Freedom of Conscience Dialogue

by T C. Pinckney, Editor                                                                                            Vol. VIII, No. 10, Nov./Dec. 1995

Someone recently sent me a brochure from an outfit located in Buffalo, NY, which terms itself "Free Inquiry." It touts two meetings, one in California which I'll ignore, and the other held at the University of Richmond 6-7 October. The latter is titled "Freedom of Conscience: A Baptist/Humanist Dialogue."

The paragraph describing this "dialogue" includes the following: "In recent years fundamentalist conservatives have seized control of scores of Baptist institutions and steered a course towards inerrantism, often intolerance. Join us for a stimulating encounter as leading figures from the Baptist Church and from secular humanism discuss ... Participants include leading liberal Baptist thinkers and some of America's best-known advocates of secular humanism."

Point one: Whoever wrote that brochure doesn't know much about Baptists. There is a Methodist Church, a Lutheran Church, a Catholic Church, but we Baptists emphasize our non-hierarchical polity by staying away from that term. We call ourselves a convention or denomination, perhaps more accurately several different denominations: American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Conservative Baptists, et cetera. But there is no "Baptist Church."

Point two: Note that the brochure writer himself refers to participants as "liberal Baptist thinkers and some of America's best-known advocates of secular humanism." Who are some of these "liberal Baptists"? Fortunately the brochure lists speakers. Names that many of our readers will have heard of include:

– Robert Alley, professor of humanities, U. of Richmond. Some years ago Dr. Alley created a furor by remarks that were published in The Richmond News Leader. The newspaper reported that Alley said, "I see JESUS as really a Jew. I don't imagine for a minute that he would have had the audacity to claim the deity for himself." Alley continues to teach as professor of humanities at the University of Richmond which is included in the Baptist General Association of Virginia 1995 budget to receive over $300,000. Much of his unbelief is evident in his 1970 book Revolt Against the Faithful. For example, he states that Adam, Eve, Noah, and Jonah were fictitious persons. (JESUS said that He would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights as Jonah was in the belly of the whale. And if Jonah was fictitious – what does that say about JESUS?)

Alley says that the fact that Paul, Mark, John, and Peter did not mention the miraculous birth of JESUS throws doubt on the Virgin Birth. He also states that the legend of the Virgin Birth was used in the beginning to demonstrate that JESUS was a real human being. Then later this legend was used to claim His deity.

– Joe Edward Barnhart is professor of philosophy, North Texas State University. He is a graduate of Southern Seminary and an agnostic, perhaps even an atheist.

– Paul Simmons, former professor of Christian ethics, Southern Seminary, is very active in writing and speaking in support of abortion.

– E. Glenn Hinson, former professor at Southern Seminary and currently professor of Church History, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond – the seminary established to proclaim liberal theology and which is also supported by the BGAV budget, receiving 4% of the mission money in the World Mission 2 track and 3.19% of that in the World Mission 3 track. Dr. Hinson is a leading liberal academic. Hinson's liberalism first achieved notoriety with the publishing of his book Jesus Christ. Following are a few excerpts.

"A number of modern scholars have discounted the healing narratives and miracle stories, ascribing them to primitive mythology and early Christian embellishment. Some embellishment undoubtedly occurred. Moreover, the primitive world view and science of Jesus' day would have given a different cast to healings and other phenomena than the modern world view and science would." (p.66)

"Indeed, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Jesus expected the return of the Son of Man and the consummation to occur within his own lifetime (Mark 13:30). His ‘error' was due to prophetic foreshortening. So urgent was his sense of mission, it seemed as if God had to consummate his kingdom immediately." (p. 76)

"Indeed, Jesus' sayings circulated as independent pericopae over a thirty to fifty year period before being collected, the churches still expecting his return. A delay of Christ's return, or Parousia, finally forced the writing down of his words but not before they had undergone considerable reshaping. What was written down, therefore, represented the mind of the early Church much more than the mind of Jesus himself. When sifted, it leaves little that one can confidently attribute to Jesus himself." (p. 78)

– Stan Hastey, formerly on staff at the liberal Baptist joint Committee on Public Affairs and now executive director of the far left Alliance of Baptists.

The humanists who came to dialogue with the "liberal Baptists" were headed by Paul Kurtz, professor emeritus of philosophy, SUNY at Buffalo who is one of the major promoters of atheistic humanism and a signer of the infamous Humanist Manifesto.

I regret that this brochure reached me too late to present this information in the September Banner. Perhaps some of our readers would have been curious enough to attend the dialogue and to see and hear for themselves.