In the Southern Baptist world, there has been a bit of backlash to Glenn Beck’s evangelistic style.

Russell Moore, Dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, wrote a blistering critique of evangelical involvement in Beck’s shindig titled God, the Gospel and Glenn Beck. A really well-written, powerful article from Moore:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.  If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

…It’s taken us a long time to get here, in this plummet from Francis Schaeffer to Glenn Beck. In order to be this gullible, American Christians have had to endure years of vacuous talk about undefined “revival” and “turning America back to God” that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement.

Other Southern Baptists expressed agreement with Moore.  Denny Burk, Dean of Boyce College at Southern Seminary, wrote on his blog:

Moore is rightly scathing in his rebuke of evangelicals who would confuse genuine revival with Mormon-American-pie-populist politics. That’s exactly what was on display this weekend at Beck’s rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

Nathan Finn, Professor of Church History at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog One Baptist Perspective:

Perhaps you’ve heard that Glenn Beck is the newly annointed leader of American evangelicals….Lots of Christians seem unconcerned by this, while others are aghast that a Mormon with small government political convictions has so successfully bamboozled socially conservative evangelicals.

Others siding with Moore include Joe Carter of First Thoughts and North Carolina pastor Tim Rogers of SBC Today.  Interestingly, Baptist Press - the “news” agency of the Southern Baptist Convention - has not posted a single article about Beck.

Meanwhile, Richard Land - the SBC’s chief ethicist and head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission - has (not surprisingly) been singing a different tune about Beck.  Here is Land who attended the Restoring Honor rally on Saturday at the invitation of Beck:

I’ve been stunned….This guy’s on secular radio and television but his shows sound like you’re listening to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, only it’s more orthodox and there’s no appeal for money…and today he sounded like Billy Graham.

“I think he’s moving - I think he’s a person in spiritual motion and has been,” Land said.  ”He has said as much to us,” Land said, referring to fellow pastors. “That he has moved in the direction of being more spiritual, more concerned with cultural issues and seeing that politics isn’t the answer.”

Yet today, Land ceased cheerleading and seemed to “amend” - to quote Beck - his comments from Saturday during an interview for NPR’s All Things Considered.  Land conceded that Mormonism is “not a Christian faith” and that Mormonism is not an “orthodox Christian faith, with a small o.”  Land concluded:

I think perhaps the most charitable way for an evangelical Christian to look at Mormonism is to look at Mormonism as the fourth Abrahamic faith.

I have a hunch that many Southern Baptists would cringe a bit at Land’s characterization of Mormonism as the fourth Abrahamic faith.

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Tonight (8/27), the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. will play host to Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny.  What is Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny?  Here’s how Beck’s own website describes the event:

Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny is an eye-opening evening at the historic Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C that will help heal your soul. Guided by uplifting music, nationally-known religious figures from all faiths will unite to deliver messages reminiscent to those given during the struggles of America’s earliest days. The event will leave you with a renewed determination to look past the partisan differences and petty problems that fill our airwaves and instead focus our shared values, principles and strong belief that faith can play an essential role in reuniting the country.

On Saturday, Glenn Beck is holding an event at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. where Dr. King gave his historic I Have A Dream speech.  Saturday is also the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s 1963 speech.  Beck sees his Restoring Honor rally as a Revival.  He clearly sees himself as an Evangelist in the mold of George Whitefield.  Here’s how Glenn Beck and his side-kick David Barton view the rally:

Beck: I think this is an opportunity to gather God’s people together and wake people up. And I just have this feeling that this is the beginning of something gigantic in this country, that it is spiritual awakening….This is Divine Providence. This is the Lord’s hand at work. This is a miracle.

Barton: And it really is. It’s an intervention of God. And a lot of times when he shows up, it’s not the way you thought he was going to show up, but man the results are always his and it’s really good the way it works out.

Beck is also promoting a “Daily Spiritual Thought” on his website and a live weekday online prayer time.

Some lesser-known evangelical leaders have raised concerns about the religious message that Beck is pushing.  Here’s Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend:

Glenn has now moved into an area where we must draw a clear line theologically and doctrinally. While Christians can join Glenn in opposing tyranny, socialism, cultural Marxism, and the like but we cannot join him spiritually….Why must we respectfully and lovingly tell Glenn we cannot agree with him nor find common ground in the area of Biblical doctrine and theology?

Is Glenn now using his TV program to push his Mormon faith? Glenn has the right to push his Mormon faith on TV but Glenn needs to be upfront about it ….Christians need to be wise and not fall into the trap of compromising on the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an effort to be politically correct, tolerant and find religious unity with anti-Biblical beliefs and religions. We appreciate the strong and courageous stands that Glenn has taken but Christians understand that Glenn is now, by his own choice, promoting something that is not compatible with Biblical Christian doctrines. We can be co-belligerents on many moral issues with non-Christians but we cannot find common ground theologically and doctrinally. Christians must understand that the Jesus of the cults is not the Jesus of the Bible.

Such criticism from the Evangelical Right has led David Barton to defend Beck as being a better Christian than evangelicals like Jim Wallis and Joel Hunter.  Just this week Beck declared that Obama is not a Christian.  He described the President’s faith as “a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it.”

Ironically, most evangelicals would accuse people of the Mormon faith (like Beck) of perverting the Gospel.  Indeed, it is fascinating that such a large percentage of Beck’s constituency are individuals who belong to denominations and support organizations which have made hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) over the years fearmongering about the dangers of the “cult of Mormonism” and describing Joseph Smith with the same adjectives that are used to depict Muhammad.

Back in the Spring, Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University bestowed Glenn Beck with an honorary Doctorate of Humanities.  Beck has clearly influenced Southern Baptists beyond those in Lynchburg, Virginia.  This should come as no surprise as David Barton is regularly cited by Southern Baptists especially in the blogosphere.  In some instances, Southern Baptists have taken Barton’s historical revisionism to the media as with the case of Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

Also in Texas, Ken Coffee - former longtime denominational missions director with the moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas - clearly drinks from the Beck/Barton well.  In a blog posted today, Coffee writes about “How Preachers Can Save America.” Anyone who has seen Beck’s show a handful of times will quickly recognize Coffee’s post as a rehash of Beck’s talking points, particularly with regard to his bit about the influence of preachers in American religious history being ignored.  The “Save America” theme should be a give-away as well.

In the upcoming weeks and months, it will be interesting to see if any well-known evangelical leaders choose to distance themselves from Glenn Beck and his Divine Destiny.  Or will the lesser-known Independent Fundamentalist types like Brannon Howse be the only ones on the theological right to exhibit integrity and consistency?

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Check ‘em out:

The town of Whitman, Massachusetts has made the news after it sent a local Baptist church its first quarterly property tax bill for nearly $2,500.  The 188-year-old FBC Whitman closed last year and has been up for sale since then.  City officials deemed the non-profit church to have become a taxable asset.

Ken Starr, president of Baylor University, talks immigration reform and discusses debates over the 14th Amendment and the controversial Arizona law with Greta VanSustren of Fox News.  Starr gives a good plug for Baylor too.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, celebrates what he sees as a 50-year War for Inerrancy.  Meanwhile evangelical theologian Roger Olson of Baylor University’s Truett Seminary has penned a post titled Why Inerrancy Doesn’t Matter.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has hired James Smith, president of the Missouri Baptist Foundation, as the new president of the CBF Foundation.  And CBF Executive-Coordinator Daniel Vestal reflects on the 20-year history of the Baptist group he had led since 1996.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, a congregation located in the Southside of Chicago whose sanctuary was destroyed in a 2006 fire, is demanding 1 million bucks in grant money that disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich once promised.  The church has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development to pay up.  Pilgrim Baptist is described as the church that birthed gospel music.

Talking Points Memo points out that in addition to speaking out against the right of Muslims to build a Cultural Center/Mosque near Ground Zero, SBC ethics guru Richard Land is serves as a member of the federally created United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.  In that position, Land’s job is to press for a U.S. foreign policy that promotes religious freedom around the world.

Over 3,000 people attended the funeral of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens at Anchorage Baptist Temple.  Anchorage Baptist Temple is an independent Baptist church.  According to several websites, Senator Stevens was an Episcopalian.

A new play in Orange County, California explores life as a gay Southern Baptist teen.  It is titled Southern Baptist Sissies.

Videos have surfaced of former Liberty Baptist Seminary Dean Ergun Caner lying to Marines about growing up as a jihadist.

The 7.5 million member National Baptist Convention U.S.A. is at the center of an insurance lawsuit filed recently in federal court.

A Canadian Baptist scholar talks about his opposition to contraception in an interesting Q&A.

Baptists and Methodists have been fighting one another in Memphis over a proposal to build a competing Methodist hospital in close proximity to an existing Baptist one.  After a ruling in favor of the Methodists, the Baptists have conceded defeat!

Over at Blog from the Capital, Don Byrd of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty asks whether government officials should offer an opinion about the controversial proposed mosque in Manhattan.

A Connecticut newspaper has an interesting story about the ministries of a growing Hispanic Baptist congregation in New London.

Denny Burk, Dean of Boyce College at Southern Seminary, points to a fascinating new article in the online academic journal Themelios titled “Why Evangelicals Should Not Heed Brian McLaren: How the New Testament Requires Evangelicals to Render A Judgment on the Moral Status of Homosexuality.”

Baylor University history professor Barry Hankins has an interview with U.S. News & World Report about the ongoing culture wars and his new book Jesus and Gin: Evangelicalism, the Roaring Twenties and Today’s Culture Wars.

A contributor to the Florida news website Lakeland Local writes “it’s clear that the Southern Baptist Convention, as an institution, is incapable of shame.”

TIME magazine covers the controversy swirling around plans to build an Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  The planned site is a 15-acre field located next to a Southern Baptist church.

An ordained American Baptist minister who serves First Baptist Church of Meriden, Connecticut argues that the influential Christian Right organization Family Research Council “uses the pro-life issue as a foil, harming itself and the cause in the process…tarnish[ing] the image of Christ.”

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Also on Friday, President Obama had this to say about the controversy:

But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. (Applause.) And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.

And then on Saturday, President Obama added:

“I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,” he said. “I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.”

Since his Saturday remarks, President Obama has taken quite a bit of heat, has been accused of “backpeddling” and worse.  I don’t see the President as backpeddling.  It’s his job to defend the Constitution, to stand up for our First Amendment freedoms.

And he did just that by boldly stating that Muslims enjoy the same right as everyone else to practice their religion.  Frankly, it’s sad that such a statement is considered bold.  It would be nice if more elected officials would stand up for religious liberty.  As President of the United States, it’s not President Obama’s place to weigh in on whether a religious organization should or should not build a mosque/temple/church here or there.  He can and did affirm their right to build the mosque.  But whether building a mosque in that exact location is wise or not is a completely different question.  And it’s a question that the President - any President - does not need to answer.  President Obama clearly understands this point.

Sarah Palin responded to the President’s Saturday remarks with this tweet:

We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? This is not above your pay grade.

Well, that’s just not true.  As I wrote on Friday (which the Associated Baptist Press is now reporting here), Richard Land - the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics guru - has rejected the right of Muslims to place the Mosque near Ground Zero.  Here is Richard Land:

As a Baptist who believes in religious freedom and separation of church and state, I strongly support religious communities’ right to have places of worship within reasonable distance of where they live. However, no religious community has an absolute right to have a place of worship wherever they choose, regardless of the community’s objections.

So, Sarah and Richard are not on the same page.  Perhaps Palin should be a bit more careful about using words like ALL!

A few more Baptists have commented on the Ground Zero Mosque controversy:

Tony Cartledge, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School, has a post titled Build Mosque, Build Goodwill.

David Stratton, pastor of Brunswick Islands Baptist Church in Supply, North Carolina, also has a post worth reading.

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Washington (CNN) — President Obama threw his support behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic center and mosque near New York’s ground zero, saying Friday that “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” Obama said at a White House Iftar dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Read the transcript of President Obama’s remarks here and NYT coverage here.

A number of Baptists have weighed in on the Cordoba House Controversy.

In an online Newsweek/Washington Post article, Richard Land - president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission - wrote:

As a Baptist who believes in religious freedom and separation of church and state, I strongly support religious communities’ right to have places of worship within reasonable distance of where they live. However, no religious community has an absolute right to have a place of worship wherever they choose, regardless of the community’s objections.

I believe that putting a mosque at Ground Zero, or very close to Ground Zero, is unacceptable. The persons who committed that atrocity did so in the name of their understanding of Islam. Even though the vast majority of Muslims reject that ideology and condemned their actions on Sept. 11, 2001, it still remains a fact that the people who perpetrated the 9/11 attack were Muslims and proclaimed they were doing what they were doing in the name of Islam. Given that fact, I believe that it is inappropriate for a mosque to be at Ground Zero, and for Muslims to insist that they have the right to have a mosque there is counterproductive to the spirit of reconciliation and healing that we all seek.

Having a mosque at Ground Zero would be the equivalent of having a Japanese Shinto shrine built next to the USS Arizona. Do the followers of Shinto have a right to have a shrine in Honolulu? Yes. In close proximity to the USS Arizona? No. I am well aware that many Japanese did not support the attack on Pearl Harbor and in fact, Japanese-Americans in a Nisei battalion composed the most decorated combat unit in the American armed forces in WWII, as they demonstrated their patriotism, even while many of their family members were shamefully placed in internment camps in the United States. That still does not negate the fact that it would be inappropriate to have a Japanese shrine in close proximity to the USS Arizona. It is similarly inappropriate to put a mosque in close proximity to Ground Zero.

Later, on his radio show, Land claimed that Supreme Court precedent - Boerne v. Flores (1997) - backed up his stance.  Land’s appeal to Boerne is quite revealing considering his organization, then the Christian Life Commission (SBC), signed onto an amicus brief along with the ACLU urging a radically different outcome than what SCOTUS handed down.  Now, Land is appealing to a decision that he once did not support.  Nonetheless, these two articles (here and here) demonstrate that Land’s argument is not for religious freedom but for religious discrimination.

Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, echoed Richard Land’s arguments during an interview with Contessa Brewer on MSNBC.  The video is here.  Frankly, I thought his arguments were weak; but Brewer had absolutely nothing and was unable to counter the well-known Southern Baptist pastor.

Melissa Rogers, director for the Center for Religion & Public Affairs at Wake Forest University, has an excellent article on this ongoing controversy at the Baptist Standard.  Here’s an excerpt:

Local officials who are facing related issues also should study New York City’s example.  In the face of enormous pressure to do otherwise, city officials held fast to the principle that the government must apply the same standards to all faiths, a linchpin of the American tradition of religious liberty.

Adherence to this principle has helped us to make peace and build solidarity in a nation where a stunning array of religions are practiced, often with great fervor, and frequently side-by-side.  Contrary to Newt Gingrich’s suggestions, honoring this standard of religious freedom has not made us “weak” or “submissive.”  It has made us strong.

Norman Jameson, editor of the Biblical Recorder - the official newsjournal of North Carolina Baptists, has written a strong editorial on the Manhattan Mosque.  Here’s a snippet:

Because the radicalized terrorists who struck at our heart were Muslim, we somehow think that to deny unrelated American Muslims the opportunity to build a worship center close to where the World Trade Center towers once stood is to strike some kind of defiant blow against terrorism. We think it will raise freedom’s torch higher because we’ve defended the memories of those who died by denying a place to read, swim, meet and worship to people who claim the same faith as the terrorists….To be true to our principles as Christians and for other Americans to be true to the Constitution we cannot let the painful memory of a terrorist attack and sympathetic acquiescence to those families whose identity was arrested by the events of that day dictate our responses in the future to situations that – were they unrelated to that day – would be totally unremarkable.

Not all Southern Baptists in North Carolina are sympathetic to Jameson’s viewpoint.  Tim Rogers of the popular blog SBC Today offered an “appalled” but “it’s their right” argument:

While I am appalled that a Mosque is being planned in the shadows of the buildings that were destroyed by Islamic terrorist, I still have to defend their religious right to build that Mosque.

Southern Baptist pastor and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee Bart Barber wrote a lengthy post on the subject.  Here’s Barber:

I’m in favor of there being no mosques anywhere. Islam is a false religion. The Islamic Allah is a false god. Mohammed was a false prophet who misled people….Baptists have a consistent history of defending religious liberty for four centuries. Where others have merely sought to manipulate the government to obtain religious privilege for themselves (such as the more Reformed folks in Massachusetts Bay), Baptists fought for religious liberty for ALL. May we avoid the temptation to let hot-button issues distract us from the importance of defending the First Freedom for others as well as for ourselves.

Jim Wallis (who I guess we can now claim as he’s member of FBC Washington) has an op-ed worth reading titled Who wins when the U.S. restricts religious freedom?

In the face of global terrorism, who wins when the U.S. restricts religious freedom? The opponents of the Cordoba Initiative seem to be saying that Americans win if we restrict the free expression of religion of some Americans. Religious sensitivities, especially around Ground Zero, are understandable. 9/11 was a crime against humanity, and tragically, it was the first significant encounter many Americans had with radical Islam or Islam of any sort. But this is why the mission of the Cordoba Initiative as a cultural and community center is so important. The goal of the center is to run programs that reduce tensions and build understanding between Muslims and the West. In order for our country to continue healing, more Americans need to meet and build trust and respect with other Americans who are different than they are — especially with the many Muslims who love this country and the freedoms it affords.

Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics also contributed an essay on this debate:

If religious liberty is an American hallmark, then a mosque near Ground Zero would be an American landmark to our nation’s commitment to religious freedom for all. What better cultural signpost could we offer than one that says America is guided by its better angels, not its dark demons of fear and politicians of demagoguery.

And from Baptist minister Welton Gaddy of The Interfaith Alliance:

A great irony disturbs me. For years, public discourse (sometimes unaware of a plethora of the sounds for which it pleads) has called for a great moderate Muslim voice to counter extremism. Now, when such a voice is seeking to be heard in meaningful and helpful ways, it faces severe backlash and strong opposition - indicating a continued fear and ignorance of the Muslim faith, even at its most peaceful.

Bob Roberts Jr., pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas (affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas) also has a thoughtful op-ed on the controversy:

I don’t know the details of the Muslim Community Center in Manhattan - there may be some hanky panky I don’t know about. For me, it isn’t about that institution in particular. It’s about something America’s founders got - the best way to preserve religious freedom for any of us is to make sure it is extended to all of us.

**If you know of another Baptist who has weighed in on this controversy, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail**

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O’REILLY: But let’s take the gay marriage deal. Big ruling in California. You really didn’t cover that much, right?

BECK: Nope.

O’REILLY: Why?

BECK: Because honestly I think we have bigger fish to fry. You can argue about abortion or gay marriage or whatever –

O’REILLY: Yeah.

BECK: — all you want.

O’REILLY: Yeah.

BECK: The country is burning down. I personally think these–

O’REILLY: But isn’t that one of the reasons because we are getting away from the traditional way we used to live into this progressive–

BECK: So let’s get back to — instead of arguing about these divisive things, let’s get back into our churches and our synagogues and–

O’REILLY: You’re not going to get people going back unless there is a reason to go back.

BECK: But here is the reason, America. Your country is burning down. I don’t think marriage, that the government actually has anything to do with -

O’REILLY: Do you believe — do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?

BECK: A threat to the country?

O’REILLY: Yeah, it going to harm the country?

BECK: No, I don’t. Will the gays come and get us?

O’REILLY: OK. Is it going to harm the country in any way?

BECK: I believe — I believe what Thomas Jefferson said. If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?

O’REILLY: OK, so you don’t. That’s interesting.

Read the transcript here.

Interesting comments from Beck!

Earlier this summer, Beck delivered the commencement address at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  That decision caused a bit of fuss among Southern Baptists.

Over at the First Thoughts blog, Joe Carter - a Baptist and web editor of the catholic journal First Things founded by the late Richard John Neuhaus, is worried about the influence that Beck has on conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics.  He writes:

To be fair, Beck isn’t a conservative so I can’t expect him to support the conservative position on gay marriage. He’s also not the kind of guy who is able to understand why abortion and traditional marriage are the “bigger fish” and more important than shouting about whatever closet-socialist was hired to work as an Assistant Secretary for Farm Subsidies at the USDA. He’s a libertarian entertainer acting like a libertarian entertainer.

But he is a very influential libertarian entertainer, and that worries me. Either Beck is someone to be taken seriously because he can sway the opinions of multitudes or he is someone that we can safely ignore.

It’s interesting that Carter acknowledges that Beck is a libertarian entertainer yet the fundamentalist Falwell Family has promoted Beck, a Mormon, as a leading conservative voice who others should listen to…

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WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty filed legal papers July 6 arguing that inviting religious leaders to invoke sectarian prayers at a North Carolina county’s board of commissioners meetings is unconstitutional.

The BJC filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a Jan. 28 ruling by a federal district judge that prayers used to open or solemnize meetings of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Towards the end of the article, Allen mentions the prayer controversy here in McLennan County:

A similar controversy has been brewing in Waco, Texas. After weeks of discussion, McLennan County commissionersvoted July 6 to begin their meetings with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The decision came after commissioners sought legal advice and community input about how to conduct prayers in a way that includes all faiths and protects the county from potential lawsuits.

I have previously blogged about this brewing controversy here and here.

I have read the McLennan County prayer policy.  It seems very similar to Forsyth County’s prayer policy.  Lester Gibson and the other McLennan County Commissioners would be well served to read the Baptist Joint Committee’s brief.

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Gibson has spearheaded this effort, apparently acting against the advice of counsel.  After serving McLennan County for 20 years as Commissioner, Gibson only now sees the need for an opening prayer.  Coincidentally, this push for public prayer came within just a few weeks of an announcement that the proceedings of the Court would be broadcast online.  For more background info, see my original post titled Prayer Controversy in Jerusalem on the Brazos.

Dear Commissioner Gibson,

I read your recent comments (June 29, 2010) in the Waco Trib and thought I would respond.

First, let me introduce myself.  My name is Aaron Weaver and I am a graduate of the Church-State Studies program at Baylor University.  I’ve been a resident of McLennan County since 2003.

Let me add that I am not an atheist [readers: see here for context].  Yet, I too oppose the recent decision of the commissioners to open up meetings of the Court with a prayer.

I am a life-long Baptist and member of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco.  Prior to making McLennan County my home, I interned with civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis in Atlanta and with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington D.C.  The Baptist Joint Committee is a religious liberty watchdog organization which receives significant support from Baptists in the Greater Waco area.  Congressman Chet Edwards is a great friend of the BJC having received the Barbara Jordan/Mark Hatfield Political Courage Award in 1999.  Suffice it to say, I am actively concerned about religious liberty issues, specifically church-state separation, because of the work of Congressman Lewis, Congressman Edwards and the Baptist Joint Committee.

I also operate a popular Baptist website (www.thebigdaddyweave.com) that deals with current issues of interest to Baptists in the United States.  I recently wrote about this emerging prayer controversy on my website.

http://www.thebigdaddyweave.com/2010/06/prayer-controversy-in-jerusalem-on-the-brazos.html

I invite you to read my thoughts and concerns.  Since you plan to move ahead with a prayer, I hope that you and the other commissioners will carefully craft a policy that is authentically nonsectarian.  Further, I hope that you and the other commissioners are committed to seeing that the implementation of this policy is indeed nonsectarian as well.

A review of prayer-related court decisions will reveal that a policy can be nonsectarian but can still be implemented in a manner which has a sectarian effect.  I recommend that you read closely the very recent decision of Joyner v. Forsyth County which struck down a North Carolina county’s practice of opening board meetings with prayers that were often sectarian in nature.  A federal judge ruled that the nonsectarian policy, as implemented, had “resulted in Government-sponsored prayers that advance a specific faith or belief and had the effect of affiliating the Government with that particular faith or belief.”

I have sincere doubts though that a policy can be implemented that is nonsectarian.  Your recent comments describing McLennan County as largely Christian, to me, suggests a misguided majoritarian mindset.  That most are generically “Christian” in McLennan County is beside the point.  A nonsectarian prayer policy requires an incredible amount of diversity.  An occasional prayer from a representative of a minority faith tradition will not pass constitutional muster as the Joyner v. Forsyth County decision demonstrates.  I also wonder whether local prayer-proponents are prepared to respectfully sit through an invocation given by someone not of the Christian tradition?  I’m not a betting man but it’s a safe bet to say that some of your constituents will not take kindly to a prayer addressed to a generic deity or to a specific deity from a non-Christian faith tradition.

Before drafting this policy, I suggest you first research the prayer policies of other city governments.  Courts have distinguished between public prayer at city government meetings and legislative prayer.  Modeling a policy after the policy of a legislative body is unwise.  The recent Joyner v. Forsyth ruling, quoting Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), provides insight on this point.

Meanwhile, I hope you and the other commissioners will realize the dangers of government meddling in religion.  And that’s precisely what happens when elected officials sit down to draft policies to regulate a religious practice.  Why now? Why not last year or five years ago?  Why not a moment-of-silence?  Elected officials should promote liberty not threaten it.  To quote Congressman Edwards, “The best way to ruin religion is to politicize it.”

Please do your part as an elected official to respect the consciences of residents of McLennan County from minority faith traditions (including atheists) as you proceed.  Please stand up against religious discrimination and religious coercion.

Sincerely,

Aaron Weaver

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Back in May, McLennan County Commissioners proposed opening meetings of the Commissioners Court with both the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer.  These two proposals followed a decision of the Court to begin broadcasting its meetings online.

Commissioner Joe Mashek explained his Pledge proposal: “We represent the state of Texas in the things we do, and so it just might be nice to go ahead and say the pledge…I’m a very patriotic person, and I love Texas.”

[Frankly, it's kinda unclear whether Mashek's Pledge proposal is for the United States or Texas.  Some do still pledge to the Texas flag here!]

Mashek, however, was cool to the idea of opening up meetings with a prayer.  As an alternative to a prayer, he proposed that the Pledge of Allegiance conclude with “God Bless Texas.”

Mashek stated that he had “no problem” with saying a prayer but “[worries] a little bit about mixing religion with politics.”  Mashek later elaborated: “My real concern is making sure that the county doesn’t get sued, so I wanted to leave it at just (”God Bless Texas”).  Or we could have a moment of silence and let people pray to whoever they want to pray to, or to not pray.”

Outgoing Commissioner Ray Meadows, who was recently embarrassed in the Republican primary losing 67.3 to 32.7 to opponent Ben Perry, wants to pray.  Meadows motivations are revealing: “I would rather go with the Christian way.  Over the years, we’ve had a few comments about the Christmas tree in the courthouse and celebrating Christmas, but we still go ahead and go with what you might say is the majority of people.”

After the commissioners agreed to seek a legal opinion from the county’s attorney on the prayer issue, Meadows exclaimed, “That right there’s a heck of a note, to have to get an attorney’s opinion to say a prayer, and I’ve got a problem with that.”

All other commissioners have voiced their support for opening the meetings up with a prayer.  Commissioner Lester Gibson, however, insists that the prayer should come before the Pledge of Allegiance.Here is Lester Gibson (pictured on right):

Why would we put the pledge before prayer? Prayer comes first….My religion and my faith is God first, family second and nation third.

Gibson also suggested that the Commissioners Court could avoid any possible legal issues by praying before the meeting is officially called to order!  According to Gibson:

If we haven’t called the meeting to order, then it’s not like the county officially sanctions it.

One month later, the commissioners were still discussing on how to proceed with the Pledge/Prayer proposals.  Commissioner Lester Gibson again emphasized his support for prayer regardless of the possible legal ramifications:

Now if somebody wants to sue me, I don’t care, for praying to my God, then they can sue.  That’s a conviction that I can deal with.

Now, the Waco Tribune has reported that the McLennan County Commissioners “approved a motion to develop a policy on saying a nonsectarian prayer.”  This prayer will be followed by a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Commissioner Lester Gibson - the man who is not afraid of getting sued - is apparently in charge of crafting this nonsectarian prayer policy.  Gibson made the motion to the chagrin of Commissioner Mashek and against the advice of the county attorney.  From the Waco Tribune:

Gibson acknowledged that the prayer policy could not be used to restrict a person from praying in accordance with his or her personal religious beliefs, such as invoking Jesus Christ or Buddha.

Instead, the policy would list the court’s official guidelines for a nondenominational prayer, to avoid appearing biased toward or against any particular religion.

“Of course, we don’t want to put the taxpayers at risk of some frivolous lawsuit that may cost the taxpayers money, so we want to have a policy on that,” Gibson said after the meeting.

Lester Gibson and the other commissioners who approved the motion to move forward with the Prayer proposal have made a monumental mistake that may become costly for the county down the road.  Why now?  Lester Gibson was first elected to serve as a commissioner in 1990.  For 20 years he didn’t see the need to open the court’s meetings with prayer.  Outgoing, defeated commissioner Ray Meadows has been in office since 1986.  It took him 24 years to see the need for prayer.

It’s worth mentioning again that this push for prayer came only after a decision to broadcast the court’s meetings online.  Both Christians, Gibson and Meadows should take a minute to read Matthew 6:5.  I think Jesus had a good word which applies to these commissioners.

I have serious doubts that Lester Gibson will be able to craft a truly nonsectarian prayer policy.  This is a man who apparently thinks that prayer only becomes government-sponsored when a meeting is “officially” called to order.  He also seems to think that all prayer-related lawsuits are “frivolous.”  Gibson has demonstrated no respect for the consciences of his constituents especially those from minority faith traditions with his recent comments.

Given the comments made by Commissioners Gibson and Meadows, it seems highly unlikely that the McLennan County Commissioners Court will be able to craft and implement a policy that is indeed nonsectarian.

The Commissioners would be well served to review the recent decision (January 29, 2010) by a federal court to strike down a North Carolina county’s practice of opening board meetings with prayers that were more often than not sectarian prayers.  In Joyner v. Forsyth County, U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty agreed with and adopted the previous 2009 determination of a federal magistrate judge that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners invocation policy, as implemented, had “resulted in Government-sponsored prayers that advance a specific faith or belief and have the effect of affiliating the Government with that particular faith or belief.”

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners prayer policy was very detailed and over three pages long.  In fact, the federal magistrate judge commended the policy for its procedure by which the invocational speaker was selected. According to the magistrate judge’s ruling the Forsyth board’s selection process for invocation speakers “strives to include a wide variety of speakers from diverse religious faiths.”

However, the prayers given under that nonsectarian policy “[did] not reflect this diversity” according to the ruling. Citing decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit, the judge explained:

The undisputed record shows that the prayers delivered at the outset of the Board meetings referred to Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ or Savior with overwhelming frequency.  No non-Christian deities are invoked.  These prayers as a whole cannot be considered non-sectarian or civil prayer.  They display a preference for Christianity over other religions by the government.  The frequent references to Jesus Christ cause the prayers to promote one religion over all others and thus the effect of these prayers is to affiliate the Board with a specific faith or belief.

The McLennan County Commissioners would be wise to reconsider their decision and perhaps go the moment of silence route instead.

Related posts:

1. Waco Prayer Controversy Cited By Associated Baptist Press Bob Allen of the Associated Baptist Press has penned an...
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