Religious issues attracted the attention of the news media around the world in 1987—from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., to Moscow.
Some Soviet watchers voiced hope that Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost (openness) would result in fewer restrictions on religious expression. And at home, the Supreme Court upheld free religious speech at the Los Angeles International Airport; supported a church’s right to discriminate on religious grounds in its hiring practices; and disallowed teaching of creation science in public schools.
Nineteen eighty-seven was also the year that television evangelists got a black eye, as reports of sexual immorality, extravagant lifestyles, and irresponsible fund-raising practices dominated the headlines.
1. Questions Of Accountability
Christians who support television religion would just as soon forget the year 1987. In January, Oral Roberts issued an appeal to his “prayer partners,” claiming God would “call him home” if, by the end of March, he had failed to raise the remaining $4.5 million needed to launch a medical missions program. The fund-raising campaign went over the top a week shy of the deadline, but Roberts paid a price. Criticism ranged from ridicule on late-night television programs to serious challenges related to the ethics of the appeal.
In the wake of the Roberts controversy, the PTL money-and-sex scandal further enlivened critics of televised religion. On March 19, PTL founder Jim Bakker announced his resignation. Admitting to an adulterous episode in 1980, Bakker turned PTL’S reins over to fundamentalist preacher Jerry Falwell. In May, the Assemblies of God withdrew Bakker’s ministerial credentials, amid charges of homosexuality and financial abuses.
In June, the new leaders of PTL filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. But in October, Falwell resigned following a judge’s ruling that PTL creditors and contributors could file their own bankruptcy plan.
The controversy surrounding television preachers accelerated the establishment by the National Religious Broadcasters of a new commission to encourage financial integrity, and it led to changes at the eight-year-old Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA,) of which PTL was a member from 1981 to late 1986. At its October meeting, the ECFA board of directors strengthened the organization’s standards.
2. Making It Official
The timing of the so-called Holy Wars did not help presidential aspirant Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network. But spurred by a straw-poll victory in Iowa and a pledge of support from 3.3 million Americans, Robertson officially declared his candidacy in October. Later, he had to respond to revelations that he had misrepresented the date of his marriage to conceal that his oldest child was conceived out of wedlock.
3. The Vacant Seat
When Justice Lewis Powell resigned unexpectedly from the U.S. Supreme Court, many conservative Christians saw an opportunity to establish a prolife majority on the high court. However, the U.S. Senate rejected Robert Bork, the President’s first choice to replace Powell, ostensibly because of concerns about his record on civil rights.
Reagan’s second choice, Douglas Ginsburg, withdrew his name from consideration after admitting to smoking marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s. A Senate decision on Anthony Kennedy, the President’s third choice, is expected early next year. However, some prolife advocates are leery of Kennedy’s stand on abortion.
4. A Parting Of Ways
When C. Everett Koop was being considered for the post of U.S. surgeon general in the early 1980s, his most ardent support came from political conservatives and evangelical Christians. Ironically, Koop identified these groups as the strongest critics of his policies on AIDS education. Koop dismayed his former allies by supporting condom advertising and sex education “at the lowest grade possible” to combat the spread of the deadly disease. The church continues to grapple with the question of how to address what is widely viewed as the nation’s most serious health problem.
5. Closing Up Shop
In 1987, the issue of biblical inerrancy was again in the spotlight. The International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) formally dissolved after successfully completing ten years of work. ICBI’S last hurrah was its September Congress on the Bible II, which brought 3,000 laypeople to Washington, D.C., to discuss the application of Scripture to current issues.
Earlier in the year, in an effort to resolve internal strife, Southern Baptists held a conference on inerrancy with the help of well-known scholars outside the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Observers said the conference succeeded in bringing together theological adversaries, but did little to resolve fundamental disagreements in the SBC on how to understand the Bible.
6. “Protestant” Catholics?
In September, Pope John Paul II visited the United States for the second time. He encountered a segment of the church that Catholic traditionalists say is becoming too Protestant, as an increasing number of Catholics look to Scripture, rather than to church hierarchy, for guidance. Some Catholic thinkers view this as a positive development. However, the nation’s Catholic bishops late this year issued a pastoral statement implicitly expressing their concern about defections among Catholics to conservative Protestant churches.
7. Glasnost’s Reach
Even many skeptical observers of the Soviet Union are inclined to believe there was genuine change in 1987 with respect to the Soviet government’s hard line on religion. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announced a policy of openness, known as glasnost, that some observers hoped would lead to more religious freedom.
Konstantin Kharchev, the Soviet official in charge of religious affairs, said all prisoners of faith in the Soviet Union would be freed. However, most Soviet watchers are waiting for proof.
8. Religion On Trial
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down three significant rulings this year regarding the rights of churches and religious expression in public life. In a case involving the evangelistic organization Jews for Jesus, the Court ruled that Los Angeles International Airport cannot prohibit the passing out of religious literature in the airport terminal. The decision was viewed as a victory for religious speech.
However, in another ruling, the Court struck down a Louisiana law that mandated the teaching of creation science alongside evolution in public schools. The Court reasoned that creation science conforms to a particular religious viewpoint, thus violating the First Amendment ban against government advancing religion.
In a third decision, the Court upheld the right of churches and other religious groups to hire only those people who adhere to the organization’s faith—even for “nonreligious” jobs.
9. Artificial Conception
Technological advances continued to outpace legislation and moral wisdom. In the “Baby M” case, surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead waged an unsuccessful court battle for custody of the baby girl she bore under a surrogate-mother contract. A state court awarded custody to William Stern, the baby’s biological father. Later in the year, a 48-year-old South African woman served as a surrogate for her daughter’s triplets, thus giving birth to her own grandchildren. Also in 1987, the Vatican issued a landmark statement banning the use of all forms of artificial conception.
10. Three Churches In One
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA,) constituted in May, will merge the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church in America, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The new 5.3 million-member church—the fourth-largest Protestant denomination—will open its offices in Chicago on January 1. Herbert W. Chilstrom was elected as the church’s first presiding bishop.
Other Developments
Other important news stories of this year include the following:
- Leaders of a Christian movement known as “Destiny” held a conference in Atlanta to encourage black involvement in world evangelization.
- InterVarsity Christian Fellowship president Gordon MacDonald resigned, following his admission of adultery in the past.
- A New Orleans meeting brought together some 35,000 charismatics from diverse religious traditions to worship together and to exhort one another to evangelize the world.
- Controversy arose in the Episcopal Church around a diocesan study calling for debate on whether the church should approve of homosexual and out-of-wedlock sexual unions. A panel of Episcopal bishops decided against investigating charges filed against Newark, New Jersey, bishop John S. Spong, a supporter of the study.
- A group of Christian feminists founded the American chapter of Men, Women and God: Christians for Biblical Equality. The group was organized as an alternative to the Evangelical Women’s Caucus, which last year adopted a resolution supporting civil rights for gays and lesbians.
By Randy Frame.
