"A Christian Looks
At the Religious Right"
The Religious Right and the Kennedy Assassination
The current controversy in Southern Baptist circles has been coined by different people as having different roots. It is my own contention that the roots of the movement are founded in the realm of conservative politics more than in the authority of scripture. Southern Baptists have struggled with the issue of the nature of the Bible and have continued to work together through- out the last century. It was only through the merger of the ultra-conservative view of the nature of inspiration with ultra-conservative politics that a group was united to take over the national convention.
Earlier in the 20th. century, J. Frank Norris, pastor of First Baptist, Fort Worth, had success in motivating audiences with his participation in politics. Norris held rallies all over Texas to keep Al Smith from taking the state in his presidential bid in the twenties.1
Of particular interest was Norris’ keen interest in Missionary John Birch. Birch had a weekly contact with Norris. John Birch was a missionary to China and was killed on the mission field.2 The charges brought against Birch by the Chinese were that he worked as a secret agent for the United States.3 Some missionary groups have allowed their missionaries to work as aids for covert operations.4 Is this what Birch was doing? We don’t know. Other groups have used tactics linked with political purposes in Viet Nam and Mexico. Most recently, the CIA used the Catholic church working with Polish dissidents to over throw governments.5
One of the most intriguing items of interest was the production of "Facts Forum". This radio show was a forerunner of the modern day "Point of View". It was an attempt to "Christianize" right-wing politics.6 It’s goal was to merge the Christian faith with politics. Some groups in South America had been successful in merging left-wing politics with the church. Leaders on the right were doing the same thing.
"Facts Forum" was organized and supported by a Southern Baptist. At one time, the influence was so widespread that the program was listened to all around the state of Texas. The man behind the underwriting, sponsoring and authorization of viewpoints in this program was the wealthiest man in the world. His name was H. L. Hunt.7 Hunt was making an attempt at uniting the Christian version of the world with right-wing politics. His son, Nelson, was active in the organization named after Norris’ missionary friend...the John Birch Society.8
The John Birch Society published the AMERICAN OPINION. Birchers blame the problems of the world on secret Bankers.9 Whenever the Hunts had problems with their business ventures, they blamed their problems on a conspiracy of Jewish bankers out to get them.10
The influence Hunt had on his pastor, W. A. Criswell, is interesting. Criswell, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, blessed the "Facts Forum" program and helped promote it.11 H. L. Hunt once sent out one of Criswell’s anti-Kennedy sermons all over the state of Texas to keep Kennedy out of the White House.12 This was similar to the action J. Frank Norris had taken a few decades earlier. Hunt’s influence was widespread. Charles Koller, in his book called POINTERS FOR PASTORS, calls Hunt a "mature Christian layman".13 Koller’s opinion is subject to historical question. Even while a member of First Baptist Church, Hunt used under-the-table methods in funding "Facts Forum". He channeled the money given through fictitious churches in Florida. This helped him avoid paying taxes and having to give account for programs obviously politically biased, yet tax exempt.14 Hunt was a follower of Joseph McCarthy and considered him a personal friend. He was also influenced by Billy James Hargis, the preacher who prided himself on being a Communist fighter and a segregationist.15
Hunt’s politics were fascinating. Much in the same way that Dan Quayle and Pat Robertson’s wealthy influential fathers pulled strings to keep them out of combat, Hunt did the same thing with his eldest son during World War II.16 Hunt was more interested in fighting Communists that Fascists. He had politics similar to Fascists. He was anti-Semitic and felt as if he had a superior gene.17 This is reported to be one reason why he had two secret families. Whenever his eldest son became mentally ill, biographer Jerome Tucille claims that Hunt sent out messengers offering one million dollars to a German blond woman to breed with him to produce another son.18 His third wife, Ruth, who "carried-on" with him secretly for years, got him into First Baptist Church. He claims to have been attracted to Criswell’s political views. Criswell claimed there was "not a liberal bone in his body". Criswell, like Hargis, had preached segregationist sermons.19 Biographer Harry Hurt, claims Hunt used his influence at First Baptist Dallas for political purposes.20 The books promoted by Hunt on "Facts Forum" often attacked Jews and promoted men like Joseph McCarthy.21 W. A. Criswell preached the nationally acclaimed funeral of Hunt. In the funeral message, Criswell referred to Hunt as "Mr. Golden Heart" and a man with "the wisdom of Solomon".22
H. L. Hunt was a man who held a political paranoia about America. He, like McCarthy, had unfounded suspicions about liberals being behind every corner. He was so paranoid, he would not eat food that was processed in America. He feared that our food and water supply was poisoned by the Communists.23 This paranoid suspicion is a part of the politics of the far-right. It would be later revived and expounded on by men like Tim LaHaye, Marlin Maddoux, and Pat Robertson. Groups like this tend to thrive on the fear that a covert conspiracy is working to take over the nation.
A Dallas newspaper reporter once remarked that "Hunt could be dangerous if he weren’t such a hick".24 Hunt saw democracy as the work of the devil and a form of Communism. The more taxes a man paid, the more votes he was to get. In this utopian society Hunt promoted, people who accepted financial help from the government could not vote.25
Many religious groups found that adopting some of the political views of the Political Right brought funding to their religious organizations. Some promoted the idea that they were fighting Communism through their groups and this delivered income from some in the business community.
The Political Right and fundamentalism seemed to have formed a strong union going into the early sixties. They would be dealt a death blow which would come in the form of an event that would change Western Civilization. Some consider it the most moving one-day event of the Twentieth Century, the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The Religious Right had been after Kennedy. H. L. had accused Kennedy of being weak on Communism. The week before the assassination, Hunt’s programs accused Kennedy of being involved in a conspiracy to take guns away from Americans.26 Hunt despised Kennedy for favoring taxation of oil exploration. Hunt once fired radio program head, Rev. Poucher, for failing to criticize Kennedy’s tax proposals.27 The day Kennedy was shot, the President read a startling ad in a Dallas newspaper taken out and partially paid for by H. L.’s son, Nelson. As reported by Time Magazine, after reading the ad, Kennedy told his wife they were going into "nut country".28
The Warren Commission investigated the Hunt family after the death of the President. According to Senator Maurine Neuberger of Oregon, if anybody was responsible for Kennedy’s death, it was H. L. Hunt. Even today, the Southern Baptist Hunt is considered by many conspiracy theorists, to have been involved in a secret plot to kill the President. When Ruby shot Oswald, he had some of Hunt’s literature in his pocket. Investigations freed the Hunt family of any direct participation in any conspiracy. Some suggested that their fiery political rhetoric set a climate for what happened in Dallas on the eventful day, November 22, 1963.29
The result of the incident was to drain the Hunts of the influence that they once had. They were forced to hide out and leave town in the months to come. The statements Hunt had made about Kennedy came back to haunt him. America entered into a new era. Johnson was able to usher in his idea of a "new Society". Civil rights legislation was passed. "Facts Forum" lost its influence and following.
Southern Baptists found that the influence of the Political Right had lost ground in the convention. Agencies were set up to promote racial cooperation and encourage the separation of church and state. So-called moderates were placed in positions of leadership. The Political Right became known as a group of fanatics. At the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Norfolk in the latter seventies, a man jumped up to demonstrate against the "terrible things being promoted in textbooks" in our society. He was denounced by the convention by their lack of interest in his cause. Not to be outdone, he climbed aboard a jet liner and said he carried a bomb in his briefcase. When agents arrested him, he confided to them that it was not a literal bomb, but a literary bomb.30 He was speaking of the "leftist literature" he claimed to have found in public schools.
Ten years later, this type of mentality would sweep into the Southern Baptist Convention and overtake it. "Facts Forum" would be reborn in Dallas, Texas, under the name of "Point of View" and beamed across the nation by methods like H. L. Hunt used. Southern Baptist Pat Robertson, has revived the conspiracy theory. He teaches that the United Nations is working with the U.S. Congress to use public school literature to brainwash American children into worshipping the World Dictator.31
Catholics, once feared by the Religious Right as a threat to American security, are now being upheld as true champions of the faith. Baptists who once went on campaigns to keep Catholics out of the White House, are now holding rallies in churches for Catholic political candidates.32 Baptist leaders are now promoting Catholic ideas about euthanasia and birth control. The old right is not dead, it has been rekindled as a movement.
For the Political Right to survive, it has to have a conspiracy. It found that conspiracy in the fear that "liberal" teachers had infiltrated the Southern Baptist Convention. The term "liberal" might mean something different to people who align themselves with the Coors family, Hunt family, and Pat Robertson’s ministry, all of whom have been linked with Fascist groups according to documented reports.33 To a Fascist, anyone to the left of them is "liberal". One of the authors promoted on "Facts Forum" was Joseph Kemp. He wrote a book called, "HITLER WAS A LIBERAL.34
Endnotes
1. William Pitts, Ed., Texas Baptist History, Vol. VII. Baptist Historical Society, Fort Worth, TX, 1987, pg. 3.
2. Ibid., pg. 5.
3. Ibid., pg. 9.
4 Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare, South End Press, Boston, MA, 1989, pg. 217-219.
5. Carl Bernstein, "The Holy Alliance", Time, February 24, 1992, pg. 28-35.
6. Harry Hurt, III, Texas Rich, Norton & Co., New York, NY, 1981, pg. 155.
7. Ibid., pg. 181.
8 "The Assassination", Time, New York, NY, November 1988, pg. 40.
9. Encyclopedia International, Vol. 10, Grolier, New York, NY, 1964, pg. 37-38.
10. Jerome Tucille, Kingdom, Jameson Books, Ottawa, IL, 1984, pg. 219.
11. Harry Hurt, III, pg. 179.
12. Chandler Davidson, Race and Class in Texas Politics, Princeton Press, New Jersey, 1990, pg. 214.
13. Charles Koller, Pointers for Pastors, Crescendo, Dallas, TX, 1974, pg. 65.
14. Harry Hurt, III, pg. 188.
15. David Oshinsky, A conspiracy So Immense, Free Press, New York, NY.
16. Gary Wills, Under God, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1990, pg. 188.
17. Jerome Tuccille, pg. 254.
18. Ibid., pg. 254.
19. Stewart Newman’s Letter from 3309 Redbud Lane, Raleigh, NC, 27607, July 11, 1991.
20. Harry Hurt, III, pg. 179.
21. Chandler Davidson, pg. 210.
22. Harry Hurt, III, pg. 348-349.
23. Jerome Tuccille, pg. 219.
24. Ibid., pg. 225.
25. Ibid., pg. 231.
27. Ibid., pg. 199.
28. "The Assassination", Time.
29. Jerome Tuccille, pg. 280-284.
30. See United Press International Photo, Fall 1977. Also viewed by author.
31. National Family Conference at Second Baptist Church of Houston, Texas, Fall 1991, heard by author.
32. "This Country’s Party of God?", Houston Post, September 20, 1992, pg. C1 and C5.
33. See Russ Bellant, Coors Connection, Southend Press. See Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare, on Robertson.
See Current Biography, 1970, pg. 192, on H. L. Hunt.
34. Harry Hurt, III, pg. 159.