Short Items of Interest

Poll: 60 Percent of Voters Back Traditional Marriage

Despite four victories by gay marriage supporters on Election Day in Maine, Maryland,Washington state and Minnesota, a solid majority of voters nationwide still believe marriage is between one man and one woman, according to a new poll, Baptist Press reports.  The Nov. 7 survey by the Polling Company of 800 people who voted either on Election Day or voted early shows 60 percent of voters this year agreed that "marriage is between one man and one woman."  Fifty-one percent agreed strongly, and all total, 34 percent disagreed with the statement. "Americans remain strongly in favor of marriage as the union of one man and one woman," said Brian Brown, president of the pro-family National Organization for Marriage.  "The election results reflect the political and funding advantages our opponents enjoyed in these very liberal states."


Atheists Ask Obama to Ditch "So Help Me God," Bible in Presidential Oath

When President Barack Obama takes the oath of office for the second time on Jan. 21, 2013, an atheist group wants him to do so without mentioning God and without a Bible, the Christian Post reports.  Following Obama's re-election, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent him a letter asking him to reject the way "this country politicizes religion."  FFRF attorney Andrew L. Seidel wrote: "When you stand to reaffirm your oath, do so using the language of the Founders. Eliminate the religious verbiage.  While you're at it, why not place your hand on the Constitution instead of a Bible?"   The FFRF argued that the words "so help me God" are not prescribed by the Constitution, nor is a requirement for the president to place his hand on a Bible when taking the oath. "[Obama's second term] is a chance to do something that no president in recent memory has done; reach out to secular Americans," FFRF wrote.  "In the past, that might have been politically costly.  But this recent election shows that it will be politically costly not to reach out to secular America.  We are the future."


Graham Organization Takes Heat For Ad

(WORLD News Service)  -  The Billy Graham organization is taking heat for the hundreds of thousands of dollars it spent on full page ads telling Christians to vote their values, and for taking down a web-site article identifying Mormonism as a cult.  The attacks turned personal when Obama surrogates began to suggest that Billy Graham could not make decisions for himself and has been manipulated by others.  Rev. Markel Hutchins told CNN, "Reverend Graham is at a very seasoned and elder stage of his life so we have to wonder how much of this is genuinely coming from Billy Graham and how much is being fed to him and propositioned and heaped upon him by those who are around him. For example, his ultraconservative son, the Reverend Franklin Graham."  The Graham organization has said that the views in the ad are indeed Billy Graham's own, and they also assert that no general ministry funds went to pay for the ad, but that the funds came from donors who specifically wanted to support this effort.


D'Souza Resigns

(WORLD News Service) - The Board of Trustees of The King's College, New York City has accepted the  resignation of the school's president, Dinesh D'Souza, effective immediately.  Board chairman Andy Mills said in a prepared statement, "After careful consultation with the board and with Dinesh, we have accepted his resignation to allow him to attend to his personal and family needs.  We thank him for his service and significant contribution to the College over the last two years."  The King's College Board of Trustees named D'Souza president in 2010.  His resignation comes after two days of intense controversy following a story by WORLD documenting D'Souza's relationship with a woman who is not his wife.  The board has asked Mills to asssume the position of interim president and will immediately begin a search for the new president.  Mills urged the King's community to pray for D'Souza and his family during this difficult period.


Remembering Wittenberg

(WORLD News service) - On Oct. 31, 1517, 495 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg.  the rest, as they say, is history.  Luther's primary complaints were about the practice of selling indulgences. That argument sounds old and quaint today  -  unless you consider this: prosperity gospel and seed-faith preachers such as Joel Osteen, Richard Roberts, Benny Hinn, and many more have messages that sound remarkably similar to the ones Luther railed against.  Patti Roberts, former wife of Richard Roberts (and daughter-in-law of Oral Roberts) wrote an expose on that theology, in which she said: "I have a very difficult time distinguishing between the selling of indulgences and the concept of seed-faith inflated to the degree to which we had inflated it."  Phil Cooke, whose "The Last TV Evangelist" also critiques the seed faith movement, wrote: "Johann Tetzel, the most aggressive of the Dominican friars selling indulgences had a saying:  'As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the rescued soul from purgatory springs.'  It doesn't sound that different from today's, "Plant a seed to meet your need."