Jeffress’ judgment, issued from on high May 18: “I believe there are some great Christians who teach and attend at Baylor, but what they teach and the underlying philosophy is anti-Christian. And I don’t think any true Christian parent who wanted their kids to have a Christian education would allow their child anywhere near Baylor University.” The ever-provocative pastor of 13,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas and fire-breathing Fox News commentator went on to lament his congregation’s having long sent students to Baylor only to “have their faith completely torn apart by infidels in the religion department.”
Thus Pastor Jeffress in his almighty tirade serves up good reason for preferring democracy to theocracy in America. Jeffress’ view of the Christian faith hinges on a nightmarish perversion of Old Testament condemnation, marginalization and vengeance, arguably in lockstep with some Americans’ politics of late but at odds with Jesus’ teachings of charity, hope, love and, yes, tolerance. As a journalist who has rigorously chronicled and questioned Baylor’s failings in crises through the years, I’m perhaps better positioned then to celebrate Baylor when it demonstrates Christian humility, compassion and outreach.
Sure, some people have mixed feelings about the LGBTQ question, but to their credit Baylor regents this month signaled a move forward and above the rancor. In their declaration, they stated a desire “to establish trust with our LGBTQ students so that, among other things, they might seek out the resources provided by Baylor.” They acknowledge Baylor’s “responsibility to serve the needs of all students entrusted to us across all areas of their development – academics, personal and spiritual.” That’s not exactly a hearty embrace of what Jeffress calls “ungodly activity” but it conveys inclusiveness, stewardship and caring.
Jeffress ridicules Baylor’s claim to be “unapologetically Christian but the fact is all they do is apologize for being Christian.” This may well refer to BU leadership’s effort to address the stench of racism one might expect of Texas’ oldest continuously operating university. To help students, faculty and the public better grasp the harm of not only slavery but the Jim Crow era, Baylor through the past year has tapped historians far and near to set important historical context; held discussion groups with students; and issued a report seeking to correct symbolic matters regarding campus statues and memorials.
And a day after Jeffress slammed Baylor leadership, university officials joined Waco Mayor Dillon Meek in honoring “faculty, staff and alumni who have demonstrated efforts to foster greater appreciation and advancement of diversity, inclusiveness and equity for communities of color at Baylor and in Waco.” They include Elizabeth Palacios, dean for student development, Division of Student Life; Lakia Scott, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, School of Education; and Dominque Hill, director of wellness, Division of Student Life.
Given the strong influence Rev. Jeffress acknowledges First Baptist of Dallas legend and Baylor critic W.A. Criswell has had on his life (Criswell died in 2002), perhaps this week’s blistering criticism isn’t so surprising. During the interview with conservative commentator Todd Starnes (who said some 30 pastors in the Waco area wrote Baylor to protest its nuanced approach to the LGBTQ dilemma), Jeffress, 65, railed about his long-ago days as a Baylor student. Professors back then, he charged, would “stand up and talk about all the errors in the Bible, the contradictions in the Bible, how the Bible was just a collection of men’s thoughts about God.”
Yet if the supposedly divine and infallible word of the Bible cannot withstand college-level scholarship about its origins, questions regarding those who wrote biblical text (inspired or not) and what latter-day interpretations hold for those of faith, then these texts will and should not endure the ages any more than the U.S. Constitution which is analyzed, questioned, debated and dissected daily, and in great detail, by academic scholars, working attorneys and federal jurists. Perhaps attorney and former federal judge Ken Starr — whose tenure as a popular and enlightened Baylor president ended in 2016 amid a #MeToo scandal of sexual assault and administrative indifference overwhelming the BU campus — can offer a proper defense of the university he once championed when he appears on Jeffress’ Sunday morning church program to plug his new book, “Religious Liberty in Crisis.”
Jeffress certainly isn't alone in his scathing condemnation of Baylor. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler — whom religion journalist Mark Wingfield in his insightful Baptist News Global analysis describes as "defender of the official faith of the Southern Baptist Convention” — tweeted of the Waco-based Christian university of more than 16,000 students and a regent board that includes some chosen by Baylor alumni: "This is a picture of institutional capitulation disguised as care. Accepting a chartered student organization identified as LGBTQ is incompatible with holding to biblical convictions. The great surrender continues." Tweeting right back at Mohler was Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Arlington-based Cornerstone Baptist Church, who raised questions of accuracy and consistency in Mohler's stance: "Baylor affirmed a biblical view of sexuality without compromise in [its May 14] statement. SBTS accommodated you as president affirming the Lost Cause Theory & permitted [Baptist lay leader and retired state appellate judge] Paul Pressler to declare “the wrong side won the civil war,” without any public reprimand. Jesus showed compassion." [Rev. McKissic is black; Pressler and Mohler, predictably, are white. The Lost Cause narrative, of course, offers a wildly misleading and benign portrait of the antebellum South, secession, slavery and surrender in the Civil War.] Yet Rev. Jeffress' stance is attracting most attention, no doubt given his relative tolerance and acceptance of high-profile sinners in political realms who gain his personal favor.
Many following Starnes and Jeffress this week have expressed doubt at what they heard and read. One tweeted: “Even if there were ‘infidels’ in the Baylor faculty, if your adult children cannot engage with non-Christians without having their faith shattered... maybe that's not saying much for how stable the faith you taught them is.” Another, aware of Jeffress’ earthbound idol, tweeted to Starnes: “Deepest apologies to you and @robertjeffress/@firstdallas that my grad school alma mater doesn’t expressly set out to clone his particular ilk of Trumpist idolators of power.” Another asked Jeffress directly by tweet: "Why do 'Christian' ministers like you work so hard to find people to hate?"
A bracing truth: All religions at various times haves perpetuated evil in the world. It’s to Baylor’s credit that “infidels” in the religion department explore the spiritual, ethical and moral challenges of being a Christian in times when false prophets among us are many. With growing emphasis on everything from scientific research to scrutiny of religious texts to studies of the human condition, Baylor is best when encouraging critical thinking in defiance of tribalism, echo chambers and demagoguery. To that end, Rev. Jeffress is one more distracting voice in the din of an increasingly corrupted society, complete with bloviating religious charlatans and God-fearing snake charmers that complement Thomas Jefferson's long-dreaded "soothsayers and necromancers” imperiling American democracy. Altogether they highlight the steep challenges confronting us in the here and now.
No comments:
Post a Comment