MOYERS ENCOURAGES TEXAS BAPTISTS
(by Associated Baptist Press)

Broadcast journalist Bill Moyers applauded efforts by moderate Texas Baptists in recent years to thwart takeover attempts of their convention by “fundamentalists.”

Moyers, an ordained minister and graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, also urged his fellow Baptists to “enter the dialogue” about religion in the United States and “take the Bible back from the experts and extremists.”

Moyers spoke to more than 1,700 people attending the annual Texas Baptists Committed breakfast on Nov. 12 in conjunction with the 111th meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

During the breakfast, Moyers received the 1996 J.M. Dawson Religious Liberty Award presented by James Dunn and the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. Moyers joins President Jimmy Carter as this year’s recipients.

Moyers, who grew up in Marshall attending Central Baptist Church, lamented fundamentalist movements in religion and politics.

He said his travels around the world have enabled him to see such movements of “distemper” in the Middle East, India, and other places controlled by fundamentalist movements.

“And I’ve seen it in the United States,” Moyers said. “I’ve seen it at the World Trade Center… I’ve seen it at abortion clinics… and I’ve heard it preached in contempt against our government.”

Moyers added he saw the same kind of “fundamentalist distemper” in Dallas last year at a convention where aprons were being distributed. “Each apron had two pockets,” he said, “one for a Bible and one for a gun.”

And Moyers said he has heard similar ideas expressed by “the newest Southern Baptist, Jerry Falwell” on the Old Fashioned Gospel Hour,” where he suggests the president of the United States may be a murderer.” Moyers said movements such as these and the Christian Coalition promote a “toxic zeal.”

“I’ve listened and I’ve wondered, ‘Where is Jesus in this? Where are the teachings of Jesus? Where is the healing Jesus who looked with compassion on people? Where is the shepherd Jesus?’

“How did this Jesus get yoked to such a narrow and pinched and reactionary agenda?” Moyers asked. “I don’t get it. I really don’t get it.”

Moyers said the mark of conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition is to “pursue power by taking no quarter and giving no pity. There is not the faintest sound of Christ’s love and mercy and not a single refrain of healing.”

Congratulating Texas moderates on retaining control of the BGCT, Moyers said, “I know what you’ve been up against. I know who you’ve been up against. The real reason I came here today is to thank you for the courage and determination you have shown. What you are about is the right of conscience.

“For Baptists of our stripe, for Texas Baptists Committed, the separation of church and state encourages neither animosity nor favoritism. America can survive without the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said, but “democracy is finished without the love of liberty by Baptists who know the price of freedom. Your witness goes beyond politics and power to the love of liberty.”

Moyers, whose Public Broadcasting special “Genesis” is airing across the nation, told Texas Baptists Committed his work on the project has brought him into dialogue with people of other faiths.

He said that dialogue has led him to believe that the Christian faith is “more than sound bites and bumper stickers. I’ve been out where life questions your answers,” he said. “God intended us to debate and think.”

Moyers said his discussions have made him a “much better Baptist from listening to the Buddhist and the Hindu.” Moyers said the debate among Baptists for the past 17 years is an “incestuous discussion” because no one outside the Baptist denomination is listening.

“I’ve come here to say that I see the way out for you. We Baptists have been talking among each other in an echo chamber. There is a world out there.”

Moyers urged Baptists to enter debate and discussion with people of other beliefs. “If we are going to make it, we’re going to have to engage in dialogue. That does not mean we have to give up the essentials of our faith, it just means we have to go deeper. We have to take the Bible back from the experts and extremists.”

Article used by permission.

February 1997