Fundamentalist-Controlled Newspaper Declines to Print Ad from Moderates

An example of how the fundamentalists control the flow of information and squelch any voice of dissent when they are in complete control occurred in May in Oklahoma.

Rick McClatchy, coordinator of the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma, contacted the Baptist Messenger, newsjournal of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, seeking to purchase space to advertise a radio program called “Baptist Forum.”

McClatchy said all of the speakers listed for the program are well-known to Oklahoma Baptists: Cecil Sherman, Lavonn Brown, Bill Bruster, Steve Graham and Bill Johnson.

“The speakers are outstanding Baptist theologians with impeccable credentials and are worthy of being heard,” he said.

The advertisement—about a quarter of a page of the magazine format Messenger— was presented properly, he said, but officials at the newspaper refused to print the ad.

Showing the double standard the fundamentalists use, the Baptist Messenger did print an ad in their May 2, 1996, issue touting a Bible conference to be held in Colorado and at a Presbyterian church.

That program was sponsored by a group billing itself as the Music Evangelism Foundation and listing Jamall Badry as executive director. Speakers for that event were leading fundamentalists or favorites of the fundamentalists: O.S. Hawkins, Stephen Olford, Ron Dunn and Harold Carter.

In a classic example of double-speak, Dave Parker, assistant of the Baptist Messenger, wrote to McClatchy to say the newsjournal would not run the ad for the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship.

Parker’s letter says:

“In our advertising guidelines, paragraph two reads: ‘Following action taken Dec. 15, 1992, by the Board of Directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, we will not advertise ‘for any organization which competes with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma for funding and program loyalty.’

“While we respect the right of any of our churches to belong to any organization they choose, the board action precludes us from accepting advertising from any organization that fits such a description.

“The Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma fits such a description; therefore we cannot run your advertisement.”

His salutation notes that he is “Yours in Christ’s Service.”

McClatchy said he is not suggesting that the newspaper should not have run the advertisement from the Colorado group, only that the ad from the CBFO “is about Baptists and the speakers… are worthy of being heard.”

In a news release, the CBFO said the radio program offers Oklahoma Baptists an additional opportunity “to become better informed on conditions that now exist in the Southern Baptists Convention and the BGCO.”

August 1996