Short Spots                                                                                                 Vol. XV, No. 2

                                                                                                                     February 2002

Adrian Rogers recovering from minor heart attack: Former three-time SBC president Adrian Rogers suffered a mild heart attack Jan. 10. Rogers, pastor of the 27,000 member Bellevue BC Cordova, TN, underwent surgery for a blocked artery on Jan. 11 at South Miami Hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery, doctors said. Rogers was in Cozumel, Mexico preaching on a Bible study cruise when he suffered the attack. He was flown to Miami for treatment. "I had preached Wednesday night and was autographing books when I felt a heaviness in my chest," Rogers told Baptist Press in a telephone interview. "I went to the ship's infirmary and I was later flown to Miami." His wife, Joyce Rogers, accompanied him on the trip. [BP]

Bush administration reverses guidelines on embryo research: The Bush administration has made clear it will not permit federal funds for research requiring the destruction of human embryos, causing opponents of a previous policy to withdraw a lawsuit as a result. The signing into law by President Bush of a related spending bill and a legal memorandum from the Department of Health and Human Services on consecutive days recently clarified the federal government will not fund research in which embryos are destroyed. The actions completed the

reversal of a policy adopted late in the administration of President Clinton that allowed funding of stem cell research involving embryo destruction. "Once again we have a vivid illustration of the fact that elections have consequences," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "This is a perfect example to give to people when they ask, 'Well, why should we bother to vote?' This Bush administration decision is a good consequence of an election, in that it reverses by 180 degrees extremely bad guidelines put in place by the Clinton administration. This is a significant victory for the sanctity of life." [BP]

Free Will: As C. S. Lewis argues in Mere Christianity, God values only the heart freely given. "God created things which had free will," Lewis writes. "That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Why then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."