 January 6, 1999
Land: Clinton a hypocrite
Parham: Nation in peril
___NASHVILLE, Tenn.--One Baptist ethicist says President Bill Clinton is guilty of "shameless hypocrisy" for calling for an end to the "politics of destruction" in a speech the day he was impeached by the House of Representatives. Another Baptist ethicist says those who want to point a finger only at Clinton's errors miss the larger problem.
___Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, issued a Dec. 21 statement through Baptist
|
RICHARD LAND
| Press saying Clinton "richly deserves and has thoroughly earned" the impeachment.
___And the fact that the House debate on impeachment became the most bitter partisan struggle of recent memory is the fault of Democrats, not Republicans, he added. "It's to the Democrats' shame, not the Republicans', that this has been a largely partisan process. No one has defended the president's behavior. They have just said we should lower the standard for holding office. ... That's both irresponsible and shameless."
___In a commentary released the same day, Land chided Clinton for his speech on the White House lawn in which he called on both parties to "stop the politics of personal destruction" and "get rid of the poisonous venom of excessive partisanship."
___Land suggested Clinton "says he opposes the 'politics of personal destruction' when in fact his habitual response to political oppo-sition has been to smite his critics hip and thigh
|
ROBERT PARHAM
| and then blame them for limping."
___But Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, suggested both foes and supporters of Clinton should look beyond Clinton's personal problems to see the larger moral abyss.
___"While President Clinton did not create our moral ethos, he soiled it," Parham said. "He is the most visible symptom of our eroding values and a transmitter of the virus deadening ethics."
___Nevertheless, Clinton "did not create the hole in our moral ozone," Parham continued. "Faulting him only enables the rest of us to escape further from our own failures of omission and commission."
___Parham suggested three steps to begin moving toward moral repair:
___ Renewed commitment to the Golden Rule.
___ Vision of life as a seamless garment.
___ Transformation of personal respon-sibility into social obligation.
___"It is in our self-interest for every individual and entity to stop finger-pointing and start pitching in," he said. "When more truth is told, promises are kept, decent speech is voiced and respect is promoted, the common good advances."
___
Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
|