Baptist ethicist Robert Parham has weighed in on the “birthers” movement that continues to question whether President Obama was born in the U.S., warning Baptists should avoid getting caught in the fray.

He points to a story in the Mohave Daily News, which reports that Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said at a town hall meeting he was considering suing Obama over the birth certificate issue.

Parham notes that Franks, a member of a Southern Baptist megachurch, joins fellow Baptist and former House Majority Speaker Tom DeLay in questioning the place of the president’s birth. DeLay called for Obama to produce his birth certificate on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”

Says Parham: “If Baptist Republicans walk and talk like birthers, does that make them racists? No. But as every Southern momma knows and warns her children, one is known by the company they keep. Let’s hope our Baptist family starts keeping distance between themselves and the birthers.”

(Photo credit: http://www.house.gov/franks/)