Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, joined by other Protestant spokespersons, has urged Congress to approve a bill introduced last year that would give the federal government the authority to control the manufacture, promotion and sale of tobacco products such as cigarettes and chewing tobacco

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, joined by other Protestant spokespersons, has urged Congress to approve a bill introduced last year that would give the federal government the authority to control the manufacture, promotion and sale of tobacco products such as cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

Joined at an April 5 news conference in Washington by speakers from the United Methodist Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Land said that what they were asking was not "overburdensome." It would simply level the playing field between tobacco and other products overseen by the Food and Drug Adminstration, he said. Clergy "who may disagree on other issues" are in agreement on FDA regulation, said Conrad Braaten, senior pastor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington.

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