A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE:
Integrity Demands Response!
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator

Uncle Willard lived across the street from us as we grew up. He and my sister Carolyn loved the Dodgers. I was a Yankee fan, a Mickey Mantle fan. As history has recorded, I usually won. Through the years my sister and I have exchanged Dodger and Yankee memorabilia as presents.

I watched the ceremonies surrounding the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Jackie Robinson becoming the first African-American to play major league baseball with tears in my eyes. I love baseball as I have written several times. I am an emotional person. A special moment during the celebration was when my sister called, her voice showing emotion, to make sure I was watching.

Her favorite players were Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella. I love how she gets emotional, even teary eyed, when we talk about those players.

It is difficult to imagine what difficulties Jackie Robinson endured in 1947 and throughout his career. I was totally shocked this Spring to read a current baseball general manager say he still got hate letters if a rumor got out he was trading a white player for a black player, in 1997!

The best story I heard relating to Jackie Robinson and his struggle involved Pee Wee Reese, the Dodger shortstop and captain. Several of the Dodger players in 1947 did not want to play with a black teammate. They started a petition for the other players to sign whereby they would all agree to not take the field as long as Robinson was a member of the team. In the clubhouse, they gave the petition to Pee Wee, a son of the confederacy from Louisville, Kentucky. Pee Wee Reese looked at the petition and then quietly tore it up. The petition movement and protest died. The person telling the story then made the comment: “Reese understood that integrity demanded a response.”

Last fall the Baptist General Convention of Texas and her leaders, programs and institutions came under unprecedented attack by Rick Scarborough, Walt Carpenter and other fundamentalist leaders. I believe integrity demanded a response then, and further, I expect the same thing to happen this Fall and integrity will again demand a response.

Certainly there was some response last year. TBC responded to the attacks as our mission statement says we will do. Some Texas Baptist pastors responded in their churches. Bob Campbell, chairman of the BGCT Executive Board, responded with great courage. But many—too many—remained silent.

I often heard the following: pastors said they couldn’t respond because they have both moderates and fundamentalists in their churches; directors of missions said they couldn’t respond because they have both moderate and fundamentalist churches in their associations; institution presidents said they couldn’t respond because they needed support from both moderates and fundamentalists alike; BGCT employees said they couldn’t respond because they have to serve all the churches, moderate and fundamentalists alike.

I understand the rational behind all of these non-responses. I sympathize with why some people do not respond. Certainly we all wish to avoid conflict if possible. I want to be very careful about seeming critical at this point because I believe people who choose to say nothing about this controversy are not acting out of fear, but rather out of their heart. Most people want peace and continue to hope against hope that peace will come without them having to provide any leadership to bring about peace. Their intentions are good. I do not want to criticize their intentions but would like to offer a theory about how to achieve peace.

Examine the Pee Wee Reese action for a moment. Pee Wee could have said to his teammates, “I know a lot of you boys have a problem with Jackie being black. I understand where you are coming from. I am your captain so I can’t get involved. I have to lead everyone on the team so I have to stay out of it.”

If Pee Wee had responded that way the tension and turmoil would have escalated and division resulted. But Pee Wee did not do that. He MADE PEACE by resisting those with evil intentions. When he tore up the petition and made his stand, peace was the result. A few ballplayers still did not stop their resistance and the Dodgers traded them the next year. Peace was the result of standing up, not trying to please everybody. Peace was the result of doing the right thing.

Now apply that illustration to the turmoil within the BGCT. We have a group attacking the BGCT, her leadership, institutions, direction and program. Last year, Rick Scarborough and his supporters sent a packet to every church which contained attacks on the BGCT leadership. Very few people who knew about these attacks were neutral regarding his candidacy. Nearly every pastor, DOM, institution head or BGCT employee either agreed with Scarborough and wanted him to be elected or disagreed with him and hoped he was not elected.

And yet most people, despite their strong feeling one way or the other, chose to say nothing. Is it possible that our desire for peace, our desire to avoid conflict, is the very reason we still do not have peace in Texas Baptist life?

How do we accomplish peace? In my opinion, peace will only come when we let those attacking us know we will not tolerate it — when our leaders and pastors respond with real leadership instead of neutrality.

No real leader can ever lead from a position of neutrality. Leadership and neutrality are mutually exclusive terms. Every pastor is called to be a servant leader, not a pastoral dictator.

Every pastor is called to be fair to every member of his or her congregation. But no one can be a neutral leader. Can you imagine a building program succeeding where the pastor was neutral and provided no leadership? There has never been a church building built that some in the church did not oppose. The pastor led the effort while working hard to be fair and sensitive to those who opposed the building. That is the way leadership works.

Virtually every Texas Baptist church has some members who support the BGCT and TBC and some who support the fundamentalist agenda. The strong pastors have clearly led their congregations to understand the issues facing the BGCT, stated their convictions, and respected and treated fairly those within the congregation who support fundamentalism. That is what being a leader is.

Integrity demands a response.

The same principle applies to other denominational leaders like director’s of missions, institution presidents and Baptist Building employees. All should want broad support. All should operate out of fairness to every single Baptist church and individual. All leaders should seek to assist any Baptist church or individual regardless of how they feel about Baptist politics. But none should be neutral. Integrity demands a response. When the persons being attacked do not respond, but TBC and Bob Campbell do, it leaves the impression that this controversy is between two groups seeking to control Texas Baptists. It leads to responses like the one a friend of mine got from a woman who has served on BGCT committees when he asked her where she stood in the controversy. She replied: “I am not on either side. I am on God’s side.” I cannot think of a more well-intentioned, good hearted, ludicrous response. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As my friend who wrote me about the encounter said, “It is as though God’s side is the neutral non-confrontive, don’t disturb the peace side.”

I submit to you the opinion that God is not neutral about racism and God is not neutral about fundamentalism. Just like Jesus and Paul resisted racism by openly relating to Samaritans and Gentiles, and like Jesus and Paul resisted fundamentalism by taking stands against the Pharisees and against the Judizers, we are called to follow their example.

Yes, God’s desire is for all of us to work together to build the Kingdom of God, but that is not a possibility with the people who supported Rick Scarborough’s attacks on the BGCT. They have no interest in working together unless they control the process. Wishing that was not the case does not change the reality. Integrity demands a response and integrity demands leadership.

Leaders are not neutral. Neutral leadership is no leadership at all. It leads nowhere and we can’t build the Kingdom going nowhere.

A leader lays out his or her vision. A leader defends and builds support for his or her program. A leader shares his or her opinion. Having done so, a leader seeks to listen, be fair to everyone and work with everyone.

Pee Wee Reese was the leader of the Dodgers. Integrity demanded a response. Pee Wee responded — strongly. He did not try to make everyone happy. He did not try to please everyone. He made his stand and peace was the result. And America changed forever.

Texas Baptists can be strong and effective going into the 21st century. It will be so when leaders, at every level of influence, take a stand for what they know is right. Then, I believe we will have peace. May God hasten the day.

June 1997