WASHINGTON (BP) — A new federal regulation that includes an “abortion surcharge” and a secrecy clause further confirms the abortion-funding agenda of the Obama administration’s health-care reform, pro-life advocates say.

In a Wednesday (March 21) news conference on Capitol Hill, members of Congress and leaders of pro-life organizations decried the latest rule regarding the 2010 health care law, dubbed by critics as Obamacare. Since the rule’s March 12 release, pro-lifers have pointed to two particularly objectionable aspects in a document that is more than 640 pages in length:

— Health insurance plans in state exchanges are prohibited from specifically publicizing the fact they provide abortion coverage. They can disclose such coverage “only as part of the summary of benefits and coverage explanation, at the time of enrollment.”

— Every person enrolled in an insurance plan that covers abortion must pay a separate, monthly fee of at least $1 as an “abortion surcharge.” 

“So there will be millions, and perhaps tens of millions, of pro-life Americans who won’t have a clue that abortion coverage is in their package until the day they sign on the bottom line,” Rep. Chris Smith, R.-N.J., said at the March 21 news conference.

The “surcharge” and secrecy clause in the new rule are only the latest to be confirmed in a series of provisions protested by pro-life advocates and objectors to government funding of abortion. 

Pro-lifers have decried the fact the law will permit federally subsidized abortions. Religious liberty advocates have joined pro-lifers in also objecting to a January rule — like the latest one, also from the Department of Health and Human Services — that requires all health plans to cover contraceptives and sterilizations as preventive services without cost to employees. The contraceptives, as designated by the federal government, include some drugs that can cause abortions of tiny embryos. That rule has a religious exemption critics find woefully insufficient.

The “surcharge” and secrecy clause are “really a sideshow,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), at the news conference. 

“It is a diversion from what’s going on in the main tent, which is the federal subsidies,” he told reporters. “We’re talking about a massive new program, so-called tax credits. This is money coming straight out of the federal treasury which is going to subsidize the purchase of these plans for tens of millions of Americans.”

The cost to the federal government could be $80 billion a year, Johnson said.

Smith said, “Now, under Obamacare, taxpayer subsidies in the form of what’s called refundable, advanceable credits paid directly to the insurance company — that is to say, taxpayer funds — will subsidize insurance plans offered on the exchange that include abortion on demand — even late-term abortion.”

There are no restrictions on the reasons for abortions or how late they may be performed under the regulation, according to NRLC.

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, told reporters, “[A]s we predicted at the time that Obamacare was passed, the state exchanges do cover abortion and will force many Americans to pay for abortion regardless of their own personal, deeply held beliefs. That’s not American. That’s not the country that we live in. Many Americans will be compelled by law into an insurance plan that covers abortion.”

Fifteen states have enacted laws barring abortion coverage in health plans that are part of the exchanges, but those “opt-out” measures fall short of fully protecting pro-life citizens, according to NRLC. 

“A state legislature may forbid coverage of abortion in the exchange-participating health plans in that state — but under ObamaCare, the taxpayers who live in that state may not ‘opt out’ of subsidizing the abortion coverage for other Americans, perhaps numbering tens of millions, who live in other states that do not enact opt-out laws,” NRLC reported in a March 16 analysis.

In addition, the health-care law also empowers the Office of Personnel Management to offer “multi-state” health plans that could permit federal health plans that cover abortion, according to NRLC.

In the last 15 months, the House of Representatives has passed three bills that would repeal the health-care law or bar funding for abortion under the law. In each case, Obama has threatened a veto, and the Senate has either defeated or refused to vote on the proposals.

It appears repeal of the health-care law or reversal of its abortion-funding provisions will require the election of a Senate and a president supportive of such changes — or action by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court will hear oral arguments March 26-28 on the constitutionality of the health-care law.
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Tom Strode is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—An African American Advisory Council has been created to communicate the perspectives of black churches and their leaders to Southern Baptist Convention entity leaders, Executive Committee President Frank S. Page has announced.

“Part of the work of the Executive Committee is … to provide quality connections and relationships,” Page said in a statement to SBC LIFE, journal of the Executive Committee. “I am very excited about working with the members of this council, which includes Dr. Ken Weathersby who is helping with all of our ethnic groups in raising awareness and involvement of our ethnic brothers and sisters in Cooperative Program promotion and development.”

Weathersby is the North American Mission Board's presidential ambassador for ethnic church relations.

The African American Advisory Council will be a three-year initiative (2012-2015) established by Page, as EC president, and Kevin Ezell, as NAMB president, in an ongoing effort, as SBC LIFE described it, “to engage the many faces of the SBC in meaningful dialogue about working together as full and equal partners in the harvest.”

Page first noted the council's formation in addressing the Executive Committee's Cooperative Program Subcommittee on Feb. 20. Last September, Page announced the creation of a Hispanic Advisory Council, which held its inaugural meeting in early February in Fort Worth, Texas. Other ethnically-oriented advisory groups may be named as deemed appropriate.

Among the African American Advisory Council's chief aims is to help the EC, NAMB and other SBC entity heads understand the perspectives that African American Southern Baptists bring to the common task of reaching the United States and the nations with the Gospel.

“The council is representative of the regions of the country and reflects the cultural diversity of the African American population,” SBC LIFE reported. “Its purpose is consultation, communication and cooperation. It will neither launch nor execute ministries. It will provide information, insight and counsel through NAMB and EC staff to the broader Southern Baptist community relative to the special needs and concerns of African American churches and church leaders in the Southern Baptist family of churches.”

The council will use surveys, phone conferences, Internet communication, personal meetings and other means to gather and communicate information from consultative African American groups and leaders. Among those with whom it will communicate are key African American pastors and laymen; the National African American Fellowship, SBC; the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servants Network; the Black Church Leadership Network; and African American leaders serving in elected roles in state Baptist conventions and on state Baptist convention staffs.

“… [T]he council will enable the presidents and staff of the EC and NAMB to maintain vital contact with the African American Baptist family through participation in strategic meetings and personal conferences,” SBC LIFE reported. “One of the council's goals is more fully to incorporate African American Baptist churches and church leaders into the total fabric of Southern Baptist life and ministry.”

The council will be chaired by K. Marshall Williams, pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pa.

Also serving on the council, in addition to Ken Weatersby, will be:

Roscoe Belton of Middlebelt Baptist Church, Inkster, Mich.

Chandra Bennett, Greater Grace Temple Community Church, Nashville, Tenn.

Mark Croston, East End Baptist Church, Suffolk, Va.

James Dixon, El Bethel Baptist Church, Fort Washington, Md.

Leroy Fountain, Philadelphia Baptist Church, Lithonia, Ga.

Mark Hammond, Village Baptist Church, Norwalk, Calif.

Kim Hardy, Connections Community Church, Ypsilanti, Mich.

Keith Jefferson, Parkway Baptist Church, Moseley, Va.

Dennis Mitchell, Greenforest Community Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga.

Marvin Parker, Broadview Baptist Church, Broadview, Ill.

Kevin Smith, Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.

Bucas Sterling III, Kettering Baptist Church, Upper Marlboro, Md.

Terry Turner, Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, Mesquite, Texas.

Alton B. Vines, New Seasons Church, Spring Valley, Calif.

Frank Williams, Bronx Baptist Church, Bronx, N.Y.

DALLAS—GuideStone Funds has become the first ever Christian-based, socially screened fund family to win the prestigious Lipper trophy for Best Overall Small Fund Group in the United States, ranking No. 1 out of 182 eligible companies. (Lipper classifies fund families with up to $40 billion in assets under management in its Small Fund Group.)

“The Lipper Award for Best Overall Small Fund Group recognizes a standard of excellence that we pursue every day as we seek to honor the Lord and enable our faithful participants to invest according to their biblical principles,” said O.S. Hawkins, president and chief executive officer of GuideStone Financial Resources, which received the honor March 8 in New York at the annual Lipper Award dinner sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters and Investment News. The firm was honored for its consistently strong investment performance across broad asset classes.

“People often think that they have to compromise biblical integrity for investment performance,” said Roddy Cummins, vice president and chief investment officer of GuideStone Funds. “We are dispelling that myth, which is evidenced by the Lipper trophy,” added Cummins, who was quick to first thank the Lord for his favor, and then recognize the daily collaborative efforts of the 450 employees at GuideStone, as well as the team of outside sub-advisors to the fund group.

GuideStone Funds has achieved its leading level of excellence through a sophisticated, proprietary manager-of-managers investment strategy that leverages what GuideStone believes to be the best possible intellectual capital worldwide. The 27 funds in the GuideStone Funds group are managed by more than 20 professionals dedicated to GuideStone’s investment process and committed to GuideStone’s biblically based, social-screening guidelines.

“Lipper is pleased to recognize GuideStone Funds as this year’s recipient for the Best Overall Small-Group Fund award,” said Jeff Tjornehoj, head of Americas Research with Lipper. “This is the first time that a socially responsible investing fund group has won the award. Twenty-eleven was a challenging year for the industry; GuideStone and all our winners should be congratulated for their achievements.”

“The Lipper Award is a very meaningful accomplishment professionally for our team, but most importantly it brings honor to the Lord and encouragement to our client base that is faithfully fulfilling their call to Christian ministry or raising their family on biblical values,” Cummins said. “It’s a joy to receive this award on behalf of the pastors, church workers, missionaries and others who are invested in GuideStone Funds. While they are out there living their lives and doing their work for God’s kingdom, we strive to enhance their financial security by delivering the highest quality investment program that reflects their biblical values,” Cummins concluded.

Nearly 100 years after translators finished the Chinese Union Version (CUV) of the Bible, a newer version in Mandarin Chinese and translated directly from Greek and Hebrew has almost reached completion—thanks in part to a $200,000 grant from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention back in 2007.

Jim Cook, senior vice president for international sales at B&H International, a branch of LifeWay’s B&H Publishers, said the New Testament of the Chinese Standard Bible (CSB) has already been released and said the entire Bible should be finished and available by the end of 2014.

The project is part of a LifeWay gospel initiative called “A Defining Moment” and done in conjunction with The Asia Bible Society, B&H International publishing group, Holman Bible Outreach International, and GrapeCity, an Asia-based software company.

“The translation that they are basing it on is the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB),” Cook said. “The teams are working from the original Greek and Hebrew into Mandarin using the same philosophy as the HCSB used. This is the very first Chinese translation that’s ever been done where every word can be traced back to the original Greek or Hebrew words”

Colleyville resident Jimmy Draper, LifeWay’s president emeritus who spearheaded the Mandarin Bible translation as part of “A Defining Moment” gospel initiative during his presidency at LifeWay, said the new translation comes as Chinese language culture has changed and shifted from a century ago.

“The CUV is very hard to understand,” Draper said. “It can be used, but it takes highly educated Chinese theologians to use it.”

Cook said many Chinese people do not read the older version, released in 1919, because of its lack of readability.

“The old [version] was done basically by the government,” Cook said. “It was not done with theology in mind. The people that worked on it were not necessarily even Christians. It makes a big difference.”

Draper said the new version, which is being translated by Chinese Christians, theologians and scholars, will act as a complement to the CUV and in the finished product, both translations will lay side by side on two-column pages in the Bible.

Chinese native Louie Lu, a booster of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a long-time member of Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth, said the Mandarin translation would allow many more Chinese people to read and understand the Bible.

“[It is important] to have an accurate translation in a language that today’s generation can understand and feel relevant to their lives,” Lu said, explaining that the CUV has become difficult for many to understand.

Lu said the language differences between the CUV and the CSB would be similar to the differences between the King James Version (KJV) and the New King James Version (NKJV), except more pronounced.

Cook and Draper both said the New Testament of the Mandarin translation, which has already been released, has so far been well-received among Chinese people, and since it acts as a complement to the CUV, they say they have not seen hostility toward it.

“They’re actually pirating it in China,” Cook said, “Which is good, because otherwise they’d be burning it. Their copying it is actually a compliment.”

While translators have completed drafts of every book of the Bible, Draper said scholars would spend the remaining months editing, revising and refining the drafts.

“It will be gone over with a fine-tooth comb to make sure there is nothing inaccurate in it,” Draper said.
Aaron Ma, director of Bible translations for the Asia Bible Society, said, “We have found the HCSB to be very accurate and literal to the original texts yet fluent, a well balanced translation. The HCSB has taken the middle road in a very optimal way and is neutral in its handling of textual criticism issue while respecting heritage.

“At the same time,” he said, “it is not overly academic nor does it follow recent trends such as gender inclusiveness. All of these principles are very consistent with those of the CSB.”

Yet presenting a new Bible translation to a field as large as China will be challenging, Ma said.

The translation project, which involves numerous native Chinese-speaking Greek and Hebrew scholars, includes many phases of editing and review, cross-checking and unification checking, testing and evaluation.

“In addition, our approach and methodology is constantly reviewed and revised from a quality control standpoint,” he said. “We are determined not to compromise in any way in terms of the quality.

“God is at work in China and in the Chinese-speaking community worldwide,” said Ma. “We pray that he will use the CSB in a powerful way to bless Chinese speakers, those who are Christians and those yet to be saved. All of this is for his glory.”

The SBTC’s $200,000 gift toward the multi-million dollar project was earmarked from surplus funds that year.

Cook said anyone who wishes to contribute to and support the project could still help by contacting Steve Drake at steve.drake@lifeway.com. n

—With additional reporting by Russ Rankin of LifeWay Christian Resources