The Sound of Silence Surrounding Wiley Drake

Please read this post from Frederick Clarkson of Talk2Action....

A Top Leader of the Southern Baptist Convention Endorsed Domestic Terrorism. Shouldn't That Be News?

Snippets won't do Clarkson's post justice. I'll offer a few tidbits below - but check out the fullversion at Talk2Action.

And now there is the vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention who publicly endorsed the assasination of a doctor by a member of an underground terrorist organization who had been on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted List. The first two scandals created international news, but not the third. Since Intelligence Report, the magazine of the Southern Poverty Law Center broke the story, there has been no press coverage that I can find, except for Ethics Daily on Friday; and only a handful of blog posts, notably Mainstream Baptist, Big Daddy Weave, Moiv and me. This merits further discussion.......

The silence is not limited to Baptists. There is silence across the entirety of the religious and political spectrum, at least as far as my Google searches indicate. To me, this is quite inexplicable. A top official of the largest protestant denomination in the U.S. endorses domestic terrorism -- and the nation is silent?

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The Baptist blogger, Rev. Wade Burleson, a leader in the SBC election of a reform slate of candidates that included Drake, was challenged by several fellow bloggers to speak out about the Drake affair. In this comment thread at Baptist Life Burleson initially (see April 30th) declined to say a discouraging word about the man who endorsed the murder of a doctor; described the government and judicial system of the United States as "godless" and "oppressive," and hangs out with the Army of God. Here is part of his response:

I have personally visited with Wiley Drake about several issues that he has advocated and supported in the SBC (both before and after his election) with which I adamantly, publicly and vociferously disagree.... His positions politically, culturally and eschatologically are precisely the logical ends of the ideological and philosophical viewpoints of many in current leadership -- but not the majority of the convention herself. ... but I admire his compassion for those he considers downtrodden ... that will be my only comment on Pastor Wiley Drake.

I was struck by the quote that Burleson has as his signature line on his comments:

The world is too dangerous to live in - not because of the people who do evil but because of the people who sit and let it happen. Albert Einstein

Well, Rev. Burleson, one of the great evils in the United States is the terrorizing of abortion providers in violation of the laws and constitution of the United States, not to mention a few Christian principles. This happens because there are thousands of people who specifically encourge and enable these activities or do and say nothing in response. They let it happen.

Interesting that the conservative Baptist Burleson quoted the atheist, socialist, scientist Einstein in his signature line. So let's quote the conservative Christian philosopher of the Enlightenment Edmund Burke, right back at him (since Burke and Einstein are essentially saying the same thing):

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."

If the leaders of the SBC, reform or otherwise, cannot speak out against the endorsement of domestic terrorism by one of their own elected national officers -- then how can they say that they speak with integrity on anything?

A little farther down in the comment thread, after several commenters challenged him, Burleson further huffed:

"I, Wade Burleson, strongly, vehemently, unconditionally, and eternally disagree with Wiley Drake's affirmation of a murderer, if indeed he ever made such an affirmation."

So Burleson said he "disagrees" with Drake, then casts doubt on the entire matter -- pretending that the facts might not exist, or if they do, he is not going to look into it.

The simple fact is an elected national officer of the Southern Baptist Convention is at least periferally involved with a domestic terror organization with a long history of violent crimes and has explicitly endorsed one of them. My hunch is that this that this is probably but the tip of the iceberg of Drake's involvement with the Army of God.

Given what is known, it would seem like SBC leaders and the national press corps, would want to get to the bottom of all this.

As it now stands, Wade Burleson, a leader of the reform wing of the SBC is publicly unconcerned that a national officer of his denomination not only supports domestic terrorism, but may have deeper involvement. Of course in fairness to Burleson, no other leaders SBC leaders have yet to emerge from the shadows, making Burleson the more courageous and forthright leader in the Southern Baptist Convention. But I am eager to learn of any others. I may have missed.

And in fairness to the Baptists, I have not heard any other leader from any sector of society say anything either.

Please read the rest at Talk2Action.

The BaptistLife discussion can be found here. In my response to Burleson - I wrote:

Mr. Burleson forgets that as former-Southern Baptists, we still proudly claim the title - Baptist. When my non-Baptist and non-Christian friends from college hear about the shenanigans of Baptists like Wiley Drake - they give me a call. It's embarrassing. I have to defend the Baptist namesake for the umteenth time....

And for those looking for some Big Daddy positivity directed towards a Southern Baptist figure, please see my previous post:

T.B. Maston - Conscience For Southern Baptists

I'm quite proud of that post - as my paper was well received today.

T.B. Maston - Conscience for Southern Baptists

Today at the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University, I will be presenting a paper entitled The Impact of Social Progressive T.B. Maston Upon Southern Baptist Life in the 20th Century. T.B. Maston was one of the most significant Southern Baptists of the twentieth century. More than any other figure, Maston was the preeminent shaper of Christian ethics and Christian social concern among Southern Baptists. His emphasis on applying the gospel to all aspects of life made his name synonymous with Christian ethics in the Southern Baptist Convention. A student of Richard Niebuhr at Yale, Maston taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1922-1963. Upon retirement, Maston continued to lecture at colleges and universities around the world. His 27 books and hundreds of periodicals have been widely read.

During his four-decade long teaching career at SWBTS, T.B. Maston taught around 10,000 seminarians. Several thousand of Maston's students took three of more of his courses. Many of his students served in high-ranking denominational roles. During the years of 1977-1978, three of the top elected officials to the Southern Baptist Convention - Jimmy Allen, Olan Runnels, and Lee Porter - were former students of Maston. Also during this period, four of the six presidents of SBC seminaries were former students: William Pinson, Russell Dilday, Milton Ferguson, and Randally Lolley. Many of Maston's students became professors and taught in virtually every field of study at the six Southern Baptist seminaries.

49 doctoral students at SWBTS received their Th.D. in Christian Ethics under T.B. Maston. Almost all of Maston's doctoral graduates have served as pastors, denominational workers, professors, or administrators in higher education. This influential list of ethicists includes 47 pastors, 21 denominational executives, 15 seminary professors, 15 college professors, 13 missionaries, 4 government officials, and 2 military chaplains. High ranking denominational executives among Maston's doctoral graduates include two seminary presidents, two college presidents, and four presidents of state Baptist conventions, two-vice presidents, and one president of the Southern Baptist Convention. All but two of Maston's doctoral graduates remained active Southern Baptists. 17 of the 30 professional Baptist ethicists working full-time for the SBC CLC were heavily influenced by Maston in its first thirty years of existence. In Texas, 3 of the first 4 directors of the BGCT's CLC received their doctoral degrees under Maston - Foy Valentine, Jimmy Allen, and James Dunn.

And a snippet from the paper....

Bill Moyers, former aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson and internationally known journalist who studied with T.B. Maston once said, “When I’m asked to define Christian ethics, my best answer is Tom Maston. What the Old Testament prophets taught, he lived. He showed us that the theatre of Christian ethics is not the pulpit, the classroom or the counselor’s corner, but all of life.”[1] William Pinson, another former Maston student, added “Frequently, he served as a conscience for Southern Baptists troubling us regarding our racism, materialism, and provincialism.”[2]

T.B. Maston was clearly a pioneering progressive on selected social issues for Southern Baptists. As early as 1927, Maston challenged the racial orthodoxy of the South. Based on the biblical premise that “God is no respecter of persons,” Maston urged Southern Baptists to accept the gospel truth that all races are equal. Consequently, he contended that spiritual equality involves social equality and churches should take the lead in integrating themselves and opposing racial discrimination.

As a voice for freedom of conscience and religious liberty, Maston continued the Southern Baptist emphasis on the principle of separation of church and state. His focus on religious liberty helped to keep Southern Baptists thinking about what their cherished principle meant. For example, he argued for a progressive application of church-state separation in his opposition toward tuition tax credits for students of private schools.

The impact of T.B. Maston upon Southern Baptist life is best seen in his influence upon subsequent Southern Baptist leaders and institutions. T.B. Maston was an integral player in the formation of the Christian Life Commissions of both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In the 1960s and 1970s, when moderates dominated Southern Baptist life, the Christian Life Commission of the SBC followed in the footsteps of Maston’s progressive social ethic. Foy Valentine, the leader of the SBC CLC, was deeply influenced to his former professor, T.B. Maston. From its inception, the Texas CLC has articulated some progressive social views that were first voiced by T.B. Maston. James Dunn, who led the Texas CLC from 1968-1980 and who then went on to promote religious liberty for the Baptist Joint Committee in the 1980s has acknowledged his indebtedness to the teachings of T.B. Maston.[3] When students of Southern Baptist history analyze leading figures of the 1970s and 1980s, the names of Maston’s students are everywhere to be found. In addition to Foy Valentine and James Dunn, the list includes, but is not limited to, Jimmy Allen, Randall Lolley, and William Pinson.[4]

In 1979, then president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, William Pinson said “few men have been as widely known or as deeply loved as T.B. Maston. Few have blended ethics and evangelism, scholarship and pietism, a conservative theological outlook and a progressive social concern as well as he.”[5] At the dawn of the 21^st century, however, Pinson’s words are likely no longer true. Many, and perhaps most, Baptists in the South have forgotten the contributions and impact of T.B. Maston upon Southern Baptist life in the 20^th century. His progressive social ethic combined with a traditional evangelistic orthodoxy, is now seen as a position that is inherently contradictory. It is time once again for Baptists to review the contributions of T. B. Maston as they reflect upon the meaning of Baptist identity.

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[1] Dunn, The Christian and the State, 29.

[2] Pinson, Texas Baptist Contributions to Ethics, 18.

[3] Oral Memoirs of James Milton Dunn, Waco, 1974, Baylor University Institute of Oral History, 1-5.

[4] Dunn, “Through Graduates,” 94-95. Throughout his ministry, Jimmy Allen served in various roles: Executive Director of the Texas Christian Life Commission, Executive Director of the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, Texas. Randall Lolley served as President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1974 to 1988. William Pinson served as the President of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (1977-1982) and as the Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (1983-2000).

[5] Pinson, Texas Baptist Contributions to Ethics, 17-19. Maston protégé, Jimmy Allen, demonstrated what his teacher taught: a strong evangelistic ministry (500 baptized his first year) and a strong social ministry while the pastor of First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas. Joe Trull, interview by author, 27 April 2007, Waco, Texas.

See The Impact of Social Progressive T.B. Maston Upon Southern Baptist Life in the 20th Century