NEW ORLEANS (BP) — Southern Baptist leaders have commended a federal appeals court decision in support of a Texas order that includes abortion as a nonessential medical procedure suspended during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In an April 7 ruling, a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned a federal judge’s opinion that removed all abortions from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order postponing nonessential procedures through April 21. In rejecting the arguments of abortion-rights advocates, the 2-1 majority said the order “regulates abortions evenhandedly” with all other medical procedures.

Texas and some other states have included abortions among non-imperative surgeries or procedures that are delayed during the pandemic to free medical supplies for hospitals and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have challenged such orders and, in some cases, refused to abide by them. Other states have exempted abortions from orders suspending nonessential procedures.

The Fifth Circuit Court “made the right decision,” Travis Wussow of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) told Baptist Press.

“The abortion industry has once again shown its disregard for human life, that even during a global pandemic, it places its profit motive before any other consideration,” said Wussow, the ERLC’s general counsel and vice president for public policy, in written remarks. “We are thankful their operations are halted for now. This moment demands that we work to save as many lives as possible.”

Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, said in a written statement:

“While our convention has from its beginning championed the sanctity of human life from birth to natural death, this decision is more than pro-life in its effect. Abortion providers sought to classify their grisly work as more essential than most medical procedures.

“In light of the need to conserve limited medical resources during a crisis, this decision supports ordinary prudence. I’m grateful for the court’s support of our state leadership as they prepare for the strain we expect on our healthcare facilities.”

In his March 22 order, Abbott required the postponement of “all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary to correct a serious medical condition of, or to preserve the life of, a patient who without immediate performance of the surgery or procedure would be at risk for serious adverse medical consequences or death, as determined by the patient’s physician.”

When Planned Parenthood centers and other abortion-rights organizations challenged Abbott’s action, a federal court described his order as “effectively banning all abortions before viability” and issued a temporary restraining order (TRO).

The Fifth Circuit Court temporarily stayed enforcement of the TRO March 31 before the three-judge panel rejected in its April 7 opinion the federal judge’s description of the order as an “outright ban.” The order “only delays certain nonessential abortions,” judge Kyle Duncan wrote for the majority. The order is temporary and includes “an emergency exception for the mother’s life and health,” he said.

Source: Baptist Press

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

SEATTLE (BP) — As pastor of Epic Life Church in Seattle with only five employees, Keith Carpenter sees the Paycheck Protection Plan loan as a godsend during a devastating economic downturn prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. So does pastor A.B. Vines, whose multisite New Seasons Church in Spring Valley, Calif., employs about 50.

But some pastors have theological and ethical concerns with the loan, which is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“The purpose behind the loan is to keep people employed,” Carpenter said Tuesday (April 7), just a day after he applied. “I don’t see a problem with doing it at all. It’s being wise stewards of the resources God provides, and if not anything else, you can pass those resources on in some way to others who might be hurting, in the long run.”

At least two pastors, Bart Barber at First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, and Anthony Hicks of Clifton Baptist Church in Franklinton, La., have discouraged their congregations from applying for the loans offered under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed by Congress last month.

“Generally speaking,” Barber wrote in a blog, “if it takes an act of Congress to make it happen, there’s more going on than just a loan from a bank.”

But others, including Southern Baptist ethicists Russell Moore and Larry Lyon, said they do not see ethical compromises in receiving the loans. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), which Moore leads, joined a bipartisan push to clarify that religious liberties of churches would be protected under the loans administered by the Small Business Administration.

The loans are included in the CARES Act, initially funded at $2 trillion and designed to relieve economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed thousands and stymied the economy. President Donald Trump said Tuesday (April 7) he’ll work to add more money to the Paycheck Protection Program, which was initially funded at $350 billion.

Businesses — as well as churches and other faith-based nonprofits — with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to receive loans covering up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll, with a cap of $10 million per loan, to cover expenses like payroll, utilities and rent or mortgage payments.

Carpenter said he intends to maintain his five-person staff at Epic Life Church in Seattle, which according to terms of the program would allow the loan to be forgiven.

“We’re confident we’re keeping all of our employees, and because of that it really seems like a very wise thing to do, that the government has given us this opportunity to kind of have some more money for ministry purposes,” Carpenter said. “There’s no strings attached as far as we can see. At this time, we haven’t had to lay off anyone, but we don’t know what the future’s going to hold. The government I believe is rightly seeing 501c3s [nonprofits] as legitimate businesses in the states, and for them to keep people employed I think is a really good thing.”

Vines, an ERLC trustee, had initial concerns about the loan, but he said those have been adequately addressed.

“I read that there were no loopholes or attachments of us to them [the banks],” Vines said. “There’s no binding agreement that you now have a deed to our church or you govern us, there’s nothing like that. And at the end of the day, it was about taking care of my people. We have laid nobody off at any of our locations. … I don’t want to lay God’s people off.”

Many of New Seasons’ members are employed in the service, entertainment and education professions, Vines said, which are heavily impacted by the economic downturn. Loan recipients have until June 30 to ask for forgiveness. Vines will accept the loan as a grant, unless he finds the money is not needed.

“We’ll get the money; if we do fine, we’ll give the money right back,” Vines said. “But I’d rather have a safeguard than no safeguard. If we come out of this thing fine, whatever amount we get, we’ll turn around and give it right back to them.”

Lyon, an ethics professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, said the fact that the loans are forgivable makes them more useful to churches.

“If used in the ways that Congress intends, such as maintaining operations and payroll, then the forgiven loan becomes more like a public resource or public good that is provided by the government,” Lyon said. “This could be likened unto the fire department, public roads, and water lines. Churches use these services within their communities and these services are financed principally through taxes.

Source: Baptist Press

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

CHICAGO (AP) – The U.S. moved closer to overtaking Italy for the highest death toll in the world from the coronavirus Saturday as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt.
  
With the New York metropolitan still deep in crisis, fear mounted over the spread of the virus into the nation’s heartland. Twenty-four residents of an Indiana nursing home hit by COVID-19 have died. Chicago’s Cook County has set up a temporary morgue that can take more than 2,000 bodies. And Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been going around telling groups of people to “break it up.”
  
Around the world, meanwhile, European countries used roadblocks, drones, helicopters, mounted patrols and the threat of fines to keep people from traveling over Easter weekend. 
  
And with infections leveling off in Italy, Spain and other places on the Continent, governments took tentative steps toward loosening the weeks-long shutdowns of much of public life. 
  
Glorious weather across Europe posed an extra test of people’s discipline.
  
“Don’t do silly things,” said Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special commissioner for the virus emergency. “Don’t go out, continue to behave responsibly as you have done until today, use your head and your sense of responsibility.”
  
Italian authorities set up roadblocks on main thoroughfares in and out of Milan and along highway exits to discourage people from going on holiday trips. British police kept a close watch on gatherings in parks and at the seaside on what was set to be the hottest day of the year. France deployed some 160,000 police, including officers on horseback who patrolled beaches and parks.
  
“It’s useless to pack your bags for a vacation,” the Paris police headquarters tweeted.
  
The pandemic’s center of gravity has long since shifted from China to Europe and the United States, which now has by far the largest number of confirmed cases, with more than half a million. 
  
As of midday Saturday, the U.S. death toll reached over 18,850, while Italy reported that the number of dead there had climbed to nearly 19,500.
  
Over the past week, the number of new deaths each day has been about three times higher on average in the U.S. than in Italy. Deaths have risen more than 9,000 for the week in the U.S. compared with fewer than 3,000 in Italy.
  
About half the deaths in the United States were in the New York metropolitan area, where hospitalizations were nevertheless slowing down and other indicators suggested social distancing is “flattening the curve” of infections.
  
But with authorities warning that the crisis in New York is far from the over, the city announced that its 1.1 million-student school system will remain closed for the rest of the academic year.
  
Some countries are already planning small first steps out of the shutdown, even as public health authorities warned the virus could come back with a vengeance if people aren’t careful enough.
  
Austria aims to reopen small shops on Tuesday. Spain, with more than 16,300 dead, plans to start rolling back the strictest of its measures Monday, when it will allow workers in some nonessential industries to return to factories and construction sites after a nearly complete two-week stoppage.
  
Spanish authorities said they will distribute 10 million face masks at major train and subway stations.
  
“We think that with these measures we will prevent a jump in infections,” Health Minister Salvador Illa said.
  
Italy continued to include all nonessential manufacturing in an extension of its national lockdown until May 3. But Premier Giuseppe Conte held out hope that some industry could re-open earlier if conditions permit.
  
Arcuri said that the exit from the lockdown will include increased virus testing, the deployment of a voluntary contact-tracing app and mandatory blood tests as Italy seeks to set up a system of ‘’immunity passports.’’
  
India extended its lockdown of the nation of 1.3 billion people by two more weeks. But Iran reopened government offices and businesses outside the capital after a brief nationwide lockdown to help contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. Businesses in Tehran will be allowed to reopen next weekend.
  
Britain on Saturday reported 917 more deaths, down from the peak of 980 recorded a day earlier. The country’s overall death toll neared 10,000. At the same time, data suggest that the number of hospital admissions in Britain is leveling off.
  
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first major world leader confirmed to have COVID-19, continued to recover at a London hospital, where he was able to take short walks between periods of rest, according to his office.
  
Worldwide, confirmed infections rose above 1.7 million, with over 100,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Close to 400,000 people have recovered. 
  
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia. 

Copyright 2020. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Seven high-risk patients in Israel suffering from COVID-19 are recovering after receiving treatment from a plant-based therapy product.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., an Israeli medicine company that specialized in cell therapy products, treated patients at three different Israeli medical centers for one week.

Those patients treated with its allogeneic placental expanded (PLX) cells saw improvement with severe symptoms, like respiratory distress. The company’s preliminary data showed a 100 percent survival rate for all seven patients.

Pluristem CEO and president Yaky Yanay said, “We are pleased with this initial outcome of the compassionate use program and committed to harnessing PLX cells for the benefit of patients and healthcare systems.”

“Pluristem is dedicated to using its competitive advantages in large-scale manufacturing to potentially deliver PLX cells to a large number of patients in significant need,” he added.

And the company is reviewing its options for an international clinical trial for treating patients with symptoms related to the coronavirus. 

@Pluristem treated first three #Covid_19 patients in #Israel under #compassionate use program. In addition to Israel we are in discussions with regulators in the #USA and #Europe to define our clinical strategy: https://t.co/zKpsIqJILF

— Pluristem (@Pluristem) March 30, 2020

Pluristem is working with authorities in the US and Europe to “define our clinical strategy for COVID-19,” Yanay said.

“We have a lot of evidence that a good portion of the mechanism of action is the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory capability of the cells. It seems to be like a perfect fit. We are very confident in the safety profile of the product,” he added.

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

In the middle of a pandemic, Christians celebrate Holy Week, a story that has the power to change the Church and the world.

Holy Week has begun for Christians around the world who are looking towards Easter and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave.

Denise Godwin of International Media Ministries (IMM) paints a picture of that week. “I’ve been thinking about how Jesus entered Jerusalem. And He came in controversial and exciting times. The Romans were ruling Jerusalem. It was a situation that was less than ideal for the Jews. The tide would turn quickly this week for Jesus and people didn’t understand Him, necessarily.”

Holy Week can feel like a dark week, and many this year feel that even more keenly as a coronavirus pandemic has swept across the planet, affecting billions of people. Churches have closed and people are shut in their homes, away from their family and friends.

Godwin says the stories of Holy Week in the New Testament confront Christians living today. “It’s a great time to think about, ‘Who are we? who are we in Christ? How does our faith change who we are day in and day out when we are in hardship, when we are in challenges, and when we’re uncomfortable?’”

To this end, Godwin says IMM is working on a special project. “We are taking some stories that we already had on hand from the Gospels, people who met Jesus both positively and negatively. And we’re featuring those for our friends in the US or in the English-speaking world. We don’t usually do that. We’re usually working on translations. But we thought it was an important time to think about these stories in the New Testament and how they inspire us and challenge us [about] who we are in Christ.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, 

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The National Council for Trauma reports that nearly 70 percent of adults in the US have experienced trauma in their lives – that’s approximately 223.4 million people. The number grows exponentially worldwide. Since trauma is such a widespread affliction, how should the Body of Christ respond to its impact on the lives of millions of people worldwide?

Glenn Dunn, Director of Domestic Ministries at Set Free Ministries, an organization dedicated to ministering to people who have suffered from trauma, explains the shared role of both the individual and the Church in the healing process. 

Simply having a desire for healing is not enough. It is equally as important for trauma victims to seek healing as it is for the Church to be open to serving them, Glen explains. “It would be wonderful if we could just simply sit on our couch, ask him to do all the work. But we wouldn’t find that relationship.” 

God does not necessarily “take away” the effects of trauma or illness because we ask him to – instead, Glenn notes, the process of healing begins with Jesus and leads to further healing. This is a central part of Set Free Ministries and guides their mission of service. 

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Nathaniel

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Christians in northern Kenya face a dual threat of the coronavirus and a terrorist organization demanding that they leave.

It can seem like the world has stopped in its tracks the last few weeks, but that is not the case. In Kenya, terrorist group Al-Shabaab has demanded that Christians leave three northern provinces.

Greg Musselman of Voice of the Martyrs Canada says we can’t forget about our brothers and sisters in Kenya who are suffering.  He says, “Al-Shabaab [has] of course lost ground in Somalia, which is where they come from, so they’re hitting other Eastern African areas like Kenya and Ethiopia. And the sad part is that the Somalis that have gone to Kenya are trying to flee groups like Al-Shabaab.”

Christians in Kenya help these people by setting up schools and access to medicine, But Al-Shabaab doesn’t want that to happen. They even incited these refugees from Somalia against the Christians and other teachers and workers. The terrorist group claims these people are taking the jobs of Muslims.

But ironically, the absence of teachers will hurt the economy of the region. Musselman says, “Again, this is the kind of situations that Christians are facing every day, along with some of the issues with the virus as well.”

“These guys are not that patient,” Musselman says. “They will want to act on it. We are hearing some things that are going on in the area, [and] it’s making the people nervous.”

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Kevin Zeller

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

More coronavirus complications unfold this week as infection rates continue to rise across the U.S.  Read our full coverage here.

Data from COVIDtracking.com shows nearly 6,000 deaths and over 33,000 people have been hospitalized in the U.S.  However, Dr. Deborah Birx says ongoing shortages mean “big picture” data is incomplete and the situation remains extremely fluid.  Birx serves as response coordinator for the national Coronavirus Task Force.

Last week’s $2 trillion stimulus bill designates an additional $1 billion for the Indian Health Service and $8 billion in relief funds for tribal governments, Huffington Post reports. Yet critical awareness, infrastructure, and funding needs remain.

“We’re seeing reports on the news every night on just about every aspect of the coronavirus crisis, except about the First People of this continent,” Brad Hutchcraft from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says.

“Most of America has no idea what’s going on in Native America.”

More Native America headlines here.

Experts say the pandemic exacerbates challenges faced by most tribal health care systems – things like outdated technology, provider shortages, and a general lack of resources. As described here, COVID-19 will impact reservations differently than the wider community.

“A snapshot of how hard this can hit Native America can be found on the Navajo Nation,” Hutchcraft says.

“The beautiful Navajo people make up 2% of Arizona’s population, but they’re representing 11% of Arizona’s COVID-19 cases right now.”

Realities outside of the medical field pose a challenge, too.  In many cases, Native culture prioritizes community, which makes social distancing and isolation difficult.  Furthermore, accessing daily necessities like food and medicine can be problematic for those who live in remote areas.  Even if transportation becomes available, finances present another restriction.

“The poverty rate in Native America is over two times the national average… and can be over four times the average in a lot of these communities,” Hutchcraft says.

SOURCE: Mission Network News, Katey Hearth

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source