Good question, good answer

In response to my March 25 post ("The right to be wrong") about the Klouda vs. Southwestern Seminary case, John Land (jpland) raised this good question:
"If it is allowable to discriminate within religious groups based upon one's sex, should it also be allowable to do so based on one's race? What about those who are handicapped? I'm trying to understand where the law stops (or should stop) and the rights of the church start."
To get a deserving response, I asked Holly Hollman (in photo), general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., for help. Here's her answer:
"In this area of the law, as in others, the answer to such broad questions is 'it depends.' Often, the same set of facts will yield a different result in different jurisdictions. To get a legal opinion on any precise question, one should engage a lawyer in the applicable jurisdiction and provide him or her with all pertinent facts. For educational purposes, however, the following general information may be helpful.
Under a variety of federal civil rights laws, it is unlawful for employers with a certain number of employees to discriminate in employment with regard to certain 'protected categories,' such as race, gender, religion, and disability. Recognizing that religious organizations are distinctly protected under the First Amendment and other laws, many non-discrimination laws provide certain exemptions for religious entities. For example, schools that are either explicitly religious or owned by a religious institution are allowed to discriminate based on religion in their hiring processes. Likewise, houses of worship are exempt from the ban on religious discrimination, even in positions that lack explicitly religious duties. This exemption, however, does not give such entities the right to discriminate based upon other protected categories, such as race and national origin. A broader exemption has been recognized by many courts to prevent interference in ecclesiastical matters. This 'ministerial exemption' is based in First Amendment concerns and respect for church autonomy. It goes beyond the exemption from the prohibition on religious discrimination found in federal civil rights laws, but is typically limited to a church’s ministerial positions. If an entity can prove that it is a church' and that the person it is discriminating against is a 'minister,' then the courts will not rule on the case because 'civil courts are not an appropriate forum for review of internal ecclesiastical decisions.' Klouda v. Southwestern Theological Seminary, No. 4:07-CV-161-A (N.D. Tex. 2008). This is the exemption at issue in the Klouda case, and the court ultimately held that the seminary was a 'church' and Klouda was a 'minister,' as those terms are understood in the context of that jurisdiction’s ministerial exemption."

A cherry perspective on life

Tomorrow the city of Macon, Ga., rolls out the red ... make that light pink .... carpet for thousands of visitors from around the nation and beyond for the 26th annual Cherry Blossom Festival that lasts for 10 days.
Tour buses by the dozens will descend on our fair Southern town so visitors along with locals can attend cultural events, eat free cherry ice cream, frolic in the park, watch hot air balloons, gaze at a fushia-dyed poodle in a convertible, see otherwise conservative men wearing pink sports coats and, most of all, ooh-and-ah at the spectacle of some 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees in their springtime glory.
Festival planners and Mother Nature don't always work off the same schedule. But from the photos (just taken) you can tell things look right on time this year.

My neighborhood exercise route has new splendor with an ongoing canopy of cherry blossoms. It makes the foot-pounding routine more enjoyable than usual — unless I get run over by a tour bus.
And there is one more downside to the otherwise festive occasion: pollen.
Had I been consulted, the cherry blossoms would pop out in May when the pollen has disappeared.
As an old beekeeper, however, I know the connection between the pollen and the blossoms, and the importance of pollen for vegetation. But I still don't like it on my car, driveway, outdoor seating — or especially in my sinuses.
We like quick rain showers this time a year that rinse off the pollen without canceling the outdoor events or knocking off too many fragile cherry blossoms.
In someways, this is a classic battle of light pink vs. greenish yellow. Philosophically, it is our springtime version of the half-filled/half-empty glass.
The cherry blossoms are spectacular — when you look beyond the pollen.

The right to be wrong

Most observers of Baptist life know by now that a judge ruled in favor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president Paige Patterson in a case filed by Sheri Klouda. If not, the ABP story by Rob Marus is here.
The former Hebrew professor claimed gender discrimination and breach of contract when Patterson denied her tenure.
The judge said religious freedom guarantees in the First Amendment allow churches and church-owned institutions to make religiously motivated decisions about employment.
I think the judge is right. Religious freedom gives churches and individuals the right to be wrong.
Only a hard-core fundamentalist like Patterson and his dwindling flock of followers would see the dismissal and mistreatment of Dr. Klouda as a good thing. By all accounts, she was a superb Hebrew language professor with conservative credentials (a graduate of Criswell College and Southwestern Seminary).
But forget the logic. Never mind that she is not ordained, is not a pastor and has affirmed the theologically narrow 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statement.
Forget that Klouda was hired in 2002, the year before Patterson became president, and did nothing other than serve as a competent and well-liked professor until Patterson denied her tenure in 2004.
Was Patterson wrong? Many think so. But the judge has ruled that — in religious settings — individuals and institutions have the right to be wrong.
While I regret that Dr. Klouda and her family have suffered through this harsh treatment, my sympathy for those caught in the snares of fundamentalism is running low.
Since taking control of the Southern Baptist Convention more than two decades ago, male-dominated fundamentalist leadership has consistently adopted theological positions and enforced institutional policies that relegate women to secondary status.
Klouda's dismissal is just another along this well-worn path.
Paige Patterson's dismissal of Sheri Klouda is consistent with the kind of religious fundamentalism he has exhibited his whole life — and has imposed (with majority vote from Southern Baptists) on the SBC since he and Judge Paul Pressler planned the takeover in the '70s.
As one friend said to me recently: "Southern Baptists got what they asked for — and probably what they deserved."
And as another friend often reminds me: "If you pick up a snake, don't complain when it bites you."
The judge has made it clear: Religious leaders have the right and freedom to discriminate against women and to mistreat employees.
Let me also make it clear: Fundamentalists do that consistently. If you pick up that snake...?

Blue laws and inconsistencies

Government restrictions on Sunday activities, commonly called blue laws, have been around in various forms since 1617.
Those of a certain age can remember when virtually all stores and businesses were closed on Sunday by law, not by the convictions of store owners.
In Georgia, one of last remnants of the religiously influenced blue laws is a prohibition against selling packaged alcoholic beverages. And the state's Baptist governor is opposed to legislative efforts to have that issue brought to public vote.
The issue however has raised its head recently when state approval was sought to allow Sunday beer sales at a proposed baseball stadium in suburban Gwinnett County. Some legislators thought it to be a good time to tack on the vote about allowing local communities to determine Sunday sales too.
No way, said Gov. Sonny Perdue, who favors only approving the beer sales (uh, I mean ... the "economic development" issue, as he calls it) for the new stadium that will house the Atlanta Braves' AAA affiliate after a move from Richmond next year.
Of course, his opinion shows obvious political expediency. That's what politicians do, especially one who is the darling of the Baptist brethren.
There seem to be only two consistent options available, neither of which are likely to arise from such political debates. But I'll play them out anyway.
One: Allow the same sales opportunities to one vendor as another. Why should a barking beers salesman be able to sell overpriced, flat brew to spectators but the convenient store operator or grocer two miles from the stadium cannot sell a six-pack?
Two: Forgo the Sunday beer sales at the stadium. The Braves could market the games to families. The drunk-free environment would make it less likely some jerk would yell profanity in the face of your children or run over someone on the way home.
Some ballparks designate certain sections for families. But a weekly family day at the stadium — in a era of loss civility — would be welcome.
Yes, civility seems to get lost in our fast-paced living. So does consistency.

Earth-care latest Baptist squabble

Young seminarian Jonathan Merritt sure has gotten a lot of attention for his effort to get Southern Baptists more engaged in creation care. Even TIME magazine and other well-known publications picked up on it.
His concern, he said, was stimulated by a systematic theology class at Southeastern Baptist Seminary. That's good; theology classes are suppose to stimulate such reflections.
The visibility of his statement was greatly heightened when past Southern Baptist Convention presidents James Merritt (his father) and Jack Graham, along with current SBC president Frank Page, among others, added their signatures to the declaration.
The confessional part about the SBC being timid on this moral issue immediately put SBC ethics guru Richard Land on the defensive. And the public statement will likely result in opposing resolutions coming before the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis this June.
But at least they'll be talking about it.
Since climate change and environmental issues are generally associated with more progressive Christian groups — and persons like Al Gore, the formal SBC will be hesitant to embrace anything substantial on this issue.
Admittedly, it is a divisive one when the discussion moves to debating particular political solutions to protecting the environment from harm.
Tony Campolo, however, defined good parameters for theological discussions on this subject with the title of his 1992 book, How to Rescue the Earth without Worshiping Nature: A Christian's Call to Save Creation (Thomas Nelson).
As a non-scientist, I confess to not fully understanding much of the technical debate concerning the causes and impact of climate change. But I have no confusion about whether creation care is a matter of stewardship for believers.
It is one of the first messages given in the book we call holy.
Since my youth I have cringed whenever someone threw trash out a car window or spray-painted rocks on an otherwise scenic hillside. And I look for ways to live without creating unnecessary waste.
But my early awareness came from my involvement in Scouting, not from the church. Maybe that will change for the next generation of kids, even those in many Southern Baptist churches.

Carter to release new Covenant plans soon

President Jimmy Carter summoned about 65 Baptist leaders to The Carter Center in Atlanta yesterday (March 12) to consider follow-up steps to the highly successful Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant held earlier this year.
The group worked through multiple suggestions that have come out of the historic gathering of some 15,000 diverse Baptists around Jesus' ministry call in Luke 4 and heard reports such as the emergence of new networks for students and other young adults.
President Carter will soon release a summary report of yesterday's follow-up meeting including plans for future gatherings.
It was well noted and affirmed that President Carter is passionate about the reconciliation and cooperation of Baptists across racial and organizational lines.
"We've had thousands of questions about where we go next," Carter said. His upcoming report should give some helpful "first steps" for those who left the inspiring meeting hoping for more.
(Photo by Billy Howard from the Jan. 30-Feb.1 Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant)

Rooting for failure

An interesting article from AlterNet (by Rob Boston of Church and State) reveals why some former high-profile leaders of the so-called Religious Right or Christian Right became disenchanted with the movement.
Frank Schaeffer, son of the late evangelical hero Francis Schaeffer, made the insightful observation that the movement relies on the "failure of America."
"My doubts really began when I realized that the people we were working with on the Religious Right were profoundly anti-American," said Schaeffer. "...When I was working with the Religious Right, they seemed be rooting for the failure of America. Bad news was good news for them."
That also seems to reflect the attitude of partisans on both sides of the larger political divide. They seem to relish in the nation's failures when the other party is in power.
It is hard to imagine the attraction to any political agenda that finds its joy and perhaps even existence in the failure of fellow citizens that impacts all.
But I'll believe the Religious Right's influence has sufficiently waned when those ridiculous "voter guides" stop showing up in churches at election time — revealing God's clear positions on issues like a balance budget and missile defense spending.
Of course, James Dobson has already told us that John McCain does not stack up. McCain's greatest sin, it seems, is that he willing works with "them" at times and not exclusively with "us."
And the other two possible candidates... well, you know.

Proofreading and Lent

Once a month, our small editorial staff enjoys a weekend of proofreading. I dropped off a well-marked draft of the April edition of Baptists Today at managing editor Jackie Riley's house moments ago.
Contributing editor Tony Cartledge emailed in more corrections. He caught one place where I referred to a tornado as a hurricane in a photo cutline. I explained that I failed meteorology in college.
Of course, we don't really enjoy copy editing and proofreading. They are just necessary parts of an editor's job.
They lack the interest and creativity of writing, yet are essential to the communication process.
So one weekend a month is dedicated to this laborious process.
Lent is kind of like that. For a 40-day period each year — leading up to Easter — we focus on "copy editing" or "proofreading" our lives.
It's not much fun, but necessary. In some cases we correct errors. (Hurricanes and tornadoes are different.) In other cases, like in editing, we make changes that are not errors but can be improved.
Holy week is just around the corner, and then the glorious Easter celebration comes. But we all have some marking up to do in our lives. No one stands beyond the need for change, improvements. So get out the red pens or highlighters.

Bro. Smith's 'true gospel'

Jim Smith, editor of The Florida Baptist Witness and an unbridled advocate of all things fundamentalist, has amazing gifts beyond the rest of us in this narrow field of Christian journalism.
He can even see into the hearts and souls of the thousands of diverse fellow Baptists — black, white, brown, northern, southern, Canadian, American, conservative, moderate, liberal, none of the above — who gathered in Atlanta earlier this year for the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant.
In an editorial on the largest gathering ever of North American Baptists across racial and convention lines, Smith concluded: "For the sake of true unity, let's pray these Baptists can find their way back to the Gospel, for only then will their efforts matter for the Kingdom."
While certainly any event is imperfect and open to criticism, it is amazing (unless you've been around fundamentalism for awhile) that one would conclude that such a large and diverse gathering of faithful Baptist Christians needs the true Gospel.
The entire event was focused on the compelling words of Jesus that defined the Lord's own ministry and the one to which he calls his followers: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NIV)
As we well know, however, the "true gospel" for Bro. Smith and his ilk requires various forms of exclusion based on things Jesus didn't talk about, but James Dobson and Russ Limbaugh often do.
Pardon us, but we thought the Gospel According to Luke was the true Gospel.
As I think about the vibrant worship with tear-streamed faces and the clasp of black and white hands, and fervent prayer — I'm pretty sure Jesus was happily involved.
I don't believe Brother Smith was present at the Celebration, however. Fortunately neither was the pompous, condescending attitude he exhibits toward those who were.
If that is part of the "true gospel" he calls us to get back to, I'll stick with the one recorded by Luke.

The press and church problems

Making judgment calls is as important to editors as it is to sports officials. Some times we get it right; sometimes we don't.
One area that requires good judgment, and often restraint, has to do with news coverage of conflicts or other problems within local churches.
My mentor, Bill Neal, taught me to stay out of a congregation's internal business unless there was a very compelling reason to jump in. And a strong desire to gossip is not compelling enough.
Church problems — such as spats between a disgruntled segment of the congregation and a pastor — rarely stay inside the congregation. What used to be communicated through telephone relays, uh, I mean "prayer chains," and parking lot forums is posted on the "world-wide" web now.
Still, I believe the use of caution, if not restraint, remains valid.
Some might argue that the job of a journalist is to get out the news that people want to hear. That is true — to a degree.
But valid news requires a certain level of uniqueness. To use an overused illustration, that's why television stations show plane crashes rather than routine landings.
Church leadership conflicts, sadly, are not that unique. And increased awareness by outsiders rarely helps with resolution.
However, there are some congregational struggles that impact other churches and therefore deserve coverage.
Once, in my previous job, I learned that a pastor had been arrested for a similar offense that had cost him his job at an Atlanta area church. He had moved several states away to resume his ministry.
I informed leaders of the Georgia church that the story of his arrest would be appearing in the next issue of state Baptist newspaper. One lay leader begged me not to run the story in fear that it would "open wounds" the congregation experienced years ago.
But the greater need — to make churches aware of this person's criminal activity — overrode one congregation's scab removal.
Still, whether (or how) to cover a church's internal conflicts is not always so clear to me. At times I feel like a striped shirt is on my back and I'm not sure how loud to blow the whistle.

Shoulders on which I stand

Writing was a creative outlet for me, not a contemplated career move.
That is, until my friend William T. (Bill) Neal III started giving me writing assignments when I was doing campus ministry at Georgia Tech.
His affirmation and encouragement always made me want to write more and better. But campus ministry was my intended vocation.
Eventually, Bill developed a new position at The Christian Index, the historic newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention, for a managing editor. He kept revising it and showing it to me until I bit.
I am deeply and forever grateful to Bill for pulling me into and guiding me through a new career. He was my patient mentor for more than six years, teaching me most every aspect of the news publishing business.
There is no way I would be serving as editor of Baptists Today without standing on the broad shoulders of my dear friend Bill Neal. He is one of the kindest and most authentic Christians I have ever known.
Bill's adherence to basic journalistic and Christian ethic principles of fairness and honesty eventually made him unfit to serve a fundamentalist-controlled publication that expected the editor to carry out a political cause.
His forced departure was ugly and unchristian. Today, however, he is graciously using his many talents as president/CEO of Developmental Disabilities Ministries based in the Atlanta area.
Standing on Bill's shoulders got me into journalism and therefore to Baptists Today. But, also, I stand on the shoulders of those who preceded me at this uniquely independent, national news journal.
One of the joys of my eight years as editor of Baptists Today has been getting acquainted with founding editor Walker Knight. He is a prophet, hero and consummate journalist.
Jack Harwell was the second editor of Baptists Today. Because he was longtime editor of the Index (and the one who brought Bill Neal into career journalism), I have known and appreciated Jack for decades.
Recently, he told me that he often drives from his home in the Atlanta area to Chattanooga and back. When he passes the northernmost Georgia exit of I-75 — near where I was born and raised — he offers a prayer for me.
I am grateful to Jack for his prayers and affirmation.
Bob Ballance, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Cartersville, Ga., was editor for only one year before I came to Baptists Today. Though brief, his leadership helped refocus the news journal to face a changing denominational landscape and new technology. He is kind and encouraging to me as well.
As Baptists Today faces its 25th anniversary, I am deeply grateful for those editors on whose shoulders I stand. Both those who brought the publication to the time and place when I assumed the editorship — and the one who enabled me to even be considered for such a job. Thanks!