COMMENTARY: When private faith becomes public witness

c. 1997 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and publisher of Religion News Service.) UNDATED _ My Grandpa Hanson was a diminutive Swede who never let his size influence his tendency to live large. As a young man he was aided by vast quantities of alcohol, a sharp tongue […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of”Turn Toward the Wind”and publisher of Religion News Service.)

UNDATED _ My Grandpa Hanson was a diminutive Swede who never let his size influence his tendency to live large.


As a young man he was aided by vast quantities of alcohol, a sharp tongue and ready fists. But then he found God.

His conversion was as dramatic as everything else in his life. He immediately stopped drinking, cursing and fighting. Then he turned his considerable energy to church activities and witnessing to his new found faith.”Are you saved?”Grandpa Hanson asked of strangers on the street or anyone sitting nearby on a bus. His methods were no less subtle than when he used his fists, but his message was sincere and his results were often surprising.

One day I saw him accost a stranger with his surprising question. The man grew red in the face and I thought he was about to punch my grandfather. Then the stranger got tears in his eyes and began to confess his deep spiritual needs. While I watched with a mixture of fascination and humiliation, the man prayed with my grandfather in the middle of a busy street.

To my grandfather, witnessing was a natural expression of his faith. He had been saved, not just from hell, but from his destructive earthly life. Of course, he had to tell others so they, too, could experience this cosmic solution to what ailed them.

He never worried about whether or not it would make him popular. But neither did he impose his beliefs on others. Some co-workers in his union teased him, but few could deny his remarkable turnaround. And to those who had their own beliefs, he asked sincere questions, always wanting to understand what their faith meant to them.

I have no doubt that were my grandfather alive today, he would have strong feelings about the place of the Ten Commandments and prayer in Judge Roy Moore’s Alabama courtroom.

Like my grandfather, Judge Moore is a Baptist, and not one of those”mealy-mouth kind,”as Grandpa Hanson called those not outspoken about their convictions.


Judge Moore also feels that it is important to be open about his beliefs and active in his witness. According to his view, anyone who has broken a law is less in need of justice than redemption, and will be helped more by prayer than a prison sentence.

Those who agree with the judge hold to a theology that has changed little since the Puritans first sought religious freedom. What has changed greatly is the society in which the Puritans-turned-Baptists practice their faith.

Baptist beliefs are rooted in independence. The early church adamantly refused to take any public funding and supported congregational autonomy. Even today, the Southern Baptist Convention is a group of churches that share beliefs and support group activities, but are not governed by the denomination.

Central to Baptist belief is a personal relationship with Jesus and overt witness to that conversion. To my grandfather, that meant stopping people on street corners. To Moore, it means displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and saying a prayer before each session.

But Judge Moore’s courtroom rules conflict with some of the same principles that permitted his Baptists ancestors to practice their faith in America. The Puritans didn’t come here hoping to win elections or impose their beliefs on anyone else. They simply wanted freedom to practice a faith that set them apart from the prevailing religion of the day.

Once they found that freedom, they were adamant about clinging to independence from government or any other ruling body. And our founding fathers were looking out for the beliefs of Baptists and others when they wrote the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing this country would be a place free from the”establishment of religion”and not”prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Roy Moore, private citizen, has every right to practice his beliefs and witness openly and regularly to all willing to hear him out. Indeed, his faith requires him to do so.


But Judge Moore has chosen to serve his country in a position requiring him to guard the freedom of all citizens. By denying non-Christians the right to pray in his courtroom or imposing Christian beliefs on nonbelievers, he has moved from being someone expressing his own beliefs to someone denying others the opportunity to voice theirs.

By holding up his beliefs as the standard for all society, he forgets not only history, but also theology. The New Testament offers many examples of Christianity conflicting with culture. Jesus, himself, often disagreed with the judges of his day and was tried, convicted and crucified according to the laws of his society. Yet the ministry of Jesus and his disciples was focused on changing individuals, not institutions.

Those with strong spiritual convictions often have to make choices setting them apart. Sometimes it means they cannot, in good conscience, be part of a particular institution. No one should know that better than a Baptist.

Roy Moore is a Christian who chose to become a judge. If he finds the compromise he is asked to make in his courtroom conflicts with his faith, he should resign his temporal job and hold true to his spiritual calling. Then he can witness boldly to his faith while other judges uphold his right to do so.

MJP END BOURKE

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