Richard Land and Ted Kennedy Team Up

No, it's not April Fools.

Check out this clip from the beloved Baptist Press...

WASHINGTON (BP)--United States senators and witnesses debated the best way for the federal government to regulate tobacco products in a spirited congressional hearing Feb. 27.

Southern Baptist ethics specialist Richard Land and four other witnesses testified in support of a bill to grant authority to the Food and Drug Administration over the manufacture, promotion and sale of such products as cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Some Republican senators and a sole witness, however, challenged that approach, questioning whether the FDA is the right agency to charge with full responsibility over products that result in the deaths of more than 400,000 Americans a year.

The bill's is sponsor is Senator Ted Kennedy who also serves as chairman of the committee holding the hearing. Land testified on behalf of Faith United Against Tobacco - a coalition whose members include the Seventh-day Adventists, American Baptist Churches USA, National Council of Churches, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Islamic Society of North America, and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I suspect Roger Moran could have a field day with this info. Kudos to Richard Land for crossing the political and theological aisle to protect society against tobacco.

During his testimony, Land cited the numerous anti-tobacco resolutions approved by the Southern Baptist Convention since 1920. The last anti-tobacco resolution was passed in 1984. Since 1984, the SBC has passed 6 resolutions regarding alcohol. Perhaps it's time again for the SBC to reemphasize its anti-tobacco stance.

After all, a glass of wine here and there won't give you cancer. But that nicotine addiction will...