c. 2007 Religion News Service

Connor blasts conservatives for abandoning principles NEW ORLEANS

(RNS) The former head of the Family Research Council said evangelical leaders who once marshaled millions of votes for conservative presidential candidates have lost their principles in this election cycle.

Influential conservatives remain on the sidelines because they fear the loss of their political clout if they back a long-shot candidate and then lose, said Ken Connor, who now leads the Center for a Just Society, a policy center that advocates for conservative causes, especially in life and marriage issues.

“There are perceptions these guys are more concerned about being players than they are about principle,” said Connor, who headed the Family Research Council from 2000-2003, in an interview at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher before becoming governor of Arkansas, is a natural fit for social conservatives on the issues that have dominated their agenda for the past 20 years, Connor said.

But Huckabee, though climbing doggedly from single-digit poll results, remains a second-tier candidate and a long shot for the GOP nomination against front-runner Rudy Giuliani and contenders Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Connor said leading conservatives like James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Tony Perkins, current president of the Family Research Council; and Paul Weyrich, a fundraiser and strategist who founded the Heritage Foundation, have not thrown in with Huckabee because a Huckabee loss would tarnish their image as powerful kingmakers.

“They’ve enjoyed having a seat at the table for so long that they didn’t in many instances stand on principle when they should have, and they’ve lost credibility with their people,” he said.

Connor said some evangelical leaders long friendly to the GOP have come to identify themselves as Republicans rather than principled conservatives. Perkins and others in the movement recently threatened to support a third-party candidate if Giuliani is the GOP nominee.

In 2006, Connor said leading social conservatives were “embarrassingly silent” in the face of the congressional ethics scandals because former House GOP leader Tom DeLay and others “were our friends, when (evangelicals) would have been howling with indignation had it been Bill Clinton and trying to run him out of town on a rail.”

Connor said he thinks the evangelical old guard has lost credibility with conservative voters.

“I think evangelicals out there on the hustings are going to make their own decisions, and they’re going to split,” paving the way for Giuliani’s nomination, Connor said.

“I think they’ve helped promote the thing they feared the most. And it’s happened because they didn’t take a stand on principle.”

_ Bruce Nolan

Midwife to Amish told to stop delivering babies

(RNS) A midwife who serves a Pennsylvania Amish community will probably have to stop delivering babies without a license, a state appeals court judge has ruled, but he temporarily suspended an $11,000 fine against the woman.

The large fine levied against Diane Goslin by the Pennsylvania medical board is “unconscionable” and “repugnant to traditional concepts of justice,” Commonwealth Court Judge Gardner Colins ruled.

Midwives must be registered nurses and licensed by the state under Pennsylvania law. Goslin, 49, who is not Amish, is neither, and is challenging a medical board ruling that she must stop delivering babies.

The state board issued sanctions against Goslin after she assisted an Amish woman in giving birth two years ago. The child died the next day. Goslin has said the death was not related to her services.

In his ruling, released Thursday (Nov. 1), Colins said Gosling may have trouble overturning the board’s ruling. But he also said the board cannot collect the fine until her legal challenge is over.

Gosling, who lives in Lancaster County, says she has helped Amish families deliver babies for more than 26 years. The community is holding a fundraising auction to help Goslin with her hefty legal bills in November.

Traditionally, the Amish do not have health insurance and often give birth outside of hospitals. But their beliefs should not be considered in Goslin’s trial, the judge said.

“We do not believe that she has an adequate position from which to raise the religious interests of her clients in her defense,” Colins wrote.

_ Daniel Burke

Southern Baptist TV network sold to Stanley’s Atlanta ministry

(RNS) A Southern Baptist television network has been sold to the broadcast ministry of Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley.

The president of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board and Stanley, founder of In Touch Ministries, signed documents finalizing the sale of FamilyNet on Oct. 25 in Atlanta, the denomination announced.

“Dr. Stanley is America’s preacher,” said mission board president Geoff Hammond, according to Baptist Press. “And we come to celebrate the launching of FamilyNet to new heights here at In Touch.”

Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, called the acquisition “an awesome responsibility, not just an opportunity” and believed it will expand efforts to share the gospel over the airwaves.

The amount of the sale was not reported by Baptist Press. Corinn Fink, spokeswoman for In Touch Ministries, declined to reveal financial details but said FamilyNet will remain a separate entity. The 24-hour network is currently retaining its programming but new programs will be announced in January, she said.

FamilyNet had faced financial challenges in the past. It reduced its staff in 2004 as a cost-saving measure. In 2002, it was reorganized in hopes of becoming self-sustaining but expected advertising revenue did not keep up with expenses.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Albert Snyder of York, Pa.

(RNS) “I was not motivated by money. I want to shut this church down, if you can call it a church. I call it a cult or a hate group. I sat in that courtroom for a week and a half and never once heard them say a good thing about God.”

_ Albert Snyder of York, Pa., who won a $10.9 million judgment against the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. Phelps’ church picketed the 2006 funeral of Synder’s son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, with “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” signs. He was quoted by The New York Times.

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