New Moran Document Continues "Big Lie" Philosophy
by: David R. Currie,
Coordinator

I enjoy listening to sermon tapes by Jim Denison, pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas.

Recently, he preached a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments. He noted in the ninth one, that history says Adolph Hitler rose to power on the "Big Lie" philosophy. That is, if you tell a lie often enough with enough passion, and it is not countered, masses of people will believe it a sad truth.

Recently Roger Moran, director of the Missouri Baptists Laymen's Association, sent out a lengthy document to Missouri churches that follows the Big Lie philosophy. It was sent also to Texas churches by the Texas Baptists Laymen's Association, attacking me, TBC and CBF.

I serve on some boards with persons who share different beliefs from me about homosexuality and abortion, therefore, Moran assumes I support homosexuality, abortion, etc.

Since I am the director of TBC and chair the CBF finance committee, then both are tarred with the same brush. I have been attacked on the premise of "guilt by association." The illogical logic of the Moran piece has the depth of saying "Hitler was a German. You are a German. You are like Hitler." It is propaganda.

I do not know about beliefs of some people I serve with on Boards. I have never asked them about these issues. Prying into people's personal lives is not my nature.

I do not support homosexuality or abortion and never have. I proudly support The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) because it counters the Religious Right's exclusive claim to "know the mind of God" on political issues and because it encourages respect for the beliefs of others.

When Moran lists TIA's board members, he does not list the Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, the two Jewish Rabbis, the Buddhist or the Moslems. He lists only the Protestant, Catholic and Unitarian. Why are these persons omitted? Because, you might think the Interfaith Alliance was about "interfaith issues," which is its obvious focus.

Suppose you are a Rotary Club member because you want to serve others, but some of the members are gay or Catholic or Jewish. Would this mean you endorse their beliefs? It does according to the arguments used by Moran. Could the same logic be used to write about you?

Are many facts used by Moran true? Yes, I suppose so, the way they are written. All the truth, however, is not explained. Allow me to give a true story example.

When I worked for the Texas Department of Agriculture in the mid 80s, three employees went to Houston for different reasons. That night we all met together with a group of farmers in a nearby community. We all drove Lincoln Continental Town cars from the same rental car agency.

Suppose the Agricultural Commissioner's political opponent, after hearing about state employees driving Lincolns had made a TV commercial declaring, "Three state employees drove rented Lincoln Continentals to a meeting with farmers. Vote for me and this type of thing will be stopped."

He would not be lying. The story of three state employees driving Lincolns is true, it just isn't the whole truth. When only part is told, it equals a total lie.

We had all reserved compact cars but when we arrived the rental agency had only Lincolns. We rented them for compact car rental prices. The Moran document gives a twisted report repeatedly.

There is no "close relationship," as Moran claims, between TBC and TIA. I am the only "supposed" link. One person does not make a closely aligned relationship as Moran implies.

Moran is critical of persons to receive TIA's Walter Cronkite award. I'm not on  the committee to make the selection, but you may know some of the names that are: former president Gerald Ford; former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young; Nobel peace prize winner Elie Wiesel; and author Bill Moyers.

I could go on refuting spurious logic. When will Texas Baptists put a stop to this? You can stop it by refusing to support the SBC in any area except world missions. You can make a real difference for God by taking a stand.

The SBC is not a Baptist organization. Is there a single SBC seminary president or agency head who believes in one single historic Baptist principle? Why should Baptists support non-Baptist seminaries and agencies when they work to destroy our historic Baptist principles?

Moran, unfortunately, reflects the mind set of SBC leaders. After reading the paper, Viewpoint, I noticed that Jesus was never mentioned. I'm not surprised. The legacy of successful fundamentalism is to forget Jesus because it is about politics, power and control. Jesus was about love, grace and freedom.

The Gospel and Fundamentalism are mutually exclusive movements, just as the Pharisees' religious system and Jesus' message were. We are in a 2000 year old battle. The outcome will determine the Baptist witness and Baptist effectiveness in the 21st century. Much is at stake.

In 1956, Luther Peak left the fundamentalist movement of J. Frank Norris. He wrote a series of articles in The Baptist Standard, see page 16 of this newsletter. Read his statements below on the philosophy of fundamentalism and join me in making a firm commitment to oppose fundamentalism.

"The philosophy of Fundamentalism is unchristian. It has no basis in the Scriptures upon which to rest. That philosophy is: Fundamentalism supposes itself to be right doctrinally. Therefore people who are not aligned under its banner are wrong. Therefore any steps that Fundamentalism may take to gather disciples out from under the banner of others and assemble them under its own banner are right, and they are fully justified in taking them. The philosophy of Fundamentalism is that it is right to do wrong in order to do right. Fundamentalism judges, tries, condemns, sentences and executes those with whom it disagrees in order to gain a following or carry a point."

May 2000