ERLC’s Land to address MBC
Stem cell issue sure to be a focus at annual meeting
May 2, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY – Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) since 1988, will address the Missouri Baptist Convention at its annual meeting Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Cape Girardeau.
Land is scheduled to speak to messengers in the closing session as the 172nd annual meeting finishes in the Show Me Center. Land, who earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Princeton University and a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford, is a familiar defender of the sanctity of the human embryo and is serving as a key voice against the spread of embryonic stem cell research, or cloning. Land is often seen on FOX News, NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s Nightline, MSNBC and CNN.
“I asked Dr. Land to come primarily because of his expertise in stem cell research,” said MBC President Ralph Sawyer. Missourians may be asked to vote on an embryonic stem cell ballot initiative Nov. 7, and Land is expected to explain just six days before it is before them why informed Christians should vote “no” on the proposed constitutional amendment.
In February of 2005, Land was featured in Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. He earned that distinction by representing Southern Baptists in the halls of Congress, in the presence of United States presidents and in the various pundit chairs and editorial pages of the major media.
Last summer Land was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent and bipartisan agency, marking his third term of service on the panel. President George W. Bush chose Land for his two previous terms, dating back to September of 2001.
Land serves as host of no less than three syndicated radio programs. The For Faith & Family Broadcast Ministry, which includes For Faith & Family and For Faith & Family’s Insight, reaches more than 1.5 million listeners weekly on more than 600 radio stations across the country and throughout the world on the Internet. A third show, Richard Land Live!, is syndicated on the Salem Radio Network as a three-hour, caller-driven program on the weekend.
“Dr. Richard Land is an articulate voice with intellectual depth who has been an effective spokesman for the cause of Christ in the public square,” said James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family.