The Huckabee Tapes

What is it with Republicans and tapes? What ever it is, Mike Huckbee seems to have mastered the art of losing or erasing what he doesn't want the public to see.

Huckabee, who is now ahead in Iowa, is an ordained Southern Baptist minister who pastored churches in Arkansas for twelve years. In 1989, at age 34, he became the youngest person to ever serve as President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention-despite having dropped out of Southwestern Seminary after just one year. It seems that this seminary-the same one that wanted my husband to sign in order for me to enter the M.Div. program in 1985-was becoming a bastion of liberalism. Right.

Yet, despite his fame and success as a minister, according to Mother Jones, neither the churches where he served nor his campaign can manage to provide tapes of his sermons. Imagine that.

From what we do know of Huckabee's public statements during this period, it is clear that the content of his sermons might prove tough for a presidential candidate to defend-especially when it comes to the role of religion in government and rights of women.

You see, the twelve years period when Huckabee pastored coincided with the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, and beginning in 1984, the Convention passed a series of resolutions designed to exclude women from ordained ministry. Ultimately, in 1998, the SBC passed the "Family Amendment" advising women to "graciously submit" to their husbands. Personally, I'd like to know whether Huckabee was a messenger to any of the conventions where these resolutions were presented, and, if so, how did he vote? Did any of the churches he served ordain women to the ministry or as deacons? I think it's a fair question.

A 1998 article in Arkansas Online describes then Gov. Huckabee's startling statements to fellow Baptist ministers who were gathered for a meeting in, where else, Salt Lake City. I find this article compelling because it was written ten years ago before Huckabee planned a run for President. Here are a couple of truly scary quotes:

Huckabee also explained why he left pastoring for politics."I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."He compared his entry into politics to "getting inside the dragon's belly," adding,"There's not one thing we can do in those marbled halls and domed capitols that can equal what's done when Jesus touches the lives of a sinner."

And...

The nation has descended gradually into crisis, Huckabee said, and repairing the damage needs to be gradual, too. He said the solution is simple: faith in Christ.

Strangly foreshadowing Huckabee's race with Romney, those who attended this 1998 meeting left with copies of Mormonism Unmasked by R. Philip Roberts. Let's just say it's not a flattering portrayal of Mormonism.

No wonder self-described Jesus-first conservatives are supporting Mike Huckabee. I'm with Elizabeth Edwards. This guy scares me.

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Giuliani Says No to Jesus: Baptist President Prays and Tells

"No, Frank, I'm not ready to do that. My daddy knows Jesus like that, but I'm not ready for that," said Republican presidential front runner Rudy Giuliani, rejecting the invitation of Rev. Frank Page to accept Jesus as his savior. Not to worry, Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page-who obviously knew about Giuliani's cell phone prowess-gave him his mobile number and invited the presidential candidate, a Roman Catholic, to call him when he was ready to talk about Jesus.

And how do we know this? According to Robert Parham over at Ethics Daily, we know because Page thought it was appropriate to "pray and tell." He bragged about his quest when he was addressing a group of Southern Baptist pastors in Oklahoma, failing to maintain pastoral confidentiality.

But Giuliani shouldn't be feeling too bad. According to Parham, Page also told his colleagues about his conversation with John McCain, an episcopalian who now attends a baptist church. Page says he asked, "Who owns your soul, John McCain?"

I can't wait to hear how Page's conversation with Romney goes. (I'm sure he'll tell us.) After all, Southern Baptists think Mormonism is a cult.

I sort of feel sorry for right-wing fundamentalists like Page, though. It's tough moving to the political bench when you've become accustomed to calling plays. Perhaps he, like Bush, is just trying to find a way to stay relevant.

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Seminary Wives Institute

My post, Sex and the Seminary, generated a remarkable amount of blog traffic, most referred from The Southern Baptist Convention's "SBC Outpost" where the post was linked in an article about the ongoing debate about the value and intent of the course in homemaking at Southwestern and the "Seminary Wives Institute" (with no corresponding "Seminary Husbands Institute") at my Alma mater, Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Others have written about this, too.


Mary K. Mohler, the wife of Albert Mohler, the President of Southern Seminary, is in charge of the "Seminary Wives Institute" and has authored a publication called, "Modeling Modesty" that is essentially a guide to how Christian women should dress. There is no mention in the publication of how men should dress, quite the contrary, Ms. Mohler seems to place the responsibility for men behaving responsibly with regard to their sexual desires squarely on the shoulder of women and girls. There's a lot to say about this, and perhaps I will at another time. For now, here are a couple of quotes:

"Don't blame the men around you who happen to be unfortunate enough to be within sight and say that they need to get their minds out of the gutter....Ladies must remember what battles men face to stay pure as they are stimulated visually by women. They should never have it flaunted in their faces and to have it done at church is an abomination." (p. 8)

"Mothers of sons have often asked me, "What can we do? We don't have daughters that we can influence, but we have sons who are looking at how your daughters dress." Men of all ages struggle with this. It is out job as mothers of daughters to make sure that our daughters appearances are not causing males to stumble or causing females to point to them as examples to make their cases."

I have no problem with the idea that women ought to dress tastefully, and, frankly, the 'fashion' choices for little girls are far too grown up, but the picture painted here is of men who are on a sexually hair-trigger over which they have no control. It is as if men, sitting in the pew, are bound to pounce on the nearest female if her skirt is too short or her blouse too low. And, if they pounce, don't blame them, blame the women. I happen to think more of men than that. How about an ethic of shared responsibility, instead?

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Baptists Challenged to "Outbreed the Mormans"

In Extra, Extra, Breed All About It, Bob Allen of Ethics Daily writes about a strategy for church growth that may keep Southern Baptists in the bed rather than in the pew. Citing a pitifully low birthrate among Southern Baptists, Russell Moore, has urged Baptists to "outbreed the Mormans and out preach the Pentecostals." Moore is the Dean of the School of Procreology, uhm, I mean, Theology at The Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville. (Yes, that is my Alma Mater, but, trust me, it was taken over by the infidels.)

It seems that when the neo-cons executed the takeover of the SBC in the 1980's, they failed to consider the consequences of changing the demographics of this once blue collar denomination. The influx of wealthy, better educated members has lowered the birthrate among Southern Baptists to less that two children per female 20-44 (1.96 to be exact). Moore, and other Southern Baptists fear the death of the denomination if the congregants don't get busy and start birthing brand new Baptists. Moore moaned that the Baptist birthrate was, "just barely above the Episcopalians and well below the notoriously liberal United Church of Christ." Mormon families had the highest fertility rate (2.69).

As Allen points out, this is hardly one rogue Southern Baptist theologian, but instead, this ridiculous view is reflected among other SBC leaders. Perhaps the need to ensure the next generation of Southern Baptists through procreation explains the need for the new seminary degree in "Christian Homemaking" that includes a seven hour lab in clothing construction. To further this particular effort they may wish to make that "clothing deconstruction."

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