Baptist Perspectives On Saddleback Civil Forum

Mark McEntire is an Associate Professor of Religion at Belmont University in Nashville. In his recent column for EthicsDaily.com titled How Fast Can Rick Warren Spin?, McEntire argues that last Saturday's Civil Forum on the Presidency held at Saddleback Church and hosted by the Saddleback Civil Forum (not Saddleback Church) violates the separation of church and state.

McEntire writes:

Let me confess that I believed from the beginning that the so-called "Faith Forum" held on Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Church in California and hosted by its pastor, Rick Warren, was a bad idea.

First, the idea that the two major candidates for president can be summoned to the church of a prominent pastor to kiss his ring and receive his blessing violates both my commitment to the separation of church and state and the kind of communal humility the church ought to demonstrate.

Second, the whole idea of a "faith forum" is a violation of at least the spirit of Article VI of the United States Constitution, which says that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." We have now reached a place in American society where it would be simply impossible for a person who is not a practicing Christian to make a serious run for president, or for lesser offices in most places in our country. Not only must a candidate be a practicing Christian, but he or she must be willing to talk about religious faith endlessly.

Other Baptists were skeptical of the Saddleback forum as well. On his blog, Southern Seminary President Al Mohler wrote:

Suffice it to say that I was not very hopeful about the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency held at the California megachurch last Saturday night. In the first place, I am not really comfortable with the idea of hosting such a politically charged event in a church. No matter how the event is planned and projected, once the event starts it can turn into something far more politically volatile than planned. That is a truth I have learned by hard experience.

Welton Gaddy, another Baptist minister and Executive Director of The Interfaith Alliance, expressed sentiments similar to those of McEntire and Mohler. Gaddy writes:

I approached Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum with much anticipation, but without a clear idea of how he would handle the sensitive issues at the intersection of religion and politics. I believe Pastor Warren set an example of civility that I hope others will follow, but at the same time some of his questions crossed a line that makes this election seem as if we are electing a pastor-in-chief rather than a commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, Brent Walker - the Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - offers a different perspective over at Newsweek's ON FAITH religion blog. Walker, an ordained Baptist minister and lawyer writes:

It is good to hear a prominent, evangelical pastor profess his belief in the separation of church and state. I also applaud Rev. Rick Warren's suggestion that separation of church and state does not require a separation of faith and politics. Clearly, there was nothing wrong, as some have suggested, with holding the forum in a church.

Separation of church and state is simply a shorthand expression for the rights guaranteed by Article VI of the Constitution (no religious test for public office) and the First Amendment (no establishment of religion, and no prohibition on the free exercise of religion). What the separation of church and state does not mean is that Americans must - or even should - segregate faith from politics. Nothing in the Constitution or our political culture compels Americans to divorce the moral values born of their religious faith from their decision on which political candidates and policies to support. Answers to questions about a candidate's faith should always be followed up by questions about how that faith will influence governance. Rev. Warren did a pretty good job of doing this throughout the evening.

Southern Baptist layman Charles "Chuck" Colson of the Prison Fellowship ministry seems to concur with Walker. Colson declares that Warren "got Church-State Balance Right." Here is Colson:

Warren stated it exactly right: There's an institutional separation between church and state. But faith and politics deal with the same questions--how we organize our common lives together. And faith's job is to bring moral truth to the exercise of politics.

The forum was a spectacular success. Most believers gained a much better understanding of where the two candidates stand on issues vital to their faith

I absolutely agree with Brent Walker and Rick Warren. Keeping church and state separate does not mean that we need keep faith and politics separate. In our pluralistic democracy, we must understand that religion and politics will mix, must mix and should mix. But we should remember the wise words of Baptist activists for religious liberty like James Dunn who often declared that "mixing politics and religion is inevitable but merging church an state is inexcusable." We should be aware that there exists "A Proper Mix" between religion and politics. Fortunately, that "proper mix" does not require us to "segregate faith from politics" as Walker notes.

I also tend to agree with Welton Gaddy when he notes that some of Rick Warren's questions "crossed a line." The "what does it mean to trust in Christ" question was probably inappropriate for a Presidential forum. However, as Baptist church-state expert Melissa Rogers has noted, "Warren's questions were generally much better than the ones journalists asked at previous candidate forums that were sponsored by religious groups....Generally speaking, those journalists focused on abstract theological questions and rather sensationalistic questions about the candidates' personal religious practices or sins. "

I'll conclude with a great snippet from an op-ed written by Baptist journalist Ruth Ann Dailey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Her op-ed can serve as a response to McEntire's claims. Here is Dailey:

One distraught caller to C-Span after the Saturday night forum objected to its entirety, citing Article VI of the Constitution: "No religious test shall ever be required as qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Her objection is illogical. Rick Warren is not the government, and he invited, rather than forced, the candidates to appear at his church....There's a considerable distance between a religious test for public office and a voter's inspection of a candidate. As the Rev. Warren said weeks before the event, "I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of faith and politics, because faith is simply a worldview, and everybody's got a worldview."

Anguished by the bitter church-state battles of my lifetime, I am grateful for Rick Warren's achievement. From the wall of separation's creation more than 350 years ago to its careful tending Saturday night, the Baptist tradition of the inviolability of the individual conscience has served the nation imperfectly, but well.

Black Baptist Leaders Release Religious Liberty Statement

From Sam Hodges of the Dallas Morning News:

Leaders of three major black Baptist denominations have released the following statement through the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty:

This is a joint statement of the presidents of three of the predominantly African-American Baptist denominations that relate to the Baptist Joint Committee, which is composed of 15 Baptist bodies. The groups included in the statement are the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., the National Baptist Convention of America, and the National Missionary Baptist Convention. The Baptist Joint Committee is a 71-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based religious liberty organization that works to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all, furthering the Baptist heritage that champions the principle that religion must be freely exercised, neither advanced nor inhibited by government.

Can politics still benefit from prophetic preaching?

Statement on the attacks on the pulpit and the ban on a religious test for
The Office of President of the United States
Released on April 4, 2008, 40 Years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

During the 2008 race for the nomination for president of the United States, we have seen efforts to malign candidates that cross the line of fair campaigning and understanding a candidate's biography. Attacks on candidates based on their church membership threaten one of our treasured constitutional commitments - religious freedom, which includes the freedom to worship and the prohibition on any religious test for qualification for public office.

In a recent conversation with Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, president emeritus of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., in the wake of attacks based on select sermons by Sen. Barak Obama's pastor, Dr. Taylor emphasized the importance of our commitment as Baptist presidents of four major African-American conventions. We have long supported religious freedom, the freedom of the pulpit and the ban on a religious test for qualifying for the office of president of the Untied States. The following statement reflects the views of our Baptist faith community, in general, and our views as religious leaders of three of the major African-American National Baptist Conventions, in particular.

Statement

As Baptists we believe in the freedom of religion, the right to worship where one chooses and the right listen to whomever we please preach the Gospel. We also believe in liberty of conscience and the right of the individual to interpret Holy Scripture. We cannot now, or ever, allow the influence of negative media coverage, and insensitive critics to misrepresent the fundamental freedom of choosing one's church and worshiping, by trying to make it relevant to one's right to occupy office as an elected official. It is one thing to challenge a particular statement, but quite another to challenge the qualifications of a candidate running for office by continually bombarding the reading, watching and listening public by singling out a house of worship and denouncing the freedom of speech inherent in prophetic preaching. We now share our opposition to how some of the media are reporting on the suitability of a candidate for political office based on an attack on a religious community.

By questioning and challenging a candidate's religious affiliations, religious associations and views on the Scriptures as a test for suitability for elected office, especially the office of president, we run the risk of violating the words and spirit of our Constitution. According to Article II of the U.S. Constitution, Section 1: President and Vice President, Clause 5: Qualifications for Office, that there three things and three things only that qualify any America who wants to become the President and Vice President of the United States: (1) those persons must be a natural born citizen of the United States; (2) they are to be at least 35 years old; (3) inhabitants of the United States at least fourteen years (there is an assumption that the President and Vice Presidents respectively, shall be of sound body and mind). Nothing has been stated, suggested, or hinted at in the Constitution regarding race, religion, choice of a pastor, or local house of worship where one hears instructions from God's Word. Indeed, Article VI of the Constitution bans any religious test for public office.

Freedom-loving Americans should go to the polls in this presidential election cycle and vote for our president and vice president (and all other political offices up for a vote) based on what the Constitution of the United States says are the qualifications, and the evaluation of the candidate's policy positions.

Most recently, we have crossed into the negative campaign territory when Sen. Obama came under attack for being a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill., under the spiritual leadership of Trinity's Senior Pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright. Where Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barak Obama or any other candidate worships, how they interpret sacred Scripture, who they listen to preach the Good News of the Gospel, and their choice of denominational affiliation should not be at issue. They have the right to be members of any congregation of faith, worship where they choose, and listen to whomever they desire preach, without these things being used against them to take them out of the running for political office.

The Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., the National Baptist Convention of America, the National Missionary Baptist Convention, and other people in the faith community, regardless to religious persuasion and practice, condemn the idea that Senator Sens. Clinton, McCain and Obama, are not eligible for office unless they pass a religious test for office.

Freedom of religion, freedom of worship, freedom to hear whomever a person chooses is a fundamental right of all Americans. Attempts to make a candidate's religious affiliation relevant to the candidate's fitness for office should be viewed with skepticism.

The Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr., President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

The Rev. Dr. William J. Thurston, President of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.

The Rev. Dr. C. C. Robertson, President of the National Missionary Baptist Convention, Inc.

Soul Freedom and the New Baptist Covenant

The November/December issue of the Baptist Joint Committee's Report from the Capital came out today.

In this exciting issue, your truly provides the Guest View. Last month, Dr. Jimmy Allen penned the first part in a three-part series on the New Baptist Covenant. My article is part 2 of this series and is entitled Soul Freedom and the New Baptist Covenant. So, check it out.

Here's a snippet:

Just 100 years ago, Baptist minister Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of the Social Gospel Movement, penned a series of five brief articles titled "Why I Am A Baptist." Rauschenbusch wrote: "We may be Baptists by birth, but we must become Baptists by conviction. ...I began by being a Baptist because my father was, but today I am a Baptist, because, with my convictions, I could not well be anything else."

Like Rauschenbusch, I too am the son of a Baptist minister. And like Rauschenbusch, I was also "born" a Baptist. But even after experiencing the coercion and forced conformity of fundamentalism firsthand, I remain a Baptist because of my convictions. At the heart of those convictiosn is what prominent early 20th century Baptists, E.Y. Mullins and G.W. Truett, referred to as "soul competency," and James Dunn dubbed "soul freedom." Walter Shurden has stated that soul freedom is the "stackpole around which Baptist convictions develop." In the words of Rauschenbusch himself, "The Christian faith, as Baptists hold it, sets spiritual experience boldly to the front as the one great thing in religion." Indeed, if there is one tie that binds us Baptists together, it is our belief that each person has the freedom, ability, and responsibility to respond to God directly without a human mediator. No priest. No bishop. No magisterium. And definitely no spiritual masters....

Brent Walker Joins Newsweek's On Faith Panel

A little breaking news from the press room of the BJC.....

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, has been named a panelist for a joint project of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.

On Faith is an online conversation on religion and its implications led by Newsweek's managing editor, Jon Meacham, and author and journalist, Sally Quinn.

Meacham and Quinn said the site provides a forum for "sane and spirited talk, drawing on a remarkable panel of distinguished figures from the academy, the faith traditions, and journalism."

Walker joined the conversation today on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, in response to a question concerning religious extremists.

"Our goal should be the greatest amount of religious freedom and zero tolerance for violence in the name of religion," Walker said.

We in the Baptist Blogosphere are excited to have Brent represent all freedom-loving Baptists over at On Faith. Brent joins an impressive array of panelists such as Randall Balmer, James A. Forbes Jr., Welton Gaddy, Martin Marty, Gardner Taylor, Jim Wallis, Desmond Tutu, Rick Warren, and N.T. Wright.

So, check out Brent's inaugural post at On Faith. Also note the comments from Walter Shurden and Michael Westmoreland-White. Afterwards, check out the September issue of Report From The Capital, a publication of the Baptist Joint Committee. Brent has an excellent article entitled In Huckabee endorsement, {Wiley} Drake commits legal, political and theological wrongs.

Where Have All The Baptists Gone?

And now some BJC news...

WASHINGTON — One of the most prominent historians of American evangelicalism called on "true Baptists" June 29 to re-assert their prophetic role "as watchmen on the wall of separation between church and state."

Randall Balmer, a history professor at Columbia University, told more than 550 supporters of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty that many of America's Baptists, in recent decades, have "lost their way."

Now, let's revisit a few of Balmer's most memorable one-liners.

"They have been seduced by leaders of the Religious Right into thinking that the way to advance the gospel in this country is to abandon Baptist principles,"

"Why not post the Decalogue in public places? Because, quite simply, it trivializes the faith and makes the Ten Commandments into a fetish....What Roy Moore was peddling was idolatry, pure and simple — a conflation of the gospel with the American political order."

"The identification of the Religious Right with the Republican Party has deprived the faith of its prophetic voice. Where are the Baptist voices of conscience decrying this administration's immoral war in Iraq, the relentless assault on civil liberties and the abomination of torture?"

"It is hard to escape the conclusion that the Religious Right has abandoned the faith for a conference call with Karl Rove in return."

"Every true Baptist understands that any attempt to baptize the faith with the imprimatur of the state … ultimately diminishes the integrity of the faith...I'm asking Baptists to reaffirm their heritage. I'm asking them to rededicate themselves to the importance of liberty of conscience. Baptists were once a minority themselves, so they should know better than most the importance of protecting the rights of minorities, religious and otherwise."

Let's heed the advice of Dr. Balmer. To reclaim that authentic and genuine Baptist voice in North America, we must recommit ourselves to soul freedom, complete religious liberty and the separation of church and state. The upcoming Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant will be a great opportunity to reaffirm our heritage - a heritage that values liberty of the individual conscience.

As religion must always be a matter between God and individuals, no man can be made a member of a truly religious society by force or without his own consent, neither can any corporation that is not a religious society have a just right to govern in religious affairs.
-Isaac Backus, 1781

It is the consistent and insistent contention of our Baptist people, always and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced, and that it is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel men to conform to any religious creed or form of worship....A Baptist would rise at midnight to plead for absolute religious liberty, for his Catholic neighbor, and for his Jewish neighbor, and for everybody else."
-George W. Truett, 1920

Baptist Unity Rally Remembers G.W. Truett

On Friday, Baptists attending the joint gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches USA met at Fountain Plaza, directly behind the United States Capitol to celebrate religious liberty through the reading of G.W. Truett's historic sermon.
Johnny Pierce of Baptists Today covered the event (which I attended)....

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Eighty-seven years after George Truett thundered a call for separation of church and state to more than 10,000 Southern Baptists gathered in the nation’s capital, a smaller but more diverse group of Baptists paid tribute to the legendary pastor’s message and called for a renewed commitment to full religious liberty.

Sponsored by the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the speeches took place near the Capitol building, where Truett, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, gave his May 16, 1920, address. While George Washington laid the physical cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793, “its true foundation is on the first freedom -- freedom of religion,” congressman Chet Edwards (D-Texas) said at the June 29 event..Edwards said former Baylor University chancellor Herb Reynolds, who died last month, gave him a copy of Truett’s sermon several years ago. The sermon “made an indelible imprint” on him and caused the defense of religious liberty to become his “political calling in life.”

“Our religious freedom must be protected by each generation,” Edwards said. “There are politicians in each generation, in the name of religion, who would do it great harm.”

Edwards and congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) addressed the crowd, composed mostly of those attending meetings of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches, USA. BJC Executive Director Brent Walker introduced Edwards and Scott as leading members of Congress committed to preserving religious liberty.

You can read the text of George W. Truett's "Baptists and Religious Liberty" - here.

Those who read portions of Truett's speech included:

Amy Butler of Washington’s Calvary Baptist Church; Steven Case of First Baptist Church of Mansfield, Penn.; Quinton Dixie of Indiana University-Purdue University; Pamela Durso of the Baptist History and Heritage Society; Jeffrey Haggray of the D.C. Baptist Convention; Robert Marus of Associated Baptist Press; Julie Pennington-Russell of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga.; Bill Underwood of Mercer University; and Daniel Vestal of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Tech-savy Dr. Bruce Prescott podcasted the speeches given by Rep. Chet Edwards and Rep. Bobby Scott.

Also be sure to check out BJC blogger Don Byrd's thoughts on the Baptist Unity rally.

Finally, see this article. Sam Hodges of The Dallas Morning News phoned the "church-state guru" of the Southern Baptist Convention for a comment on the rally. Land (who supposedly reveres Truett) claimed that Truett was "less rigid on church-state practicalities than moderates suggest."

Though Land is a historian - it seems he might want to revisit a little Southern Baptist history during the first half of the 20th century. Many non-Baptist scholars recognize that The Texas Tradition (absent J. Frank Norris and a few others) was indeed a Separationist Tradition. Even a revisionist historian like Land can't (with any level of honesty) depict G.W. Truett and J.M. Dawson as accommodationists.

The successors to the legacy left behind by Truett and Dawson includes Texans such as James Dunn, Jimmy Allen, Foy Valentine, John Baugh, and Herb Reynolds.

Richard Land is not part of that legacy.

His legacy is one of accommodation, watered-down civil religion, and militarism.

Not separation.

Merely hanging a portrait of G.W. Truett in a hall somewhere in Nashville does little to honor the legacy of G.W. Truett who fought long and hard for soul freedom, religious liberty, and her essential corollary - the separation of church and state. A portrait may be worth a thousand words but actions always speak louder than words....

My CBF General Assembly Itinerary And Much More

Thursday marks the official beginning of the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. This year the General Assembly is being held in Washington D.C. And on Friday evening, the CBF and the American Baptist Churches USA will convene and worship together. For more on this historic gathering and celebration of Baptist unity - see here.

Since The Big Daddy Weave will be present for the Assembly and Celebration, I have provided a list of notable events and workshops sponsored by the CBF. To see a complete list of auxillary events and workshops - click here.

Wednesday, June 27

The Minister and Politics: How To Be Political Without Being Partisan

Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Greg Boyd, and Melissa Rogers (blog) will speak to this question at the upcoming The Minister and Politics conference hosted by Christian Ethics Today and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. For more details, please see my previous post.

Thursday, June 28

Morning Events

Freedom from Hunger and Poverty (sponsored by Bread for the World, CBF, Baylor)

We are called to be the presence of Christ for those who suffer from extreme poverty, hunger and disease. As a follow-up to last year’s HIV/AIDS Summit, we’ll hear from members of Congress, Hill Staffers, and religious leaders whose collaboration across party lines has created new and effective U.S. policies to address the root causes of hunger and poverty.

Alan Larson, former undersecretary of state, will join Congressman Artur Davis and Bread for the World president David Backmann on this discussion panel. For more info, see here.

The New Global Mission w/ CBF Global Missions Coordinator Dr. Rob Nash
Local Congregations and Mission in the 21st Century

Come share in an open and honest discussion of the challenges facing congregations as they seek to engage in global mission in the 21st century. As we enter into the “Century of the Congregation,” discuss implications for sharing the gospel with the world!

Nash is expected to unveil a new Global Missions strategy that will restructure the way that the CBF does missions. I'll be there. For more info, see here.

Prosperity Gospel: Revisiting Stewardship or Selling Indulgences?
w/ Bill Leonard

Explore the current “Prosperity Gospel” phenomenon and its implications for individuals, congregations and popular religion in postmodern America. Questions include: What is the “Prosperity Gospel,” how did it evolve, and what does it suggest about biblicism, materialism, and spirituality in today’s church? Not for the theologically squeamish!

It's Bill Leonard - better come early to get a seat...

Caring for God’s Creation
w/ Melissa Rogers

Discuss current threats to our environment and how these threats affect the poorest of the poor. Practical suggestions will be offered regarding the roles religious communities may plan in addressing these issues. We are all responsible for God’s created order!

Jim Ball, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network will join Melissa Rogers for a workshop on religious activism and environmental issues. For more, see here.

Afternoon Events

William Whitsitt Society – Ministry to Victims of Global Sex Trade

Everyone is invited to this meeting, which is sponsored by the Whitsitt Society. Lauren Bethell will be given the Whitsitt Courage Award, after which she will describe her ministry to victims of international sex trade and answer questions about the ministry.

Of course I'll be there since I did write an article for the latest issue of the Whitsitt Journal.

CBF HIV/AIDS Network and the Missional Church
w/ Ronnie Adams

Hear from individuals, churches and CBF field personnel who are working with HIV/AIDS communities around the world. Discover ways your church can reach out to the 39.4 million persons infected with HIV and make a difference in their lives and in your own. For more, see here.

The State of Women in Baptist Life 2006 Report
w/ Eileen Campbell-Reed and Pamela R. Durso

Attitudes about women in society, the professions and ministry have changed dramatically in the last 30 years. Hear survey results of Baptist attitudes toward women in society and the latest statistics about women’s leadership in the second annual State of Women in Baptist Life report commissioned by Baptist Women in Ministry.

You’re in Washington: Be an Advocate!
J. Brent Walker and K. Hollyn Hollman (Baptist Joint Committee)

Being an effective advocate requires planning, preparation and follow-through. Hear practical tips for making a difference on issues of concern (especially religious liberty) through contact with elected officials and other political activists. Read more about additional BJC events.

Friday, June 29

Morning Events

8 a.m. Baptist Unity Rally for Religious Liberty (sponsored by BJC)

In May 1920, George W. Truett, a Baptist preacher from Dallas, Texas, climbed the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to address a throng of some 10,000 onlookers. His purpose in addressing the crowd was to rally support for religious liberty and its constitutional corollary, the separation of church and state. Religious, political and educational leaders will celebrate our Baptist heritage by reading excerpts of Truett’s speech. Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, William Underwood, Pam Durso, Jeff Haggray, Stan Hastey, Daniel Vestal, Amy Butler, Julie Pennington-Russell, Curt Lucas and Rob Marus are among those scheduled to participate.

The event will be held at Fountain Plaza at Upper Senate Park, adjacent to the U.S. Capitol and Russell Senate Office Building, between Delaware and New Jersey avenues.

Last Friday I blogged about this historic event. Count me in.

The New Baptist Covenant Explained
w/ David Emmanuel Goatley and Alan Stanford

President Jimmy Carter has initiated a new covenant among North American Baptists calling them to work together across racial and organizational lines to express a positive and prophetic Baptist voice. Come learn more about it. Make plans for a historic gathering in January, 2008!

Christian Ethics and Immigration Policy
w/ Melissa Rogers

How should Christian ethics inform our understanding of and responses to immigration policy? What can our churches do? Join leaders who are expert in Christian ethics and immigration policy to discuss these questions.

The speakers at this workshop will be Albert Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services and a member of Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform; Suzii Paynter, director of the Texas Christian Life Commission; and Jenny Hwang of World Relief. Melissa Rogers will moderate. For more see here.

BCE Film Series and Panel Discussion Always...Therefore: The Church's Challenge of Global Poverty
w/ Robert Parham

Learn ways Christians can engage in feeding a hungry world. The Baptist Center for Ethics is sponsoring a screening and discussion on this movie. Following the film, a brief panel discussion will explore the biblical mandate to feed the hungry and ways to be faithful to that mandate.

More info can be found here.

The Churches Response to Genocide
w/ Gregory Stanton

Hear a Christian response to genocide with a focus on genocide both past and present. You’ll leave with a motivation to be the presence of Christ to a world crying for help.

BCE Film Series and discussion Faith and Politics
w/ Robert Parham

The Baptist Center for Ethics is sponsoring a screening and panel discussion about authentic Christian values, how Christians should express their faith in politics and how to live faithfully in a pluralistic society and a world of competing interests.

Bono and Billy Graham: Ministering to All without Losing Me
w/ CBF Leadership Team

An intergenerational panel from CBF’s young leader organization will dialogue and share in Q & A. Where are young people in CBF life? How does the church need to change? Vocational direction, the importance of Sabbath, being single or married in the church, cultural issues, and many more issues will be explored.

CBF/ABC Partnership Work in New Church Starts

Come see what CBF and ABC are accomplishing together in the field of New Church Starts. Hear about current successful church starts and prospects for future work together.

Keeping Baptist Distinctives from Being Baptist Extinctives
w/ Bill Tillman and Stacy Conner

Baptist distinctives carry a soft underside which can be and have been exploited. Address of social issues and wholesome evangelism becomes stunted and perverted. Suggestions will be made toward a healthy projection of these distinctives.

And last but not least - come join friends of the Baptist Joint Committee as they celebrate religious liberty at the annual RLC Luncheon.

Author/professor Randall Balmer will deliver the keynote address at the annual Religious Liberty Council luncheon to be held in conjunction with the overlapping meetings of CBF and ABC USA in Washington, D.C. The event is scheduled for 12:15-1:45 p.m., June 29, in Independence Ballroom A at the Grand Hyatt Washington.

Balmer is a professor of American Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School and the author of Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament.

Stephen Fox of BaptistLife.com fame pestered me daily last Fall until I purchased Thy Kingdom Come. I admit - it was money well spent. My sister even made use of Balmer's work in her freshmen English essay about Michael Farris, the homeschool movement and reasons why we should fight to preserve our public school system. Needless to say, I'm excited about hearing Randall Balmer while enjoying yet another chicken plate.

Baptists and Religious Liberty

Baptists and others who love religious liberty will gather on the steps of the Capitol next weekend to to show support for the separation of church and state. This rally will be held in conjunction with the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee. Don Byrd of Blog from the Capital has more:

On a Sunday afternoon in May 1920, a 53-year-old Baptist preacher from Dallas, Texas, climbed the east steps of the U.S. Capitol to address a throng of some 10,000 onlookers in town for the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. His purpose — to rally support for religious liberty and its constitutional corollary, the separation of church and state.

The crowd heard a masterful call for true religious liberty, not the veiled contempt expressed in the “mere toleration” of others’ religious views. “Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right,” the speaker said.

That sermon delivered by George W. Truett has continued to have a profound impact on Baptists and others for decades, including Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who received the text of the sermon from a friend more than a decade ago. The sermon “haunted” and “inspired” Edwards and caused him to change his political priorities. Edwards is now one of the fiercest champions of religious liberty on Capitol Hill.

Edwards will be on hand, as well as Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va., and a host of other religious and educational leaders representing an array of Baptists, as the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty hosts a Baptist Unity Rally for Religious Liberty at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 29. The event will be held at Fountain Plaza of Upper Senate Park, adjacent to the U.S. Capitol and the Russell Senate Office Building.

Leaders from across the country will celebrate Truett’s contribution to religious freedom and the Baptist distinctive of religious liberty for all by reading excerpts of Truett’s sermon.

For text of the sermon, titled “Baptists and Religious Liberty,” visit the Baptist Joint Committee Web site at http://www.bjconline.org/resources/pubs/pub_truett_address.htm .

Count me in! I'll likely be worthless and half-awake at 8am. But I'll be there.

Priests and Prophets: Saving Soul Freedom

Back in February, Dr. James Dunn, former Executive-Director of the Baptist Joint Committee and current visiting professor at the Wake Forest University Divinity School, delivered the Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State.

Below is a snippet from his lecture entitled "Priests and Prophets"

“If soul freedom is important,
If the priesthood of all believers is more than a slogan,
If one insists on interpreting the Bible for himself/herself,
If one defends the right of each person to come to the Bible and led by the Holy Spirit seek its truth,
If one believes that she must accept Jesus Christ personally, freely or not really …
If in the fellowship of churches each one is autonomous….
If religious liberty is the password to public witness and the separation of church and state is essentially corollary,
If no mortal has the power to suppress, curtail, rule out or reign over the will of the congregation,
You have probably been baptistified.”

Brent Walker & BJC Discussed At The Daily Kos

Fred Clarkson of Talk2Action has written an exellent diary at The Daily Kos entitled Confronting Lies About The Separation of Church And State. He quotes extensively from Brent Walker's popular sermon Answering The Top 10 Lies About Church And State delivered in September, 2005 at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta.

Clarkson's diary comes on the heels of heated discussion between himself and several Democratic consultants.

Clarkson begins...

It has recently become fashionable among some Democratic Party consultants to advise candidates not to talk about separation of church and state. Among their publicly stated reasons is that the phrase is not in the Constitution, and it raises "red flags with people of faith." I have written about how such thinking is identitical to that of the religious right. I was called a lot of names for pointing this out, but the facts remain. I also pointed out that many religious people are not in infact, concerned about the cause and the language of separation, what's more they embrace it.

And here is how he ends...

So the next time you hear Democrats mouthing the slogans and Conventional Wisdom of the religious right, you might suggest that they take it up with the Baptists.

Check out Clarkson and if you haven't already, read Walker.

Below I have included Walker's Top 10 Lies Concerning Church And State...

1. Our nation's Founders were born-again, Bible-believing evangelical Christians, or our Founders were Enlightenment rationalists who worshipped the "goddess of reason," or our Founders were Deists who posited a watch-maker God and were suspicious of religious "enthusiasms."

2. We don't have a separation of church and state in America because those words are not even in the Constitution.

3. The separation of church and state comes from mid-19th century anti-Catholic bigotry and 20th century secularism.

4. The U.S.A. is a Christian nation.

5. Church-state separation only keeps the government from setting up a single national church or showing preference among denominations or faith groups, but not from aiding all religions on a non-preferential basis.

6. The First Amendment only applies to the federal government, not to the states.

7. The Ten Commandments form the basis of our legal system.

8. God has been kicked out of the public schools.

9. God has been kicked out of the public square.

10. The Baptist Joint Committee cares more about No Establishment than it does Free Exercise.