Issue Briefs from 2014
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregiver Month. As the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s diseases continues to surge, our systems of care have struggled to meet the need. After the initial diagnosis, care often moves out of the doctor’s office and into the community—giving Christians and churches both the …
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On Thursday, Texas Congressman Randy Weber introduced important federal legislation designed to help clarify state authority in crafting state marriage policy. This comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The federal legislation, the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014 (H.R. 3829), seeks to …
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Surrogacy is the practice by which a woman (called a surrogate mother) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby in order to give it to someone who cannot (or will not) bear children of their own. A surrogate mother is a woman who carries and gives birth to the child of another woman, who is …
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Capital punishment, or the death penalty, refers to the execution by the state of those guilty of certain crimes. Theologically, most mainline Protestant churches, such as Presbyterian Church in the USA, many Episcopal, and Lutheran churches, oppose the death penalty. Even some historically evangelical churches such as the United Church of Christ and many Methodist …
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Most readers of this site are likely aware that Southern Baptists are facing yet another defining moment. On February 11, 2014, Pastor Danny Cortez announced to the congregation at New Hope Community Church in Los Angeles that he had changed his position on homosexuality. Cortez delivered an hour-long message explaining why he no longer believed …
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What is predatory gambling? Predatory gambling is the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit. For-profit gambling, or commercial gambling, is illegal unless granted special legal exemption by the government.1 Casino gambling, the most common form of predatory gambling, differs from other problematic forms, such as social gambling, because it leads …
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