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.

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.