June 17, 2002
EDITORIAL:
Some images of St. Louis convention will remain
___Church historians will mark last week in red letters. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convened in Dallas to try to resolve the pedophilia scandal rocking the nation's largest denomination. That meeting will be recorded as one of the most important in American Catholic Church history. The future is at stake.
___The Southern Baptist Convention also met last week. While that meeting was nowhere near as historic as the bishops' conference, SBC messengers also addressed clergy sexual abuse.
___An SBC resolution on the sexual integrity of ministers urges that all spiritual leaders be held accountable to "the highest standards of Christian moral practice." It calls on seminaries and schools to emphasize ministerial integrity. It encourages religious bodies to "rid their ranks of predatory ministers" and civil authorities to "punish to the fullest extent of the law sexual abuse among clergy and counselors." It also advocates a one-strike approach, admonishing churches to "discipline those guilty of any sexual abuse ... ."
___This is proper. Sexual abuse by ministers is more than a sexual act. It is the most extreme violation of trust. Christians preach grace, but pedophiles must be removed from the ministry and from contact with children who can be harmed. Similarly, ministers who prey on women--Baptists' version of Catholics' pedophilia epidemic--should be removed from their positions. We can hope and pray and work for redemption, but people must know they and their children can approach ministers without fear of sexual abuse. The credibility of the church and the integrity of the Christian witness in America depend on it.
___Among other people and events of note at the SBC in St. Louis:
___ President George W. Bush connected with messengers in a satellite broadcast.
___"Since the earliest days of our republic, Baptists have been guardians of separation of church and state, preserving the integrity of both," Bush said. "Yet you never have believed in separating religious faith from political life. Baptists believe, as America's founders did, that religious faith is the moral anchor of American life."
___The president did not acknowledge that some Southern Baptists' understanding of church/state separation gives them problems with his proposal to fund faith-based initiatives with tax dollars. However, he recited a litany of shared concerns, such as protection of life, strengthening marriages and families, care for human rights and the need to care for "the least of these" of society.
___ Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer, young Baylor University graduates who spent 105 days in Taliban captivity for sharing the gospel, captivated the crowd. Their warm, enthusiastic spirit is infectious, and messengers sat enthralled as they talked about their experience--not so much the hardships they endured but the love for Christ and for the Afghanistan people that enabled them to persevere.
___ Unfortunately, a loving missionary spirit didn't resonate in a sermon by former SBC President Jerry Vines at the Pastors' Conference. Vines controlled the Baptist media spotlight for the week by telling the pastors and national news media that Mohammed, the founder of the Muslim religion, was a "demon-possessed pedophile."
___Vines' comments drew protests from Muslims, Jews and other Christians. But he received support from other SBC leaders, who defended his comments as accurate.
___Whether Vines was factual or not is beside the point. A leader of a convention that wishes to win the world to Christ should know better than to alienate the people he supposedly wishes to reach. Religion is not a competition to be won. Faith is an eternity-changing experience to be shared, and insulting people is not the way to do it. Thank God for the beautiful contrast of Curry and Mercer, who have demonstrated how to love people into the kingdom of God.
___ The SBC said farewell to its longtime Registration Secretary, Lee Porter, who held the post for 25 years. He was the last holdover from the years when so-called moderates held convention office and survived repeated attempts to oust him. This year, he lost the race to Jim Wells, a Missouri director of associational missions supported by SBC leadership as "one of us." Porter's tenure spanned the entire period of convention controversy, and his integrity and fairness always prevailed. Despite heated elections won by razor-thin margins, his credibility never was questioned. Porter provided a model of honor, commitment and decency for all Baptists to emulate.
___ Three Texans figured prominently.
___Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, was elected convention president. Known as a dynamic preacher and builder of one of America's premier megachurches, Graham had been the presidential heir-apparent for a couple of years.
___Paul Pressler, political mastermind of the movement that brought the current SBC leadership to power, was elected first vice president. During the years he barnstormed for the fundamentalist cause, commanded the faithful and directed the Executive Committee, Pressler was one of the three most powerful men in the convention. He's been quieter in recent years, and some SBC observers wondered about his influence. But the vice presidency in his 73rd year brings a sense of poetic balance to his career. He has shaped the SBC to reflect his image and deserves to wear an official badge of leadership.
___And even though he died earlier this year, W.A. Criswell, former SBC president and legendary pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, still spoke at the convention. Messengers sat in reverent silence as a video tribute to Criswell concluded with a picture of him standing at a pulpit, smiling and shaking his great white mane and holding his Bible aloft.
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