Thoughts on Washington
By: David Currie,
Coordinator

Recently, Loretta and I traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the executive board meeting of the Interfaith Alliance. I serve on this board along with Foy Valentine, former executive director of the SBC Christian Life Commission. The Interfaith Alliance is an organization that focuses on religious liberty for all Americans. It seeks to encourage civility in matters of public policy and politics and is a clear alternative to the many Religious Right organizations currently claiming to represent people of faith.

I am honored to serve on this board and very proud of the excellent leadership being given by Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, our executive director. Welton is a former Director of Citizenship for the SBC Christian Life Commission and former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth. I would urge all our TBC readers to support the Interfaith Alliance.

I have been to our nations capitol many times through the years but Loretta had not been since she was six-years-old. We did the usual tourist things for a couple of days. We visited the memorials, Korea, Vietnam, Lincoln, Jefferson, and the new FBC memorial. We saw some of the Smithsonian, went to the archives and viewed our constitution, bill or rights, etc., and had the unique opportunity of seeing 70 original paintings by Vincent Van Gogh at the National Museum of Art. We visited the Holocaust Museum, which is to me, the one thing that everyone must see (besides the Lincoln memorial because Lincoln is my favorite president).

I would write about the Holocaust museum except my long-time friend, Gary Leazer, president of the Center for Interfaith Studies (and former director of Interfaith Witness for the Home Mission Board), just wrote an excellent article about it in his newsletter. We urge you to support this organization as well and get on their mailing list.

I do want to write about an impression I had as I read the statements once again at the monuments. So many of the statements have direct application to our work at TBC and the work of Texas Baptists. As I read again the various inscriptions it became clear to me that Texas Baptists Committed, as an organization, is fighting for the very same values America has fought for in most wars. We are fighting for freedom against those who want to impose control over the human spirit.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "Those (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human conduct by handful of individual rulers call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order."

Friends, that is exactly what leaders with their fundamentalist agenda are doing in the religious right movements. They want to use power to control human beings. They want to force people to think right, act right and believe right, and are perfectly comfortable defining what they believe is right for everyone.

The would be highly offended by Abraham Lincoln's statement that persons have the right to do whatever they choose as long as it does not hurt the freedom others.

I read the statements on those monuments and the thought hit me. These people who wrap themselves in the flag and claim to be trying to save America -- Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Ollie North, Pat Robertson, Richard Land, Paul Pressler, Paige Patterson to name a few, seem to hold views that are the direct opposite of democracy and the values we cherish as Americans and as Christians!

Think about it rationally. The Religious Right seems to have a problem with the fundamental aspect of a democracy, that is, that the minority has rights. They do not believe in freedom of persons who do not agree with them. We have a man right here in Texas, vice-chairman of one of our prominent political parties, who says the founding fathers did not mean for anyone to be able to hold political office who was not a Christian! This appears to be a dangerous agenda to all who disagree with them. And they control the Southern Baptist Convention and desire to control the United States government.

Walking through our nations capitol, reading the words of our national heroes, I realized just how important freedom is, what a tremendous price has been paid for our freedom, and how important total religious freedom is in making America the country it is. Without religious liberty, there is no liberty. Real Baptists must never forget this and must pay whatever price required to preserve it for all people.

Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, inscribed at his memorial: "Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."

December 1998/January 1999