Feb. 7, 2020: Nat'l Prayer Breakfast; UMC debate; Christian flag
Friday, Feb. 7, 2020
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— Nat'l Prayer Breakfast speaker tells audience including Trump, Pelosi: ‘Jesus said love your enemies’
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At the 68th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., keynote speaker and conservative author Arthur Brooks encouraged biblical love amid what he described as a nationwide “crisis of contempt and polarization,” reminding attendees that included President Trump and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Jesus ordered His followers to love — and not just tolerate — their enemies.
President Donald Trump also spoke at Thursday’s event where he denounced the actions of his political opponents, especially those who pushed for his impeachment, calling them “dishonest and corrupt.”
— Michigan United Methodists to hold special session for Protocol plan to separate over LGBT debate
The Michigan Annual Conference for the United Methodist Church will hold a special session to determine whether to forward to the denomination's next General Conference a highly publicized plan to separate the UMC over LGBT issues.
Last month, United Methodist Church leaders and activists of diverse theological views announced their support for a measure called the “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation” that would allocate $25 million dollars for theologically conservative Methodists who adhere to biblical standards for marriage and clergy to vote to leave the United Methodist Church and create their own denomination.
Bishop David Bard of the Michigan Conference said Wednesday that his regional body will hold a special session on March 7th to consider the protocol legislation.
— Christian Democrats mostly support Biden; atheists support Sanders, Warren
Christian members of the Democratic Party are more likely to support former Vice President Joe Biden while atheist and agnostic Democrats prefer either Senator Bernie Sanders or Senator Elizabeth Warren, according to the Pew Research Center.
A report released by Pew’s Fact Tank on Friday found that among Democratic candidates, Biden polled the strongest with Christian respondents. Biden was also the top choice among his fellow Catholics.
Sanders polled the strongest among the religiously unaffiliated, atheists and agnostics, while Warren placed second among those groups.
— SBC observes ‘Racial Reconciliation Sunday’
The Southern Baptist Convention will be observing its annual “Racial Reconciliation Sunday” on Feb. 9, with this year’s emphasis being on the cultivation of multiethnic churches. Initially known as “Race Relations Sunday” when it was first observed in 1965, in 1998 the SBC voted to change the name of the observance to Racial Reconciliation Sunday.
The SBC was originally formed in 1845 as the pro-slavery church for Baptists, holding its inaugural meeting at First Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia. In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a formal apology for its earlier support of slavery and segregation.
— Judge allows Boston to ban the flying of Christian flag outside City Hall
A federal judge ruled this week that the city of Boston, Massachusetts, does not have to raise a Christian flag at City Hall Plaza even though the city has raised flags representing other cultural and social groups, including an LGBT rainbow flag.
U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper, an Obama-appointee, issued an order Tuesday denying summary judgment to a Christian man who sued the city in 2018 after the city government rejected his request in 2017 to fly a Christian flag on a public flagpole outside City Hall.
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