on the committee on order of business, including as chairman in 2000 and 2001. He also served on the convention's credentials committee in the late 1980s. [BP]

ACLU says abstinence program promotes religion: The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state of Louisiana over an abstinence-only sex-education program, claiming it is being used to unconstitutionally advance religion by promoting Christianity both in curriculum and by underwriting abstinence events run by religious groups. "The principle of religious liberty is violated when public money is used to promote religious beliefs," said Catherine Weiss, Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, in a release on the organization's Web site. The lawsuit cites documents given to students that blame an increase in sexually transmitted disease on "remov[ing] God from the classroom" and tout America's "Judeo-Christian heritage." Critics accused the ACLU of trying to find a back-door way of ending all abstinence education in the state. "The ACLU has opposed abstinence education from day one," Louisiana Gov. Murphy "Mike" Foster, said in a statement. The Republican governor said that it was "typical of what I expect from the ACLU," adding, "shame on them!" [ABP]

Fired faculty member sues Midwestern Seminary: A former music instructor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is suing the school for breach of contract and failure to pay wages. Douglas Manley, who lives in Cleveland, TN, following his termination last December from the seminary in Kansas City, MO, is seeking just over $25,000 in unpaid salary and penalties. Midwestern President Phil Roberts dismissed Manley 31 Dec. for allegedly viewing Internet pornography on his seminary-owned computer. Manley claims the seminary still owes him the unpaid portion of his $32,000 annual contract, citing a seminary policy that says terminated faculty members shall be paid until the end of the fiscal year. In his termination letter to Manley, Roberts said the firing was based on "departure from the basic tenets" of the "Baptist Faith and Message." It cited Article XV, which says Christians should oppose "all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality and pornography." [ABP]

Barry Lynn accused of videotape censorship: One of the nation's leading liberal advocates for free speech is trying to stop the distribution of a videotaped debate, leading to charges of censorship against Barry Lynn, a free speech advocate. The debate pitted Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, against James White, of Alpha and Omega Ministries. The topic: "Is homosexuality compatible with authentic Christianity?" Benjamin Bull, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said that Lynn's lawyers have demanded that White stop sending out copies of the videotape of the debate. "Unfortunately for Barry, the debate didn't go as well as he had hoped," Bull said. The demand, however, was a strange position for Lynn, who once argued that even child pornography is protected by the First Amendment. Said White: "(Lynn) was not prepared really to deal with the issue the way I felt he should have been. I even had to let him borrow my Bible at one point." White also said he has proof that Lynn agreed beforehand to the taping and knew the tape would be distributed. [BP. Courtesy of Focus on the Family. Used by permission.]