AMEIN AND AMEIN…
Statement by Pastor Joe Phelps
Highland Baptist Church
Louisville, Ky.
April 22, 2005
We stand before you as Baptist Christians who have set aside political loyalties from both sides of the aisle to make a nonpartisan statement concerning an event titled Justice Sunday – Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith at a sister Baptist church in our city, and organized by the Family Research Council (FRC), a Washington D.C.-based lobbying organization headed by former Louisiana congressman Tony Perkins.
The FRC”s premise is that a filibuster in the US Senate is being used to block the nomination of ten federal judicial nominees because they are people of faith. We have examined the FRC”s literature promoting this rally, and find they offer no justification for their allegations. Were the allegations true we would stand beside them in opposition to a religious test for office, even if we disagreed with the political or religious positions of these nominees. But the FRC”s strong allegation of religious persecution has not been substantiated.
What we detect instead is the work of a political organization using Christian language to exploit American”s desire to preserve religious values by framing their political strategy in terms of religious liberty. This is deceptive, manipulative, and false.
We stand together with Highview Baptist Church and Christian churches in holding up Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life. This is our common ground, even if it denied to us. We affirm the right of our sister church to bring its convictions to bear in the political arena. As historic Baptists, we affirm that religious liberty gives churches the right and responsibility to speak our moral convictions in the public square.
But as people who take Scripture seriously, we believe truth must be spoken, and spoken in love. We do not believe Sunday”s rally meets either test.
We deplore the use of a Baptist church, and the name of Christianity, for what appears to be a thinly veiled political rally with a takeover agenda for the soul of America. Churches are for the worship of God and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ; convention halls are for political rallies and party wrangling. To confuse the two is to violate the First Amendment that 18th century Baptists fought to include in our nation”s Constitution. We see Justice Sunday as part of a larger effort to link church and state in ways not seen in America since the Puritans were hanging Quakers on Boston Commons and exiling Baptists to Rhode Island.
As historic Baptists, we join all Christians in working for God”s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” but not by creating a hegemonic religious establishment or a Christian theocracy. We believe such efforts would be un-American, un-Baptist, and un-Christian. The movement represented by Justice Sunday, at best, confuses and, at worst, taints our witness as Baptists to the love of God for all people, regardless of their religious convictions.
We cannot and will not allow this event to represent all Baptists in this city, or all Baptists or people of faith everywhere. It does not represent us. To the contrary, it seems to conflict with much of who we aspire to be as people of faith: nonpartisan, Biblical, honest, faithfully prophetic, yet humble. The position espoused in Justice Sunday is but one understanding of faith; it is not the only understanding. Nor is it the voice of God. To claim to speak for God is blasphemy. As Isaiah asks, Whom did the Lord consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice?
We do not express any views on the merits or political views of the judicial nominees, or the use of the filibuster. Our concern is that the FRC has promoted Justice Sunday on the unsupported premise that these nominees are being persecuted for their Christian faith. This charge is misleading and casts doubt on legitimate claims of religious persecution. We deplore any political agenda, left, right, or middle, that fuels the fears of the American people, and that uses religion as a shield to mask a partisan agenda. We believe that this is the case with the Justice Sunday rally.
We respectfully but passionately ask our sister church, Highview Baptist, to examine and alter her actions and to be open to a substantive Christian dialogue with other Baptists on points of disagreement. We also respectfully ask political groups of all persuasions to resist the temptation to co-opt people of faith into partisan political battles.
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Statement by Reba Cobb
Member, Board of Directors
Baptist Joint Committee
for Religious Liberty
April 22, 2005
Good morning. I am Reba Cobb, a resident of Louisville, and a member of the board of directors for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Serving 14 Baptist bodies, the Baptist Joint Committee is a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose mission is to defend and extend Godgiven religious liberty for all people.
I stand today not as a Republican or a Democrat or even as someone who is in favor of or opposed to any judicial nominee. Instead, I stand as a freedom-loving Baptist and a grandmother who appreciates America”s great religious diversity. I stand as one who is proud to live in a pluralistic society where both people of faith and people of no religious faith can play a vital role in government. There must be no second class citizens in our country, particularly when it comes to religion.
Meet my grandson, Clayton. This is his first press conference – and I”m sure not his last. I want to make sure that the religious liberty and separation of church and state that Baptists have fought and died for is preserved for the next generation – Clayton”s generation.
And the event scheduled for Sunday at Highview Baptist here in Louisville threatens that hope. The claim made by the event”s organizers – that the use of a 200-year-old legislative rule is a filibuster against faith – is not based in fact. Just as church-state separation is necessary for religious liberty, so truth and respect for religion is necessary in the political arena.
No one faith or political party holds a monopoly on morality in this country. There are people of faith on differing sides of countless policy issues. Characterizations of public policy issues as the faithful versus the faithless are divisive, misleading and, perhaps worst of all, exploit religion for political purposes.
So, stand with me as I stand for religious liberty and the separation of church and state. This I know for sure, there is no one voice that speaks for all Baptists! Our presence here is proof of that!
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For Immediate ReleaseApril 18, 2005
Contacts: Jeff Huett and Emilee Simmons: 202.544.4226
Baptist religious liberty agency decries
use of religion for political purposes
A planned telecast to combat what organizers have described as a filibuster against people of faith, is a blatant exploitation of religion for partisan political purposes, says a Baptist religious liberty organization.
The telecast, organized by the Family Research Council to protest Democrats. use of filibuster rules to avoid votes on President Bush”s most conservative nominees, will originate from Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. The telecast reportedly will be available to other churches and groups and will include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker said the use of faith and people of faith in this way is harmful to religion.
It is quite proper for people of faith to weigh in on the policy decisions of the day, including debates over parliamentary procedures like the filibuster rule in the Senate, Walker said. But it is a shameful abuse of religion to suggest that God has taken up sides in the debate. There are people of faith on both sides; neither has God in their hip pocket on this issue.
Walker said, it is as wrong to sacralize secular policy issues as it is to banish religious voices from the debate.
Whatever our differences on the filibuster rule or on the confirmation of judicial nominees, we should all recognize that the opinions offered are not inspired by anti-religious bias, Walker said. Debate about whether a nominee is fit to serve in the secular office of judge is not only legitimate, but goes to the essence of the confirmation process. No one is or should be denied the right to serve because of religion, but religiously inspired policy positions are fair game for public scrutiny.
Wow. I’m impressed by the Baptists. Joe Phelps is a true minister–non-partisan and concerned for the welfare of those in his congregation. That, to me, should be the primary focus of any congregation.
Whiat is also highly infuriating and an indication of anti-Catholic bias on the part of American politicians is that this Justice Sunday occurred on the sunday of the Investiture of the Pope.
In a sense, American politicians said that Catholics would have to choose between attending services or praying for the new Pope and marching goose-step alongside the theocons.
I’m seriously creeped out by this.
Shalom Tish,
Yes. But since the Theocons don’t consider Catholicism to be a part of Christianity, it’s not an issue for them.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Excellent responses to what may be the most blatant misuse of religion since the Constitution was written.