A seventh woman has died from complications related to the abortion pill RU-486. Holly Patterson, 18, of Livermore, California, died on September 17 after a local Planned Parenthood clinic gave her the abortifacient one week earlier. Patterson went into septic shock after fragments of her unborn child were left in her uterus. Prolifers were outraged. The Christian Medical Association, Concerned Women for America, and other groups petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in August 2002 to recall the drug over concerns about the drug's safety and what they call a politically tainted approval process. The FDA has yet to act on the petition. "The RU-486 drug regimen's unconscionable laxity has put American women and teenagers at dire risk," said Gene Rudd, associate executive director of the CMA. In November, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, called on the FDA to suspend its approval of the "abortion pill."
Baylor update
In September, Baylor University President Robert Sloan survived calls for his resignation by the Faculty Senate and several members of the Board of Regents. Sloan's Baylor 2012 plan calls for the Waco, Texas-based institution to become a major Christian research university. The board voted 31-4 on September 12 to reaffirm Sloan's leadership.
Later that month, 29 descendants of Baylor trustee J.M. Dawson (who advocated teaching evolution) sent Sloan an open letter calling for the removal of Francis Beckwith, who heads the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies. The signatories say Beckwith is unqualified to hold the post because he believes Intelligent Design theory—an alternative to evolution—can also be taught in public schools.
Members of the Dawson family, who have no official relationship with the Dawson Institute, say they are troubled by Beckwith's affiliation with the Discovery Institute. Discovery, which awarded Beckwith a $7,000 fellowship, is a Seattle think tank that studies Intelligent Design.
In a statement, Beckwith said, "It is inappropriate, and not in the spirit of J. M. Dawson's philosophy, for his descendants or any members of the Baylor community to blacklist faculty because they received funding, however modest, from think-tanks and foundations with which other members of the academic community disagree."
Baylor officials, citing academic freedom, say Beckwith is not going anywhere.
Baptist ministries resume in Iraq
Despite ongoing security problems in Iraq, workers with the Southern Baptist Convention resumed food deliveries and other ministries on October 7. Southern Baptists had put ministry on hold in August after attacks against the United Nations and other targets. Volunteer food distribution teams will be smaller than before, a worker told Baptist Press. "We judge the situation to be sensitive, but we can continue to work," he said. "The threat level has decreased. We are hearing very positive things about foreigners from local people."
Another worker said Iraqis who received food boxes in two towns in central Iraq asked for New Testaments as well. Another Southern Baptist said Shi'ite Muslim mosques in Baghdad held a day of prayer to give thanks for the love shown by Southern Baptists in America.
Khartoum, rebels sign security pact
Sudan's Muslim-led government and rebels signed a security deal in September. The government is seeking to impose Islamic law on the Christian and animist south. More than 2 million people have died in the 20-year civil war. Christian ministry leaders say the agreement marks a real step forward for peace. "This is a major event for development organizations," World Relief's David van Vuuren said. "With the advent of peace the international community will be more willing to invest in long-term initiatives for Sudan."
Elizabeth Kendal of the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission said the hardest 80 percent of the peace agreement is done. "Believers have prayed over recent months for God to radically intervene and turn hearts toward peace," Kendal said. "This is a radical breakthrough—praise God for his intervention."
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