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On the November 21, 1999 "Religious Talk" radio program Dr. Bruce Prescott discussed the events at the Oklahoma Baptist Convention on November 15-16, 1999. "Religious Talk" airs every Sunday morning from 8:30-10:00 AM on the stations of the "Sports Animal Network" in Oklahoma (640am and 104.9fm in Oklahoma City, 1270am in Tulsa, 1320am in Clinton, and 1450am in Woodward.) Here is a transcript of the opening monologue for that program: This morning we will be discussing what transpired at the Oklahoma Baptist Convention this past week. You may have seen the article about Falls Creek in the Daily Oklahoman this past Tuesday or you may have seen the articles in the religion section of the Daily Oklahoman yesterday. . . Before I talk about the Oklahoma Baptist Convention I want to talk about why what happened there is important and significant to people who are not Baptists and to people who are not Christians. You need to know that the divisions within Baptist life are but a prelude to larger divisions that will strongly impact your life and all of American society. The divisions that are taking place within Baptist state conventions are more than a mere continuation at a lower level of divisions within the Baptist denomination at the national level. Both nationally and locally, the divisions that are taking place among Baptists are rooted in different visions for the future of American society. How this struggle gets played out in the politics of American society will determine the kind of world and the kind of country in which your children and your grandchildren will live. The stakes are high. That, more than anything else, is why I am working with Mainstream Baptists to try to get Southern Baptists back on track. The architect of the Fundamentalist takeover at the national level was an elected political official. It was a federal appellate court judge in Houston -- the city from which I moved to Oklahoma. That judge devised a plan by which Fundamentalists could take control of the Southern Baptist Convention and then use its influence and assets to exert influence on the secular political processes of our entire country. The most revealing insights into the goals and aspirations of many of the leaders of the Fundamentalists can be gleaned from a radio interview that this judge granted to a radio preacher in Tyler, Texas. In Tyler, Texas there is a radio preacher who calls himself a “Reconstructionist.” Reconstructionists think that “democracy is heresy.” Their goal is to create a “theocracy.” They want to establish Christianity as the official, state sanctioned, legal religion of the United States. They want to make their interpretation of the Bible the law of the land. They want to go back to the model of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the days of Colonial America before we had a constitution and a first amendment that separated church and state and prohibited the establishment of any religion. A lot of the mythology about America being a Christian nation and our nation’s founders intending for America to be a Christian nation is coming from this cult. The most striking thing about this Houston judge’s interview with this Reconstructionist preacher was what they were talking about. The judge was talking about the political strategy that he had used to takeover the Southern Baptist Convention and commending it as a strategy by which Reconstructionists could take over our country and turn it into a “theocracy.” Ever since that interview, and that was back in 1985 or 1986, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Reconstructionists, and other religious groups in America have been following his script. During the interview the judge was asked some question about what he thought would be the effect of Christians taking control of the government in America. The judge’s response was that, “It would be good, and it would be good for the country.” If you are not a Christian or if you are not a Fundamentalist Christian and you are wondering if it would be “good” to live under a government like the one they envision, all you have to do is look at how Mainstream Baptists were treated by the Fundamentalists in control of the Oklahoma Baptist Convention – the same one’s passing resolutions on wives submitting to their husbands, and on school text books, and working in countless ways to influence politics and elections in Oklahoma and around the country. The same one’s who tell TV cameras that the divisions in the denomination could be healed if we could communicate more and have more dialogue. They give lip service to openness to communication, but their actions speak louder than their words – and their actions demonstrate a willingness to violate the trust that has been placed in them and to break the rules of order to stifle discussion and dissent. How were Mainstream Baptists treated last week? It was no secret that Mainstream Baptists were presenting a resolution affirming the unamended, unrevised 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. It was no secret that we would oppose the SBC’s 1998 family amendment. I announced that on this program last week. Two months before that I published it in my newsletter and mailed it out to 6800 Baptists in Oklahoma. There is no doubt that convention leadership knew what we were doing. The President of the Convention wrote me a letter and asked me to present the resolution to the convention’s resolution committee and I received an e-mail from the Convention’s Executive Director advising me that he had received it. I played by the rules. Mainstream Baptists always try to be fair and play by the rules. Monday, when the convention began, the Committee on the order of business for the convention, presented an agenda for the order of business and the scheduled times for that business. The messengers of the convention voted to adopt that order and schedule. That agenda was printed and distributed in both the book of reports and in other literature that was distributed to every messenger. The schedule indicated that the report of the resolutions committee would take place after 2:40 PM on Tuesday afternoon. But, the convention did not discuss our resolution on Tuesday afternoon. Instead, it discussed it on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, when most Mainstream Baptists arrived, some of whom who had travelled for two hours or more, to discuss their issue, they found that they had been denied an opportunity to speak and engage in dialogue and register a vote. The actions of the convention leaders were in violation of Roberts Rules of Order which the Convention’s Constitution sets forth as the guidelines for conducting its business. The effect, and I believe the intention, of their violating their Constitution was to deny Mainstream Baptists a voice in convention affairs. The blame for this violation of trust must be lodged with more than the leaders of the convention. Most of the people who attend the convention as messengers are pastors and staff members of Oklahoma Baptist Churches. In fact, I suspect that Mainstream Baptists had as many or more lay people prepared to vote with us on this issue as did the Fundamentalists. The change in the order of business and scheduled time could only be done with the complicity of the pastors and nearly all of them knew that Mainstream Baptists were preparing to debate these issues in the afternoon session, and not the morning session. None of them gave any indication of being concerned about our right to speak to the convention on these issues. Now I’ve been talking about some complicated issues about governance that are not easy to grasp and understand in a conversation over a radio. Let me summarize this and simplify it before we have to take a commercial break. In simplest terms, both the first amendment of our Country’s Constitution and Roberts Rules of Order have a basic value in common. Both are designed to protect the rights of a minority. Southern Baptists used to fear the “tyranny of the majority.” Now that they are a majority, they’ve lost that fear and have replaced it with arrogance toward minorities. If they are willing to trample on the rights of a minority within their own faith on matters of conviction and conscience, they will not find it hard to trample on the rights of a minority of another faith in matters of conviction and conscience. The only way to preserve unity in a democracy, whenever there is a difference of opinion -- and in any true democracy it is certain that there will be differences of opinion and conviction -- the only way to preserve unity in a democracy is to assure that there is a forum for open dialogue and discussion and that the dialogue and discussion be conducted in a fair and orderly fashion. Without such safeguards, the government is no longer democratic but autocratic and is but one step removed from totalitarianism. It is characteristic of totalitarian regimes that they will harbor no open dissent. Democratic regimes thrive on the free exchange of ideas and opinions and welcome dissent. Oklahoma Baptists used to believe in democracy. Now they welcome at very least, a “tyranny of the majority.” I think the actions of Oklahoma Baptist leaders in regards to their treatment of Mainstream Baptists were unconscionable. We will wait and see if during the coming months any Oklahoma Baptist pastors develop a conscience on this matter. There is cause for hope. I’ve already had one pastor, who I did not know and had never spoken with before, call me and tell me that he did not agree with my position but he also did not feel that the convention had treated us with respect and fairness. I’ve spoken some strong words. I know that some of you may not agree with them. Unlike the leaders of the Oklahoma Baptist Convention we encourage open discussion and debate. Call in and tell us what you think. In the Oklahoma City area, the number is 460-1049. Long distance, the number is 1-888-339-1049. From a mobile phone the number is *1049. Give us a call while we are on this break. |
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Online since April 7, 1999
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