I Saw Three Ships

Les Downs Plays "I Saw Three Ships" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs opens his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma by playing "I Saw Three Ships."

I Wonder as I Wander

Les Downs Plays "I Wonder as I Wander" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "I Wonder as I Wander" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Les Downs Plays "Go Tell It on the Mountain" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Go Tell It on the Mountain" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

We Three Kings

Les Downs Plays "We Three Kings" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "We Three Kings" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow

Les Downs Plays "Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow" from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow," a traditional spiritual, at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella

Dr. Les Downs Plays a Traditional French Carol from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," a traditional French Christmas carol, at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Angels from the Realms of Glory

Les Downs plays Angels from the Realms of Glory from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs plays Henry T. Smart's arrangement of "Angels from the Realms of Glory" at his 2010 Christmas Eve piano recital at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

Fum, Fum, Fum

Dr. Les Downs Plays Fum, Fum, Fum from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Les Downs treated NorthHaven Church to a concert of Christmas carols before the Christmas Eve service last night. Fum, Fum, Fum was the finale of the concert.

Robert Parham Interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko

Note: If the video does not load from the link on the picture, click on the title to this blog to go to the source video.

Robert Parham Interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Robert Parham of Ethics Daily interviews Sultan Swalehe Zomboko, Imam of a village in Tanzania. Parham was part of a joint Baptist-Muslim effort to distribute insecticide treated mosquito nets in Tanzania. They discuss relations between Muslims and Christians in Tanzania. Gervaz Lushajy of the Feza School for Boys in Dar Es Salaam translates.

Baptists and Muslims Working Together to fight Malaria in Africa

Muslims and Baptists Working Together to fight Malaria in Africa from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

T Thomas, a Baptist, of HisNets and Orhan Osman, a Muslim, of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog explain to villagers in Tanzania why they are working together to fight malaria in Africa.

Bethlehem Night

Bethlehem Night from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Podcast: Kirk Smalley Interview

Podcast (20 MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 12-19-10 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Kirk Smalley. We talk about the tragic death of his son Ty Smalley, the work of the "Stand for the Silent" group, and Kirk's campaign to help put an end to bullying in the public schools.

Remembering a Time When Baptist Queens Ruled the World

The New York Times has published a story about the time when Wayland Baptist's Flying Queens ruled the world of women's basketball.

I'll bet the guy driving that convertible wishes he still owned that car today.

Dave Stockman on Extending Bush's Tax Cuts

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bantering About CBF's Future

Ron Crawford has been bantering with Bill Leonard about the future of CBF.

I'm with Ron on this one.  

One succinct paragraph by Crawford summarizes most of my own concerns about the current direction of CBF: 

I find no fault with those who led us out of Egypt; but it is helpful to acknowledge the impact of key organizational foundation stones. Early in the life of CBF, it was decided the only thing one could build a denomination around was missions. Consequently, CBF missions became our primary entree. Other traditional entrees on denominational menus were quickly turned into side dishes: literature publication, theological education, annuity and health services and a variety of ethical and social concerns. Now, we are discovering a single entrée will not sustain a broad clientele. There are many people who love good home-cooked missions, but there is a much larger potential audience who like a variety of full entrees, not just one.

CBF has been especially timid in addressing ethical issues and social concerns.  I am convinced that our failure to collectively take a prophetic stand against our government's pre-emptive warfare, human rights violations, and use of torture has undermined the credibility of our witness.   When the world desperately needed the citizens of God's kingdom to be a voice for justice and speak truth to power, we were silent. 

I fear that for quite some time, in the eyes of the unbelieving world, even our finest mission endeavors will bear the stain of the American Empire that we unquestioningly sustained by our passive acquiesence.

Tanzania Travelogue

I have been reflecting on experiences during the joint Baptist-Muslim mosquito net distribution in Tanzania. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, I was impressed with the mutual respect that people of different faiths show one another in Tanzania. Every village we visited to distribute mosquito nets had both Muslim and Christian members living as neighbors and working together. In both the private schools and the schools run by the government, Muslim children and Christian children were studying together and playing with one another with no signs of division or tension.

Second, I was especially impressed by the hospitality of our Muslim hosts. They provided our transportation, lodging, and meals during our stay. Expecting and fully prepared for Spartan accommodations, we were pleasantly surprised to have private, air conditioned rooms at the Giraffe Hotel on the Mbezi beach with a spectacular view of the Indian Ocean. Every meal we ate was good, but the highlights of the trip were the times we were invited to eat in the homes of the headmasters of the Turkish sponsored private schools in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar. In both cities we were treated to multiple courses of exquisitely prepared Mediterranean cuisine.

Both headmasters went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable during our visit to their homes. The weather in Tanzania is very hot and humid. Electricity is expensive. A simple home electrical connect fee is more than four times the average annual income in Zanzibar. Few are so fortunate as to have an air conditioner in their home and few of those who do have air conditioners can afford to run them much. The headmasters were no exception, but they made sure that the room in which we ate and conversed was comfortable during the time of our visit.

Third, I was impressed with the self-confidence, initiative and industry demonstrated by many of the people I saw in Tanzania. The country has an abundance of people who appear willing and eager to better themselves by working hard to improve their living conditions. They lack good educational opportunities (a pupil teacher ratio of 120 to 1 is not conducive to good education), vocational training for 21st century job skills, and a reasonable possibility of attaining gainful employment.

Fourth, I am concerned about the number of young men I saw standing at the side of the road and sitting on porches looking for something to do. Pineapples, mangos, coconuts, and bananas are abundant in the areas around Dar Es Salaam. No one is starving for food at that location, but many seem starved for something constructive to do with their time. Jobs are scarce. Internet service is rare. Meanwhile, when foreign countries like China undertake construction projects in Tanzania, they are also exporting tens of thousands of their own citizens to fill up the manual labor jobs that Tanzanians could easily do.

Finally, I am concerned about the subordinate role of women that was apparent in both Muslim and Christian society in Tanzania. I only remember seeing two women with positions of responsibility, the principal of a primary school and a social worker, and both were Christians working for the government in positions that would traditionally be filled by women. The only woman I saw with a semblance of authority was the wife of the Turkish Ambassador who represented her husband in his absence at the Feza School’s graduation ceremony.

Kirk Smalley to be Interviewed on Religious Talk

Kirk Smalley will be my guest on the "Religious Talk" radio program this Sunday, December 19th at 10:00 AM.  We will be talking about the tragic death of Ty Smalley, bullying, and the "Stand for the Silent" campaign.  Tune in to KREF radio at 1400 on the AM dial in the Oklahoma City area or listen to the live streaming audio/video at Sports Talk 1400.

Structures of Time

HIS NETS distributes 100,000th Net

His Nets Distributes 100,000th Net from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.


Robert Parham at Ethics Daily has posted a story about HisNets giving its 100,000th net to a Muslim mother in Tanzania.  Fetimah Ramanda received the net.

I was filming children at the Bunjub School when Robert Parham and T Thomas distributed the net to Ramanda and interviewed her for the story at Ethics Daily.  Above is video of a mother receiving a net at the same location earlier that same day.  More than 800 nets were distributed at this location.

Baptists and Muslims Working Together in Tanzania

Robert Parham at Ethics Daily has posted the first of a series of stories about the recent Baptist-Muslim joint venture to distribute mosquito nets in Tanzania.  Pictured above are boys going to get water at one of the villages we visited in Tanzania.  Pictured below is Robert Parham with the guide who directed us to a lair for some of the rare, nearly extinct, red colobus monkeys of Zanzibar.

Feza School Rap

Feza School Rap from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.


I just got back from a trip with T Thomas of His Nets, Orhan Osman of the Institute for Interfaith Dialog, and Robert Parham of Ethics Daily to distribute insecticide treated mosquito nets in Tanzania.  While we were there we were invited to attend the graduation ceremony of the Feza Schools in Dar Es Salaam. 

Some of the boys who were graduating sang a rap about their school that proved to be a crowd pleaser.

Obama Faith-based Regulations Permit Discriminatory Hiring Practices

The Obama administration has just issued new guidelines for the office of faith-based initiatives.  Americans United and the Baptist Joint Committee have both issued statements conveying their disappointment that the new guidelines do not address the issue of discrimination in hiring for religious non-profits who receive federal funds.  AU's Barry Lynn said, “Taxpayer money should never be used to underwrite religion or religious bias.” BJC's Brent Walker said, "It is simply wrong for the government to subsidize religious discrimination."

There are serious problems with religious non-profits receiving federal funds while maintaining discriminatory hiring practices with the use of those funds.  I've written about this before.  Here's reprise of my May 18, 2006 blog on Anne Lown and the Salvation Army:

I got a copy of Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom Coming and started reading this superb book last night.

One story that Michelle told stopped me in my tracks. The story disturbed me so much that I had to put the book down and walk around the block to lower my blood pressure. It was the story about the "Christianization" of the social services division of the Salvation Army.

I have a vague recollection of reading newspaper articles about the Salvation Army receiving federal money while purging itself of homosexuals and non-Christians, but Michelle's account of her interview of Anne Lown, daughter of the nobel prize winning physician and peace activist Dr. Bernard Lown, personalized the issue and clarified the values that are at stake.

Here's a quote from Kingdom Coming:

Lown, who had been an employee at the Salvation Army for twenty-four years and oversaw 800 workers, said religion had never had anything to do with her job. As long as she'd been there, the New York social services division had been independent from the evangelical side of the organization. Her office ran more public programs than any Salvation Army division in the United States, most of them for children. Almost all of the money came from the state and local government, and Lown assumed that it would be illegal to infuse taxpayer-funded services with Christianity. Her division had gay, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu employees, reflecting the city it served. (p. 130)

Before this administration took office, it was "illegal to infuse taxpayer-funded services with Christianity." When those responsible for enforcing the law and upholding the constitution refuse to do so -- and actively work to undermine it -- anything is permitted.

Apparently, the Salvation Army decided to take advantage of this administration's lax enforcement of the first amendment. Colonel Paul Kelly was brought in to "heighten the agency's evangelical aspect." Here's another quote:

According to the complaint filed by the NYCLU, Kelly asked the human resources director at the Salvation Army headquarters, Maureen Schmidt, whether one of the human resource staffers at the social services division, Margaret Geissman, was Jewish, because she had a "Jewish sounding name."

Schmidt told him she was not. Geissman, who described herself to me as a conservative Catholic, told me that Schmidt then started asking her to point out gay and non-Christian employees at the division. She refused to answer, but day after day Schmidt kept pushing. "She said Kelly wanted to know and that eventually they were going to find out about everyone," Geissman told me. "She said the new vision for the Salvation Army was to have Christians and Salvationists and not to have homosexuals." (p. 131)

Anyone who has studied the holocaust knows the resonances of these conversations.

How Universal Health Care Became a Socialist Idea

Rachel Maddows' recent interview with insurance industry whistleblower Wedell Potter.

Mike Huckabee's Campaign for President Begins in Earnest

Ethics Daily is reporting that about two months ago around 40 Conservative Christian leaders gathered near the airport in Dallas to plot the political overthrow of President Obama. The meeting was convened by Evangelist James Robison.

In another article, Robert Parham chides these leaders for calling their plot a "prayer meeting."

30 years ago, James Robison convened a meeting like this and the result was the election of Ronald Reagan as president.

30 years ago Mike Huckabee quit seminary to assist Robison and his coterie of conservative clergy in their efforts. Later, he parlayed his connections to become governor of Arkansas. Now, Mike Huckabee is running for President of the United States.

For the past two years Huckabee has been courting the far out religious conservatives who think democracy is heresy and want an American theocracy. Some of those at Robison's recent meeting in Dallas are undoubtedly in that camp. Most of them, however, are simple Christian Nationalists who are opposed to the first amendment's disestablishment clause and want to impose conservative Christian morality on all society by force of law. The latter group appears more moderate to the public and has a larger audience within the conservative Christian community.

Southern Baptist Pastor Calls for More Dialogue on Bullying

Ed Sasnett, Pastor of Northeast Baptist Church spoke about the need for more dialogue about the problem of bullying in Norman. Sasnett spoke at a public dialogue on respect, tolerance and bullying sponsored by the Xenia Institute. The event was organized as a response to the suicide of Zack Harrington after a recent contentious city council meeting in which numerous abusive comments about homosexuals were spoken by members of the Norman community. The Norman Transcript's report about Sasnett's comments makes it clear that Sasnett is a voice of compassion and reason within a community that has acquired a reputation for arrogance and abuse:

“Everyone should have the freedom to give an opinion without being called names,” Sasnett said. “There are always going to be differences of opinion that are irreconcilable, but the opinions must be expressed in a way that is not abusive.”

. . .

Sasnett said he would like to see more small-group initiatives where those with opposing viewpoints could express themselves “in a respectful way.”

On Shopping for Energy Efficiency

TopTen.org, a new non-profit devoted to making it easy for consumers to find the most energy efficient products, unveiled their new website yesterday in a press release:

On TopTenUSA.org, visitors will find lists of the 10 best choices for each product category, along with pricing, specifications, local and online retail options, and personalized rebate information.

“We want to make it easy for consumers to find, choose, and buy the most efficient products on the market,” said Norman L. Dean, President of TopTen USA. “We’re spurring an upward spiral toward efficiency—the more consumers demand it, the more emphasis manufacturers will place on efficiency. Rather than copying technology to meet a standard, manufacturers will be innovating to be the best.”

Former Oklahoma Woman Becomes Deacon in Texas Baptist Church

Helen Moore Montgomery, a Mainstream Baptist and formerly a deacon at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, has become a deacon at Community North Baptist Church in McKinney, Texas.

The Dallas Morning News recently published a story about her church's historic vote to elect women to serve as deacons. Three other women were elected to serve as deacons with her.

Podcast: William Tabbernee Interview

(Podcast 24 MB Mp3) Dr. Bruce Prescott's 11-7-10 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dr. William Tabbernee, Interim Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches and Retired President Emeritus of Phillips Theological Seminary. We talk about his new book "Prophets and Gravestones: An Imaginative History of Montanists and Other Early Christians."

Mainstream Baptist a Favorite Blog at Oklahoma Policy Institute

The Oklahoma Policy Institute has just posted its list of "Favorite Oklahoma Politics and Policy Blogs."

We made their favorites list for "liberal-leaning" blogs.

On Vouchers for Private School Education

Last night I debated Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute in a forum on “Religion in the Public Square” hosted by the Federalist Society and the ACLU of Tulsa University Law School. My time for rebuttal was up before I could challenge Bandow’s advocacy of vouchers for private school education. During the ensuing lively question and answer session the topic did not arise.  If I had an opportunity to speak to this issue, I would have said something along these lines:

There are a lot of things that could be done to improve public education in this country. Vouchers for private school education is not among them. We need realistic solutions for problems in the real world. The Cato Institute is offering idealistic solutions for a libertarian utopia. The latest article on school choice posted on the Cato Institute’s website makes that fairly clear. Andrew Coulson in his 2009 article Comparing Public, Private, and Market Schools: The International Evidence all but admits that evidence for the effectiveness of school choice in this country is weak:

“Would large-scale, free-market reforms improve educational outcomes for American children? This question cannot be reliably answered by looking exclusively at domestic evidence, much less by looking exclusively at existing “school choice” programs. Though many such programs have been implemented around the United States, none has created a truly free and competitive educational marketplace, being too small, too restriction laden, or both. To understand how genuine market forces affect school performance, we must cast a wider net, surveying educational systems from all over the globe.” (p. 31)

Then Coulson describes the utopian conditions that are required for vouchers to be effective:

“I found that school choice and direct payment of fees by parents, autonomy for educators, minimal regulation, vigorous competition among schools, and the profit motive for at least some portion of schools were associated with the most effective and responsive educational systems. The lack of even one or two of these characteristics was associated with inferior outcomes.” (p. 32) (Emphasis mine)
. . .

“A free education market is defined here as a set of competing, minimally regulated, parent-chosen private schools whose tuition prices are not strictly controlled by the state and that are funded (at least in part) directly by parents.” (p. 32) (Emphasis mine)

In Coulson’s ideal world vouchers would provide even the poorest parents with the means needed to directly fund a quality education for their children. In the real world, however, vouchers don’t cover the costs of education in a good private school.  Research has shown that the primary beneficiaries of vouchers were students from wealthier families. In Arizona, the state with the most recent school voucher case to come before the Supreme Court, only 12% of the students using vouchers for private schooling transferred from a public school.  Most of the vouchers are going to students who were already attending non-public schools. (Kevin Welner, NeoVouchers, pp. 45-46)

Transcript Publishes Blog

Today's Norman Transcript published my blog about Haunted Memories.

Christianity Today Covers Baptist Communitarian Controversy

Christianity Today has finally covered the controversy over CBF of North Carolina revising its foundational statements.

Voting Patterns

Yup, those senior citizens on social security and medicare must have gotten riled up against Obama's socialized medicine.

Income Inequality in America

The Economic Policy Institute has just released a preview of their report on the state of working America.

The chart above makes it clear where the income gains have been concentrated.

Jimmy Carter on Fox News and the Tea Party

Haunted Memories

This year, as children are playfully dressing up as ghosts and goblins for All Hallows Eve and Catholic churches prepare for All Saints day, I am haunted by the memory of Zack Harrington.

Zack is the young man who committed suicide a few weeks ago after experiencing the extreme hostility toward homosexuals that was demonstrated by some citizens of Norman when the city council approved a proclamation to recognize GLBT history month. Much of the hostility expressed at that city council meeting arose from fear that the council’s action would encourage the public schools to teach children to be tolerant of homosexuals.

More than schools are needed to teach tolerance. Our churches must also make a concerted effort to teach people to be civil and tolerant toward those with whom they disagree. That this is something long overdue is something else that haunts me. Zack’s tragic death reminds me of the untimely death of another young man years ago.

Years ago, when I was a sophomore in High School, five of my buddies and I would pile into one car to go to football games. On one occasion we made an extra stop and picked up another boy – let’s call him, Jack. Jack was a quiet guy and a loner. I had classes with Jack but had never ever spoken with him.

When we added Jack to the car, we had four in the back, seating was cramped and I was sitting next to Jack. Half-way to the stadium, Jack asked a strange question. He asked, “What do you guys think of guys who like guys?” Someone asked him what he meant. He said, “You know, guys who are attracted to guys.”

The thought that guys could be attracted to guys was completely foreign to my mind. I said, “Keep them away from me!” Everyone else agreed and we all made a joke out of it. I may have been the only one to notice that Jack just turned his head and looked out the window.

Hours later we were all back in the car and heading home from the game. Our team had beaten one of our arch rivals. Everyone was in a celebratory mood. Everyone, but Jack. Jack just stared out the window. Half-way home, he said, “I think I’m going to kill myself.” Someone in the front seat said, “Sure Jack, we’ll throw a party when you’re done” and all of us started making jokes again. The thought that he could be serious never entered our minds.

Within a week, Jack committed suicide.

At the time, I felt guilty for not taking Jack seriously when he talked about killing himself, but I still could not understand why anyone would want to kill themselves. The thought that a guy could actually be attracted to another guy was so incongruous to my way of thinking that it was still beyond my comprehension.

It took more than ten years for it to dawn upon me that Jack’s question might have been an indication that he was a homosexual.

I often wonder whether the response of my friends and I would have been any different if we had received some education about homosexuality. At that time, the issue was not a topic of discussion at my home or church or school. Frankly, when I look back at the Bible-toting, legalistic, inerrantist, fundamental Baptist boy that I was at that time, I’m not very optimistic about my own reaction. But, the reaction of one or more of my friends might have been different.

Top 50 Baptist Bloggers

A guide to online theology degrees has included the Mainstream Baptist blog in its list of "The Top 50 Baptist Bloggers."

Al Mohler, Southern Baptists and Lip Service Love

Ethics Daily has posted an outstanding essay by Christa Brown that asks "Would Tyler Clementi Be Loved by SBC Churches?"  Brown takes Al Mohler and Southern Baptists to task for their failure to match words with deeds in regard to homosexuals:

It is good for Mohler to talk about how churches should show love to gay people. But first things first. Before Southern Baptists can become more loving in their interactions with gay people in their midst, they must start by allowing gay people to come into their midst – and by welcoming them just as they are, as children of God.

No one is asking Southern Baptists to lie about their beliefs. But an essential first step for churches that want to show Christian care to gay people is to open their doors to gay people.

Political Electioneering by Churches Surveyed

Pew Forum just released the results of their 2010 survey of "Politics in the Pulpit." 

Those who attend churches where clergy urge their congregants to vote a certain way are receiving tax benefits that other Americans do not enjoy.  When they make contributions to their church, they are also making tax deductible contributions in support of certain political candidates and political parties.

Those who attend churches where clergy observe the laws of our tax code do not receive a similar benefit.  They must make direct contributions to support the political candidate or political party of their choice.  When they do so they are not able to deduct the contribution from their income tax.

In effect, all tax payers are now subsidizing the political choices of the people attending churches where the clergy violate the laws of our tax code.

Sooner or later, this inequity will be rectified. 

There are four possible remedies.  1) churches that violate the law could lose their tax exempt status 2) the law prohibiting politicking by churches could be repealed 3) all contributions to politicians and political parties could be made tax deductible 4) all tax deductions for contributions to churches could be rescinded.

Can Religious Leaders Influence Politics Without Undermining Pluralism?

I have had an inquiry as to whether religious leaders can work to influence politics without undermining pluralism.

My answer is, yes.

Religious leaders have a moral responsibility to address the injustices they see in society and a civic responsibility to work to secure justice.  When doing so, they are obligated to be strictly non-partisan.  Faith should be identified with justice -- not with specific individuals, political parties or political platforms.

Religious leaders have a right to speak out on issues of both morality and public policy.  They have a right to encourage and assist their adherents in becoming informed about issues of public policy and politics.  Again, they have an obligation to be strictly non-partisan.  Faith should be identified with the common good -- not with specific individuals, political parties or political platforms.

When addressing issues of injustice and public policy, they should speak freely in the language of their own faith and tradition within their faith groups.  When speaking to the larger public, appeals to the doctrines of particular faiths should not be expected to hold much weight.  We live in a pluralistic democracy.  People of all faiths and no faith have equal rights in our society.  In a pluralistic society, appeals to the public at large are best made on the basis of reason and in terms that could be persuasive to people of different beliefs and convictions.

Both religious and political leaders have a responsibility to observe the limits of their authority and to educate the public about those limits.  The constitution prohibits passing laws that establish any religion.  It also prohibits passing laws that infringe on the free exercise of religion. 

Separation of church and state means that the state maintains a benevolent neutrality in regard to religion.  The government preserves a public square where no religion holds a monopoly and the truth can shift for itself in a free maketplace of ideas.  The free marketplace of ideas in a pluralistic democracy ensures that religious truth is free to compete for the minds and hearts of the citizenry -- but it has to compete.  It has no privileged standing in the public square.

Separation of church and state means that the church (religion) relinquishes any desire to dominate the state, use its power to elevate itself over other faith traditions, and oppress other religions.  All religious leaders have a responsibility to see that no religion seeks to establish itself within the government and that the public square remains a free marketplace of ideas for people of all faiths and convictions.

Pluralistic democracy is threatened whenever some religious leaders determine to use their influence to secure a monopoly for themselves within the government and the public square.  This thrust generally springs from a desire to force all society to conform to the moral dictates of a particular religious perspective. 

Pluralistic democracy can only be preserved if the adherents of all religions accept two premises.  First, that civil law cannot prohibit every thing that faith groups consider immoral.  Second, that not everything that is legal is moral.

Creationism Ruled Inadequate Preparation for College

The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from the Association of Christian Schools that contended their constitutional rights were violated when their high school biology classes were determined to be inadequate preparation for college.

Michael White at the Science 2.0 website succinctly summarizes the tactics of creationists in this case:

This is yet another one of those instances in which creationists try to have it both ways: creationism is religion when it's convenient accuse people of religious discrimination, and it's science when they're trying to get it into the public school curriculum.

American Economics: Policies That Enrich the Few at the Expense of the Many

Cliff Vaughn has posted some of the comments that were cut from Ethics Daily's new DVD on "Sacred Texts, Social Duty." 

A quote from Ali Faruk, a policy analyst at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, described the current American economic system most succinctly -- "It's about policies designed to further enrich the few at the expense of the many."

Ralph Martire, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability in Chicago, pinned the blame on "trickle down" economics:

"There is no data to support the stance that the way you grow the economy is to cut taxes on the wealthy and support corporate giveaways," said Martire, a Catholic. "In fact, all the data runs the opposite."

"Trickle-down has never worked," he continued. "The data are compelling."

"Our economy grew its best late '40s, after World War II, '50s and '60s, up until 1970, when low-income working families and middle-income families had their greatest growth in income,"

Martire said. "In real terms, after inflation, these families were getting paid more every year. And by getting paid more, they could spend more in the local economy and in the national economy."

Martire added that with the U.S. economy being nearly 70 percent consumer spending, growth in the bottom and middle sectors of wage-earners meant that "the entire economy took off."

It is obvious that we are now living in a banana republic.  I wonder what a chart of the wealth distribution of the U.S. population by percentiles in the 50's and 60's would look like.

Podcast: Interview with "Pastordan" Schultz

Podcast (20MB Mp3) of Dr. Bruce Prescott's 10-17-10 "Religious Talk" radio interview with Dan Schulz, AKA "Pastordan", UCC minister and founder of the "Street Prophets" weblog. We talk about his new book, Changing the Script: An Authentically Faithful and Authentically Progressive Political Theology for the 21st Century.

It's Getting Better for Gay Teens in Fort Worth

Wall Street Whiners Still Complaining

Larry Greenfield, Executive Minister for the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, has an outstanding essay on the Ethics Daily website that addresses the callousness of the titans of our pampered finance industry.  He cites complaints voiced in a WSJ article:

The Wall Street Journal reported that major U.S. "securities and investment-service firms" are ready to break the record a second year in a row for pay – compensation and benefits – to employees. Last year these companies dished out $433 billion; this year the projected total is $448 billion.

 . . .

But evidently this wasn't enough to satisfy the highly paid employees. First they complained that the newly adopted reforms would limit their bonuses – bonuses that would have increased their compensation even more. And then, along with other wealthy folks, they've now become highly incensed that their tax rates will revert back to those in force during the Clinton administration – that is, before the tax cuts of the George W. Bush administration – as they were supposed to by bipartisan agreement.

It's an injustice, they claim. It's taking away money to which they think they're entitled.

Greenfield takes them and the Tea Partiers to task for their misreading of Luke 18. 

I think Greenfield is being too generous in his criticism.  I think they have torn Luke 12:15-21 completely out of their Bibles.

Georgia Baptist Heritage Council's Finale

I just received my copy of the Georgia Baptist Heritage Council's final newsletter.  The Baptist Heritage Council was the Mainstream Baptist organization in Georgia.  I'm sorry to see the organization come to an end, but all good things do come to an end in this world.

One-by-one formal Mainstream Baptist organizations have been shutting down as historic Baptist distinctives have lost their appeal to most Baptists in the South.

Principles that were forged while Baptists were an oppressed minority hold little attraction to Baptists who have never known a time when they were not the dominant cultural force within their region of the country.

Ever since the era of civil rights, unrelenting technological advances, shifting demographics and mounting religious and cultural diversity helped attune increasingly disoriented and insecure Southern Baptist ears to the siren song of authoritarian leadership.

Authoritarian Southern Baptists reacted aggressively to counteract an onslaught of what, to them, were unwelcome changes.

Prominent pastors concluded they could redirect social change if they could control their denomination. Evangelists shifted their message from saving souls to saving the culture. Revivals restructured from being spiritual movements and became political movements. Some pastors began assuming responsibility for leading their congregations to exercise dominion over all the civic and political life of their community and nation.

Other Southern Baptists noticed the dramatic changes taking place in their denomination and resisted it. The people in the Baptist Heritage Council of Georgia were among them. They organized to remind Baptists in the South of their historic commitment to liberty of conscience, the priesthood of all believers, congregational autonomy, and the separation of church and state. The more they talked about these historic Baptist principles, however, the more many Southern Baptist pastors felt the need to consolidate their authority. They asserted their control by making both Jesus and the Holy Spirit subordinate to a dogma of biblical inerrancy and by elevating the dogma of pastoral authority above all other doctrines.

Today, ten years after Southern Baptists traded their birthright for an authoritarian creed, a Baptist in the South who remembers what it is like to be a Baptist who is free-in-Christ is a dying breed.

Our children have never known a time when they had reason to be proud of the Baptist name. 

The churches of mainline denominations are full of Baptists recovering from abusive fundamentalist pastors. 

Oblivious to the impact on their congregations that the influence of the new politicized Southern Baptist Convention has wrought on American domestic, foreign, and economic policy since 1979, African-American Baptists have been disinterested bystanders.

There's little room for prophets in Baptist life any more.  Pharisees, Saducees, and Herodians own the brand.

Praying for Hali Thomas

Hali Thomas, who served as my intern in the summer of 2009 as we prepared for the Midwest Regional Meeting of the New Baptist Covenant, will be undergoing exploratory laproscopic surgery this afternoon in Australia.

For the past year, Hali has been a Peace Corp volunteer teaching at a local primary school on the Pacific Island of Tanna in Vanuatu -- an island with very primitive living conditions and an active volcano.

Last week Hali was medi-flighted to Brisbane, Australia to be treated for what was thought to be kidney stones.  Tests for kidney stones proved inconclusive and she must now undergo exploratory surgery.

Hali is the daughter of  T and Kathie Thomas who, after serving as Southern Baptist missionaries, served as the first missionaries appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  They now coordinate the work of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Oklahoma.

The picture above was taken at a private luncheon for the organizers of the Midwest Regional Meeting of the New Baptist Covenant in August 2009.  Former President Carter, whose mother served with the Peace Corp, was particularly pleased to learn that Hali would also be serving in the Peace Corp.

On Evangelicals Shaping Society

The Patheos website has posted an interview with Rice University Sociologist Michael Lindsay entitled "New Ways of Shaping Society" as part of its examination of the "Future of Evangelicalism." Lindsay thinks evangelicals need to learn how to work with people who have different religious convictions:

I don't think evangelicals can continue to practice the rhetoric that they are an embattled minority group, because they are not. It's a successful rhetorical strategy, but it's empirically invalid. Evangelicals are significant players on the national stage, and they are not some marginalized group that sits on the sidelines of American culture. That said, they will have to do more to build bridges and alliances with non-evangelicals than they have done in the past. The only way that they will actually bring about social change is through alliances and coalitions on particular issues. At the same time, my hope is that they will retain their distinctive evangelistic fervor, which has served them well over the last hundred years.

As far as building bridges and alliances, one way in which the Religious Right has been criticized, and now the Religious Left is open to critique, is for becoming overly implicated with a political party, or becoming apologists for the party in general and not just on the points that led you to form the alliance in the first place. Those who have allied with the Right or with the Left can, when that party is in power, become court prophets who merely tell the king whatever the king wants to hear. So how do you form coalitions in particular issues without becoming so beholden to the party that you lose the ability to speak prophetically over against it?

We have to establish a deep relational network that can withstand tension and disagreement. Evangelicals have not been very good at building relational bridges, meaning personal friendships with those in leadership positions who are outside the evangelical community. This is where there is a real possibility of improvement in the days ahead.

In my opinion, the only way evangelicals will be able to relate with people of other convictions is for them to develop a genuine sense of humility. The evangelical quest for certainty of belief leads to arrogance among those who think they have found it and hostility toward those who decline to share the same religio-politico-moral perspective.

Too Hot for ABC-TV: You Get What You Pay for In Taxes

While Congress postpones resolving the contentious issue of taxes until after the November elections, Ethics Daily has stepped forward to put a spotlight on what has become "The Forbidden Topic" of fair taxes. Meanwhile, ABC television has decided that an authentic moral witness on the issue is too controversial for them to broadcast.

Over the past several years, Ethics Daily has produced a number of highly acclaimed documentaries on moral issues. Earlier this year their documentary on Baptists and Muslims working together for the common good entitled "Different Books, Common Word" aired on ABC Television stations around the country. Their new documentary on fair taxation was scheduled to air this month. ABC, however, refused to air the documentary when the documentary's producers -- Robert Parham and Cliff Vaughn -- refused to gut the documentary of specific moral critique in regard to tax policy. A press release from Ethics Daily explains,

"Sacred Texts, Social Duty" was originally produced as an ABC-TV interfaith special. However, network gatekeepers refused to air the program without the removal of the 10-minute segment evaluating regressivity/progressivity, sales taxes on food, and the lottery as a predatory form of taxation.

EthicsDaily.com was unwilling to gut the program of its moral witness.

"Broadcasting an hour-long documentary on sacred texts without an application of moral teachings to the public square says that religion is irrelevant, that faith has nothing to say to social justice, that the current tax system is a good one from a faith perspective," says Robert Parham, executive director of EthicsDaily.com. "Watering down the moral witness for the sake of an ABC broadcast is too much of a compromise."

An essay today by Robert Parham reveals how contentious honest dialogue about taxes has become in our society. Responding to a Tea Party suggestion that the government turn all charitable work over to the churches, Wayne Flint responds in an interview for the documentary:

He responded, "OK, I accept your argument. There are 10,000 communities of faith – Muslim, Jewish, Baptist, Baha'i, Buddhist, Shintoist – in Alabama... Let's divide 10,000 communities of faith into the 740,000 people and how many does your church get?"

Noting that many of these communities of faith have less than 100 members, Flynt said each house of faith would get roughly 50 to 100 poor people for whom it would be responsible.

"We won't have to have Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, taxes of any kind... We can abolish taxes. We can abolish the IRS. And all you have to do is for your congregation to adopt 50 to 100 poor people, and mentor them, and love them, and educate them, and nurture them," said Flynt.

Here's a link to order the DVD or view additional clips from the DVD.

Receipt for Your Tax Bill

David Kendall and Jim Kessler at the Third Way Organization have published a valuable paper entitled "Your Tax Receipt" which gives people a helpful perspective on how their tax dollars are being spent.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for calling attention to this report.

America's New Economic Creed

America's new economic creed: 

To those who have been given much, more will be added. 
Those who have done without will do with less.

Thanks to the Center for American Progress for the chart.

Another Good Reason to Boycott Walmart

The Arkansas Times has posted a story entitled "Who's Your Sugar Daddy?" that calls attention to the substantial financial resources that the Walton Family Foundation has been contributing to promote vouchers for religious schools.  The article makes it clear that Walton's  have an agenda that is hostile to public schools:

The Waltons and other super-rich Arkansans have for some time assailed the state's public schools and encouraged the formation of more charter schools.  They're cheered on by the state's largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, whose publisher, Walter Hussman, is another antagonist of public schools and teachers' unions.  The Walton Family Foundation also has a senior officer, Naccaman Williams, in a place where he regularly influences school policy in Arkansas as chairman of the state Board of Education.  He has said he sees no conflict in acting on school-choice matters the board considers.

Cadets Faking Fundamentalist Christian Faith at Air Force Academy

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates demanding that results of a recent survey at the Air Force Academy be released to the public and asking the Defense Department conduct an investigation of cult-like religious activities at the Academy.

The letter contends that the religio-political atmosphere at the Academy has prompted more than 100 cadets to pretend to be fundamentalist Christians:

There now exists, according to a United States Air Force Academy cadet who recently wrote to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF; www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org), an “underground” group of over one hundred Academy cadets who, in order to maintain good standing among their USAF Academy peers and superiors, are actually pretending to be fundamentalist Christians. They leave Bibles, Christian literature, and Christian music CDs lying around their rooms; they attend fundamentalist Christian Bible studies; they feign devoutness at the Academy’s weekly “Special Programs in Religious Education” (SPIRE) programs. They do whatever they have to do to play the role of the “right kind” of Christian cadets, in constant fear of being “outed.”

In the long run, the activities of the aggressively evangelistic Christians who have been in charge of the Airforce Academy will do nothing but undermine genuine faith.   Real faith is not the product of a coercive and oppressive atmosphere.

Baptist Historians Reaffirm Liberty of Conscience as a Baptist Distinctive

As CBF North Carolina contemplates changing its "foundational statements" to eliminate the freedom of individual conscience as foundational to Baptist identity, 14 Baptist historians in the "Baptist Classics Seminar Group" of the Baptist History and Heritage Society have reaffirmed liberty of conscience as a Baptist distinctive.

Their statement offers representative quotations from Sions Groans for the Distressed (1661) which is available for free download from Google Books from the volume Tracts on Liberty of Conscience and Persecution 1614-1661 (pp. 343ff), and from The Second London Confession of Faith (1677) which is available for free download from Google Books from the volume Baptist Confessions of Faith (pp. 215ff).

Their statement concludes:

In our tradition we find both the personal and communal elements of biblical faith; we find a believer’s church that preserves a place for unfettered individual conscience.

As historians of the Baptist story, we pledge anew our commitment to the vibrant Baptist witness of freedom that is responsive to the authoritative Scriptures and under the Lordship of Christ. We pledge anew our commitment to the relevance of Baptist identity for the twenty-first century.

AU Asks IRS to Investigate Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond

The national office of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking the agency to investigate Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, OK for violations of the tax code.

In violation of U.S. law, AU contends that Fairview Baptist Church, through its pastor Paul Blair, officially endorsed Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Mary Fallin when the congregation permitted and applauded his endorsement of the candidate from the pulpit last Sunday.

All tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organizations are prohibited by law from endorsing political candidates.

Guess Who's Living in a Banana Republic

The chart below provides the actual wealth distibution for a country with economic disparaties worthy of a banana republic.  The estimated wealth distribution is what a representative sample of the people in the country think is the wealth distribution within their country.  The ideal wealth distribution is what the same people think would be an ideal distribution for wealth within their country.

Guess which country they are talking about.  Hint:  It's not in Latin America.

The fourth and fifth percentiles are too small to register on the "Actual" line.  Each percentile represents 20% of the population within the country.  The fourth percentile represents 0.2% and the fifth percentile represent 0.1% of the wealth within the country.

Source:  a report by Michael Norton of the Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University.

I wonder how many of the megachurches are targeting their ministries toward the fourth and fifth quintiles? 

Where would Jesus focus his ministry?

Unfair Teacher Evaluations Destroying Lives

Rigoberto Ruelas, Jr. was a victim of the Manufactured Crisis in our Public Schools.

News reports indicate that Ruelas, a 5th grade teacher in a gang-ridden, low-income, predominantly Spanish speaking neighborhood in Southeast Los Angeles, committed suicide after he grew despondent when newspapers listed him as a "less effective teacher" based on his students' test scores.  Ruelas was shocked and angry that he would be judged solely on the test scores of his students.

Parents, colleagues and former students say that, in reality, Ruelas was a mentor to youth tempted to join gangs and a tireless booster that kids could make it to college.

Rather than assisting and rewarding the teachers who have the fortitude and life skills to work with the most difficult students under the most adverse conditions, we are publicly ridiculing and belittling them.

Will Americans ever learn to start measuring progress from the place where children start?

Paul Blair Endorses Candidate from Pulpit, Taunts IRS

David Stockman on the Folly of the Bush Tax Cuts

NPR's Guy Raz interviewed David Stockman, the Reagan administration's director of the Office of Management and Budget, about the GOP's "Pledge to America."  Stockman found much to criticize in John Boehner's plan saying "the plan just doesn't measure up." 

He also came out solidly against extending any of the Bush era tax cuts:

RAZ: David Stockman, let me ask you about the idea of making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Some economic analysts have said that if you do that, that by the year 2020, the government wouldn't have enough money to spend on anything except for Medicare, Social Security and defense if it's lucky. Do you think that sounds about right?

Mr. STOCKMAN: Yes, I do. We couldn't afford the Bush tax cuts when they were put in in 2001, 2003. Now, we're - eight years later, we're trillions in additional debt later, we're two unfinanced wars later, we're a trillion dollars of stimulus spending later, 800 billion of TARP, so it's pretty obvious if we couldn't afford them back then, in no way, shape or form can we even dream about affording them now.

RAZ: Do you think President Obama is being honest with the voters?

Mr. STOCKMAN: No, I don't think he is at all. I think when he said no taxes on the middle-class or on anyone below 250,000, he was being totally disingenuous. That's most of the people in the country. Sure, there...

RAZ: You're saying he has to raise their taxes as well?

Mr. STOCKMAN: Sure, absolutely. He should tell them, we're going to raise all your taxes because that's the only way we can support all these programs that I want to keep. He's for, you know, everything we have in the budget today, and a lot of it is meritorious and a lot of isn't. This president who ran on the ticket that I, you know, change you can believe in. I'm going to tell you -tell it to you like it is, can possible take that no tax pledge and then support all of this spending and all of this stimulus, just doesn't add up.

RAZ: Are you worried?

Mr. STOCKMAN: Yes, I'm very worried about it because I thought it would never come to this. When I was in the White House in the Budget Office in the early '80s, we had the deficit breakout, 100 billion or 200 billion. Admittedly, the economy was smaller then, but it was still four or 5 percent of GDP.

Here we are today with a deficit that's 10 percent of GDP and it doesn't look like there's any prospect that it's going to decline at any time soon or any willingness to even acknowledge the problem and address it. The idea that the economy is weak, and so we have to wait two or three years, is just an excuse.

The economy is weak because of our irresponsible fiscal and monetary policies over the last 10, 20 or even 30 years. And it's going to keep getting weaker unless we face up to the problem. So, yes, it's the chicken and egg. If we cut spending and raise taxes, it may slow down the economy even more, but that's unfortunately the choice that we face.

Baptist Joint Committee Stands Tall Against Pulpit Sunday Scheme

Both Brent Walker, Executive Director, and Hollyn Hollman, General Counsel, at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty have taken prominent stands against the Alliance Defense Fund's scheme to enlist preachers to engage in partisan politics in their pulpits.

Brent labelled the attempt "unnecessary, divisive and corrosive" during a panel discussion on "God and Caesar:  Church and State Issues" at Furman University yesterday.

Hollyn has an essay on "Why the Campaign for Politics in the Pulpit is a Bad Idea" that is featured on the front page of the Huffington Post today.  Holly's essay provides  a very  readable and succinct rationale for the wisdom of the laws that the ADF is flaunting.

Dan Schultz Interviews Walter Brueggemann

Dan Schultz, aka "Pastor Dan" co-founder of the Street Prophets weblog, has a valuable interview with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann on the Religion Dispatches website.

The bulk of the interview discusses the taxonomy of scripts that Brueggemann developed in his Counterscript speech.  Schultz appropriated Brueggemann's taxonomy and expands on it in his recently released book Changing the Script.  The interview also touches on themes found in Brueggemann's latest book Journey to the Common Good.

Since the thought of Stanley Hauerwas and John Yoder has been very influential among Bapist communitarians, Brueggemann's critique of Hauerwas and Yoder caught my eye:

Dan: . . . Let me ask first, you said you had some sympathies with that post-liberal project. Do you tend toward that Hauerwas and Yoder stream of alternative witness within the church?

Walter: Yup, yup, I'm very much influenced by that. What I learned from Doug Hall...a Canadian Reformed theologian. What he said was that the Hauerwas line calls you to withdraw from society. And Doug said that for Reformed people, withdrawal from society is correct, but it's a first move and the second move that Hauerwas does not make, is to move back into society with transformative energy. So disengagement and re-engagement, and I think it's right for our Reformed tradition.

Dan: Right. It's absolutely fascinating how—just to do the intellectual history for a moment—how that comes out of that kind of Swiss and lower German reformation, and not Lutheranism. But it persists and it comes through the Evangelical and Reformed Church, among other places—and the Congregationalists pick up on it in their own way.

It's funny to me, because I think Hauerwas would resist that idea of withdrawing from society very much. He'd say, "No, no, we're not withdrawing, we're engaging in a different way."

Walter: But insofar as he appeals to the Mennonite tradition of Yoder, it is to some extent a withdrawal: we don't participate in the political process. I understand, you maintain another kind of presence, but yeah.

Roger Williams on "Soul Freedom" vs. "Christian Nation"

Religion Dispatches has published an outstanding interview with Bill Leonard that explores the legacy of Roger Williams with under the title "'Soul Freedom' versus 'Christian Nation'."   Becky Garrison asks:

How do you think Williams’ would respond to the current assertion made by some religious conservatives that the United States is a “Christian” country?

He thought that the ideology of “Christian nation” was the worst kind of idolatry. and denied the idea on the spot, suggesting that there are no Christian nations, only Christian people, bound to Christ by repentance and faith, not by nationality. He rejected the idea that the state should privilege any single religious voice. At the same time, he was an unabashed sectarian, fighting over theological fine points with anyone who came along including the Quakers. He did not hesitate to disagree with those whose religious views differed from his own, but he was willing for them to be his neighbors.

Williams is known for coining the term “soul liberty.” How does this concept inform the formation of the First Amendment?

I’d prefer to speak of liberty of conscience that, from Williams’ perspective begins with the idea of uncoerced faith. Williams is no secularist. He was a person of faith, highly sectarian faith, that put great emphasis on the sovereignty of God as the center of the universe. Williams and other sectarians of his time—especially Baptists—believed that the church is to be composed of believers only—those who can claim an experience of grace in their hearts. Efforts to thwart divine activity in drawing people to faith—to usurp the work of the Spirit by enforcing certain faith perspectives—were human creations that were unacceptable. God alone is judge of conscience, and therefore neither state nor established church can (in terms of salvation) judge the conscience of the heretic (the people they think believe the wrong things) or the atheist (the people who believe nothing at all).

Conscience should be free under God to act on its own without state sanctions. Such secular sanctions destroyed or undermined faith, rather than enhance it. Williams anticipates religious pluralism on the basis of uncoerced faith, not secularism, years before John Locke’s more secular approach to such questions.

Questions About North Carolina CBF's Proposed Foundational Statements

A reporter who is working on an article for a Christian Magazine sent me a list of questions about CBF North Carolina's proposed revisions to its foundational statements and asked for my response. Below are the questions and my responses. I'll post a link to the reporter's story when it becomes available.

1. What are the key issues / questions involved in this proposal?

In my opinion, the key issue being addressed by CBFNC’s new foundational statements is the issue of authority. It is yet another example of a post-modern legitimacy crisis – this time working itself out within the moderate Baptist movement.

Like the fundamentalists in the SBC, communitarians within CBF are primarily concerned to set “parameters” for the interpretation of scripture.

Would the proposed statement take the CBF in North Carolina in a more creedal direction?

Yes. The inclusion of the Apostle’s Creed within the foundational statements makes that obvious. Until 2000, all Baptists offered "confessions of faith" instead of creeds. “Creeds” are considered binding upon the consciences of those within a communion . “Confessions” are considered a consensus of the beliefs of the community at a moment in time, -- and not binding upon the consciences of those within the communion.

Until 2000, all Baptists were greatly concerned to protect the liberty of each person’s conscience. Conscience was understood as the heart and soul of an individual -– the depths of being from which a person answers the summons to relationship with God and responds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in his/her daily life.

In 2000 SBC fundamentalists eliminated liberty of conscience from the Baptist Faith and Message (BFM) statement. They also elevated the Bible over Jesus and codified a narrow range of approved “parameters” for interpreting scripture. Then they made this binding upon all employees of the convention –- terminating missionaries and professors who refused to sign it.

Now in 2010 CBF communitarians in North Carolina are proposing to eliminate liberty of conscience (i.e., Priesthood of the Believer) from their statement of beliefs. CBF communitarians do not exalt the Bible over Jesus and they remain open to a broader range of interpretations of scripture. Their efforts to enforce uniformity of interpretation have a lighter touch than fundamentalists. Nevertheless, their emphasis on community is designed to set parameters on liberty of conscience within moderate Baptist life.

2. It seems that the tension of holding to denominational distinctives vs. modernizing them is at play here, along with questions over the best way to interpret Scripture (individual vs. collective wisdom; priesthood of all believers vs. creeds, etc.). Would you agree with that assessment?

No. I do not view this as an attempt to modernize Baptist beliefs. Liberty of conscience is basic to Baptist beliefs. To eliminate it is to make us indistinguishable from other mainline Christian denominations.

For evidence, just look at the emphasis on “community” that is prevalent in the creeds, confessions and rhetoric of all the other mainline denominations. Then look for any evidence of “liberty of conscience” in their creeds, confessions and rhetoric.

3. Is it accurate to say that the proposed new statement would include creeds?

Yes. See answer to question # 1.

remove soul competency?

Yes. The phrases “priesthood of the believer” and the phrase “soul competency” are often used synonymously with the traditional Baptist emphasis on “liberty of conscience.” In one way or another, each phrase is based on the personal and individual nature of the “born again” salvation experience. Baptists become Christians one-at-a-time as each believer responds personally to the gospel. Baptism -- the rite that symbolizes the individual’s entry into the community of faith -- follows the individual’s personal response to the gospel and a profession of faith. Baptists relate to God personally -– without clergy, priests, saints, etc. serving as mediators between them and God.

North Carolina CBF’s original founding documents summarize the traditional Baptist emphasis on the individual and on liberty of conscience under the heading of the “Priesthood of All Believers:”

We affirm the freedom and right of every Christian to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We affirm the freedom and responsibility of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed, the control of clergy or the interference of government.

The proposed revision of these documents deletes the emphasis on the individual and on liberty of conscience. These are replaced with an emphasis on the priority and authority of the community:

3. We confess that the Christian faith is best understood and experienced within the community of God’s people who are called to be priests to one another.

and diminish church autonomy?

Yes and No. Article four preserves church autonomy:

4. We confess that under the Lordship of Christ each congregation is free and responsible to discern the mind of Christ and to order its common life accordingly.

Article five could present a threat to the continued autonomy of the congregation if the church chooses to surrender its autonomy as it seeks unity with others:

5. We confess that through the Holy Spirit we experience interdependence with other believers and congregations who follow Christ, and we seek the unity of the church for which he prayed.

Autonomous churches are free to use their autonomy to surrender their autonomy.

4. How significant is this discussion in CBF circles beyond North Carolina?

Beyond North Carolina, I am not aware of much formal discussion about this. The influence of communitarians has been increasing in CBF circles over the past decade. I suspect that it will spread more rapidly if North Carolina adopts the new statement.

5. Any other comments or insight?

See my recent essay about this on Ethics Daily.