REAL FREE SPEECH
or 
Mommy, Why Is That Man in the Fire?
   
Last January, Cornerstone Baptist Church of Springfield, Oregon, had 
the tract Millions Disappear inserted into the Springfield News and 
raised "as hot a controversy as the fires of hell pictured in the 
pamphlet."
   
When about seven thousand people opened their Saturday morning paper 
and got an "extra-special treat," the newspaper received "more than 
fifty calls of protest, one of the strongest reader responses to a 
published piece in the past ten years." There's nothing like a little 
scripture in the home to stir a controversy.
   
Reader response was at first negative, and we quote a few of the 
touchier Springfielders:
   
"This is a public newspaper, not a church newspaper," said Jan 
Hutchins, who was so upset about the piece that she canceled her 
subscription.  "I wouldn't have been insulted if it had been 
{delivered separately} on my front porch.  What made me mad was that 
it was in the newspaper."
   
Karen Doyle of Springfield also quit the paper, saying she felt the 
religious pamphlet was "forced on me." But the content of the pamphlet 
also made Doyle see red.
   
"My daughter read it first," Doyle said.  "That's how I found out 
about it."
   
"She asked me, `Mommy, does this mean I'll be gone?' It scared her to 
death.  Why would anybody want children told that they'll be here one 
day and gone the next?"
   
Well, lady, it is called raising a child in the "nurture and 
admonition of the Lord" instead of only exposing her to Miami Vice, 
Married:  With Children, and Bay Watch.  Or as Pastor Ron Robinson of 
Cornerstone Baptist put it:
   
"Because these are issues that you won't hear about in the public 
schools or on TV or on the radio.  Somebody should provoke people's 
minds to consider it.  We need to talk to children about eternal 
things like Jesus and life after death.
   
"I don't understand what difference it makes if it's on the religion 
page or inserted in the paper or whatever," he said.  "We're like any 
company or business that's advertising."
   
That's what you call "exercising your Constitutional rights," and 
there's still some hope for a country when a newspaper publisher has 
enough guts to allow it:
   
"This is a newspaper for the public," said publisher Clark Gallagher.  
"It also is a private enterprise, and we reserve the right to accept 
or reject any advertisement at any time.
   
"We also believe in the First Amendment of the Constitution, and 
though I might not agree with what was in that advertisement, I 
respect their right to say it."
   
Sort of reminds you of Gallio (Acts 18:14-16), and it turns out that 
some people in the community do have sense.
   
The editor "started getting calls from people who agreed with the 
church pamphlet or who supported the newspaper's decision to 
distribute the booklet."
   
Gallagher said he personally had received ten calls "congratulating us 
on our stand of letting something like that run because they would 
rather it run than have it be censored out of their paper.  They 
believed {the newspaper} should be a paper that is open to freedom of 
expression."
   
The conclusion of the matter:  thousands of people got a "witness" 
that they won't forget for a while, Cornerstone Baptist church is 
right now the most famous church in Springfield, the newspaper 
received its advertisement money and gained a reputation for fair-
mindedness, and we all found out that "freedom of speech" and "freedom 
of religion" will not kill you.
   
What do you want for a nickel?