February 23, 2000
The preacher, the Wiccan priest and the pamphlet
___This is a story of a Wiccan priestess, a Baptist preacher and various interpretations of what happened when the two showed up on the same program.
___As part of a 12-page booklet written for the Missouri Baptist Laymen's Association to report on alleged dalliances with liberalism by the Baptist Joint Committee on PublicAffairs, Roger Moran says former BJC Executive Director James Dunn is "biased toward the left" because he spoke on a program in Colorado in 1993 alongside a Wiccan priestess.
___"BJCPA Executive Director Speaks with Wicca Priestess in Colorado," says a headline in the pamphlet. The headline is followed by a two-paragraph description of the event and other speakers there who Moran intimates ought to be objectionable to Baptists.
___Moran's report gives no information about what any of the speakers said at the event but simply identifies who some of the speakers were and their associations to various causes.
___Dunn wrote a specific response to this accusation in a flier put out to counter Moran's literature. The Moran piece continues to be circulated, despite this correction.
___"It is true ... that I was on a panel discussion one Saturday afternoon with a self-styled witch at an interfaith gathering in the First Baptist Church of Colorado Springs," Dunn wrote.
___But that's not all the story, he added. "The next morning, as the invitation was given after my morning sermon there, a young woman, Debbie, who had been present the previous afternoon, came forward and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. She told the pastor, Tony Evans, that she had heard the clear witness, even to a witch, the day before, had been moved and resolved to delay no longer in following Jesus.
___"I did speak in such a pluralistic setting, and I would do it again," Dunn replied. "You would too."
___
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Is it guilt by association or just the facts?