The 3 - January 10, 2021

The 3 returns this week, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community.  The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear a case out of California, where officials are attempting to force a non-profit organization to reveal information about its donors.  Also, Southern Baptist leaders held a meeting recently dealing with how best to approach race relations within the denomination.  And, a well-known evangelist is calling for healing among political leaders in light of unrest in the nation's capital last week.

High court to hear case of donor privacy

The Thomas More Society is a non-profit organization that is based in Michigan, but it has donors from California, and the state's Attorney General would like to force the Society to declare who its donors are. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, "ruled that the organization—and all other nonprofits who solicit donations in California—must disclose the names and addresses of major donors to the California attorney general on an annual basis."  The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear the appeal of the case.

ADF, in another article on its website, says that the Society "defends and promotes religious freedom, moral and family values, and the sanctity of human life—issues that can be quite contentious in our current social climate."

Alliance Defending Freedom says that, "The 9th Circuit’s ruling reversed a district court’s decision, which found following a trial that the California attorney general’s office has no compelling need for the information and has historically handled it with great negligence." ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch stated, “Every American should be free to support causes they believe in without fear of harassment or intimidation,” and added, “The fact that California leaks confidential records like a sieve makes mandatory disclosure of sensitive information especially dangerous for donors and employees of nonprofits like Thomas More Law Center, who have faced intimidation, death threats, hate mail, boycotts, and even assassination attempts from ideological opponents."

Southern Baptist leaders meet to discuss approaches to dealing with racism

The Southern Baptist Convention has been forthright in opposing racism in it midst, and despite growth in the diverse makeup, there has still been disagreement in how to best move forward.  A recent Baptist Press article says:

In the last three decades, while attempting to reckon with racism and race relations, the SBC has grown in diversity. Messengers to the 1995 SBC Annual Meeting issued a resolution on racial reconciliation, acknowledging the role of slavery in its founding, denouncing racism “as deplorable sin, apologizing “to all African Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism,” repenting and asking forgiveness.

CRT/Intersectionality rose as a controversial issue in the SBC with the passage at the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting of a resolution that affirmed the sufficiency and supremacy of Scripture and rejected the embrace of CRT as a worldview, while suggesting it “should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture.”

A group of six Southern Baptist seminary leaders issued, in late November, a statement, according to the article...

...reaffirming “with eagerness” the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. The seminary presidents’ statement said while condemning “racism in any form,” they agree that “affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message.”

The article reports that "the statement was criticized by many Black pastors, who said it minimized the existence of systemic racism." SBC First Vice-President Marshall Ausberry, who leads the National African American Fellowship of the SBC, voiced his concern, and other Black leaders in the convention did the same. Some African-American leaders left the Convention. 

Ronnie Floyd, President and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Convention, called a meeting recently, and Baptist Press reports: 

A multi-ethnic group of Southern Baptist leaders described a meeting Wednesday (Jan. 6) as productive and trust-building, saying although they did not agree on all points, they were committed together to fighting racism and to honoring “our common commitment to the inerrant Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

A statement released by the participants included, in part, these words:

All of us acknowledge that conversations of this nature should have happened ahead of time. The Council of Seminary Presidents regrets the pain and confusion that resulted from a lack of prior dialogue. Together, all of us are committed to condemn and fight racism in every form, personal and structural, in consistency with the 1995 SBC Resolution on Racial Reconciliation and the Baptist Faith and Message. We commit to work together to serve the cause of and to further the work of the Southern Baptist Convention. We will continue these conversations. We are committed to listen to one another, speak honestly and to honor our common commitment to the inerrant Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelist calls for healing

Well-known Christian evangelist Franklin Graham is calling for healing in the aftermath of the violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol this past week.  The Christian Post reported over the weekend that:

Referring to President Donald Trump’s speech calling for “healing and reconciliation,” evangelist Franklin Graham urged the commander in chief to invite President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their spouses to the White House “to begin the healing and preparation for a smooth transition.”

“Thank you President Donald J. Trump for your conciliatory words to the nation last night,” Graham, who heads Samaritan’s Purse and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, wrote on Facebook.

Just days earlier, the evangelist had stated, according to Faithwire: "The division in our country is as great as any time since the Civil War,” wrote Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as well as its charitable arm, Samaritan’s Purse. “I am calling on Christians to unite our hearts together in prayer for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and for the leadership in both parties.”

“Pray that everyone will stop the finger-pointing and realize that both parties bear responsibility for the problems we face today,” he continued. “Pray that they will come together and work together for the good of the American people.”

Graham said that he was "deeply saddened" about the events at the Capitol and stated, "Our country is in trouble,” adding, “We need God’s healing and we need God’s help. Pray for peace and the protection of our nation. Let’s come together — on our knees.”