"A Christian Looks
At the Religious Right"
The Republican Party and the Southern Baptist Convention
My first year of seminary I took Old Testament for my eight o’clock class. It was customary for the professor to call upon students to lead in prayer.
I shall never forget one prayer led by a woman after a national election. She thanked God for having his way in the election. The man elected to office that day for his second term was Richard Nixon.
It was interesting to note that in the next few years the Republican Party was to become, in some circles, the "party of God".
In Texas, there was an attempt at the 1986 state Republican convention to call the party the "Christian Party".
Historians like Chandler Davidson of Rice University point out how ultra right-wing politics were originally a part of the Democratic Party. As the Democratic Party shifted to the left during the Johnson era, the political right began to change parties. The party that Southerners traditionally held to be the party of carpetbaggers and Yankee interventionists became the party that stood against civil rights legislation. Republicans gained a new following.
In the South, "Christian" is supposed to mean "conservative". The only kind of "liberal" Christian that Southerners are supposed to like is a "liberal giver".
The conservative image of the Republican Party has caused some Christians to consider it the one with the Christian causes. Regardless of what Democrats believe about the environment, women, race, or the economy, many Christians have written them off because of two issues. They consider Democrats unclean because of the national party’s stands on abortion and the homosexual rights movement.
The wall of separation between church and state has come tumbling down. One nationally prominent Southern Baptist pastor active in Republican Party promotions called the whole idea of separation of church and state the creation of some infidel.
Davidson claims that the resurgent Republican Party in Texas is symbolized by three key figures in its ranks. The three influential men are: H.L. Hunt, the deceased oil billionaire; J. Evetts Haley, a prominent oilman and rancher who ran for governor in 1956 on the segregationists’ platform; and W.A. Criswell, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas.
Tracing their influence shows a web of connections with the Republican Party and several strands lead to Texas.
Criswell has been active in party politics for the Republicans. He led the benediction at the GOP convention in 1984. In this prayer, Criswell said, "now bless us as we march to victory and a greater destiny". Criswell also spoke at the inauguration of Texas Republican Gov. Bill Clements. This pastor of First Baptist Church personally went on a campaign to keep John Kennedy out of the White House.
Criswell backed Nixon. H.L. Hunt, one of Criswell’s members, mailed one of his anti-Kenndy sermons all over the state. In 1976, Criswell endorsed Gerald Ford, an Episcopalian, for president. In 1988, George Bush received Criswell’s public blessing and endorsement. One election year, Bush’s picture was on the cover of the church newsletter. Criswell gave his blessing to H.L. Hunt’s radio program, Lifeline, which attempted to blend right-wing politics with the Christian faith.
Criswell was influenced by J. Frank Norris, a controversial fundamentalist pastor of First Baptist Church in Fort Worth in the 1920’s. Norris was once presented a wristwatch by Republicans for his efforts to influence Texans to vote for Hoover. It was presented in Norris’ church.
Recent presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention have publicly endorsed Republican candidates for President. Pat Robertson, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan have enjoyed their public endorsements. Ed McAteer, part of the fundamentalist’s takeover of the SBC and founder of the Religious Roundtable, was promoting Pat Buchanan one year.
Most of the early presidents of the convention, since the fundamentalist swing, were founding members of Republican lobbyist Tim LaHaye’s American Coalition for Traditional Values.
Right-wing Republican, Sen. Jesse Helms, has held a recent wide influence in Southern Baptist circles. His aides and friends have been active in the so-called "takeover" of the Southern Baptist national convention by fundamentalists. Helms was honored as "Man of the Year" by the Southern Baptist Public Affairs Committee. Nancy Schaefer, of First Baptist Atlanta and past trustee on the Christian Life Commission, gets into Baptist churches and organizes committees to promote men like Helms and Dan Quayle.
The Christian Century reports that the president of the Sunday School Board promised Schaefer a place on the board so she could gain access to churches. Sam Currin, past chairman of the Public Affairs Committee, is an active Republican who was recommended for a federal judge’s bench by Jesse Helms. This recommendation was refused by the U.S. Senate. Currin’s two assistants were placed on significant boards in Southern Baptist agencies. They were both active campaigners for Jesse Helms’ senate race.
Sen. Helms’ choice to head the North Carolina GOP is the current Southern Baptist parliamentarian, Barry McCarty. McCarty, who is not a Baptist, was seen at the Texas Baptist Convention showing Joel Gregory, once Criswell’s co-pastor, how to make a recommendation to take Baylor University to court. Helms also has close ties with fundamentalist leader, Paul Pressler, a former state appeals court judge in Houston.
In 1991, against some opposition, the pastors’ conference at the Southern Baptist Convention invited Catholic, Oliver North, to speak to the brethren. Republican North, who was a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, called upon pastors to elect "leaders of principle". Jerry Falwell used his religious programs to raise money to defend North against charges brought against him by the federal government.
At the meeting held right after the pastors’ conference, President Bush was a featured speaker. It reminded many of the convention meeting in Dallas when then-president Reagan sent a letter to the convention commending it on its fundamentalist turn. The letter was read by convention President Charles Stanley, a pastor who actively endorses men for national office.
Ralph Reed, who worked for the Republican National Committee from 1982-84, worked once in the "Christian Coalition". He uses Stanley’s quotes in his leaflets.
In 1987, at the convention’s meeting in St. Louis, the Republican governor welcomed the audience with a speech laced with political overtones. The Public Affairs Committee shocked a usually non-partisan convention by endorsing Judge Robert Bork for the Supreme Court the next year. Dan Quayle spoke at the 1992 convention meeting.
One-time Republican candidate, Pat Robertson, continues to be a guest speaker in Southern Baptist circles. During his campaign, he was invited to Second Baptist Church in Houston before an audience to present his views.
In 1988, some Southern Baptist presidents endorsed candidate Robertson while others endorsed Bush. When Bush was nominated in 1988 before the Republican convention, he - not by accident - was seated next to Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham.
Leigh Ann Metzger, who has family ties to Nancy Schaefer, was a White House special assistant for public liaison. Paul Pressler was named by President Bush to head the Office of Ethics in the U.S. Government. Bush later backed off on this recommendation.
In 1986, the GOP targeted four Southern Baptist preachers as potential allies in the coming election. The four men were Jay Strack, Ed Young, O.S. Hawkins, and Dwight Reighard - all influential fundamentalists.
Texas Republican campaign committees have found churches and pastors to be instruments for the Republican Party. Some have used churches to promote candidates. It was even suggested that it is a good idea for churches to place a line item in their budgets for political campaigns. Some fear the merger of the Public Affairs Committee with the Christian Life Commission set the stage for these groups to become a Republican Party political action committee.
TV reporter, Bill Moyers, observed in his documentary on Southern Baptists that their annual meetings looked like a Republican precinct party. According to The Nation, Richard Land, head of the current Ethics Commission, wears GOP suspenders and White House cuff links. According to a former staff member, his office contains more Republican memorabilia than religious symbols.
Robert Parkham, head of the Baptist Center for Ethics, said in the Nashville Tennessean, "when the SBC walks like a right-wing Republican and talks like a right-wing Republican, one can conclude it is a critical religious constituency of the Republican Party". Auburn history professor, Wayne Flynt, claims that the SBC is now the religious wing of the Republican Party.
It will be interesting to see if Southern Baptist try to separate themselves from secular politics or merge deeper into it. They appear to be doing the latter.
The IRS investigated the Jimmy Swaggart ministry for endorsement of Pat Robertson for president. The current leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention might be placing Southern Baptist property in line to be taxed.
James Dunn, a Baptist and religious liberty expert, claims that whenever the wheels of the church engage the wheels of state, the separation of church and state has been violated.
Carl McIntire commented at a Billy Hargis gathering that the SBC was responsible for the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
Richard Land, the SBC’s political activist and denominational employee, has been a stalwart Clinton basher. He said, "Let’s make Bill Clinton the last casualty of the Viet Nam War". Land publicly stated that the SBC rejects Clinton’s policies. Land went on to blame President Clinton for the murder and torture of Tibetan people. While often opposing Democratic policies, Land went public with his endorsement of Bush’s Gulf War. Land spoke with leaders of the GOP House and told them regarding Religious Right influence on them, "We want a wedding ring, we want a ceremony, we want a consummation of marriage".
On March 10, 1999, SBC leaders met for policy concerns with Republican Party politicians Trent Lott, Dick Armey, Tom Delay, Don Nickels, Jesse Helms, as well as other leaders of the GOP.
Land almost jeopardized the tax exempt status of the SBC by his threat to air an audio tape of Jerry Falwell endorsing George W. Bush for office. Land did back off at the last minute, assuring followers he would not be intimidated by church/state organizations.
In 1994, GOP Platform Committee member and anti-separation of church and state advocate, David Barton, was featured at First Baptist in Houston. The same year, the Dan Quayle family graced the cover of the convention’s family magazine, "Home Life".
In 1996, Second Baptist Church of Lake Jackson, Texas, stunned the state by sending out letters to Texas churches saying a person who voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate committed a sin before God. Rehoboth Baptist Church in Atlanta aided the movement by advertising nationally a taped testimony of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp.
The Convention’s Executive Board magazine, "SBC Life", often features Republican public school positions. In 1997, it had a praising article about Republican Congressman, J.C. Watts. This was the same year Republican Senators, led by Jesse Helms, hosted a national Pastors’ Policy Briefing inviting Rick Scarborough, Paul Pressler, and Jerry Sutton.
In 1997, controversial Republican, Judge Roy Moore, was on the cover of "Home Life".
In ‘98, "SBC Life" carried an article attacking Jimmy Carter. In 1999, SBC President, Paige Patterson, called upon Bill Clinton’s home church to kick him out of the fellowship.
The year 2000, found Paul Pressler serving as a campaign treasurer for a Republican candidate in Houston. Tom Delay hosted a Christian World View Conference at fundamentalist controlled Houston Baptist University. During this crutial election year, the "Washington Post" carried an article saying Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition head, brought Land and Paige Patterson on board for GOP presidential contender George W. Bush. Land also features Republican Congressmen in his ethics magazine.
Fundamentalist leader, attorney Walter Carpenter, responded to an article I wrote in the "Houston Post" listing SBC and Republican Party links by admitting that the endorsement of Republican candidates by SBC leaders was only going to increase.
While Jimmy Carter was President, the first electing of a fundamentalist President took place in the SBC. Adrian Rogers was elected and Carter sought to reach out a hand of help and fellowship to the new SBC head. Rogers shocked Carter by demanding that Jimmy quit promoting Secular Humanism as the religion of America. Carter was puzzled at such talk but, near the end of 2000, decided he had had enough of the SBC. Is it any wonder why he has left the denomination of his entire life?