I.)  BJCPA Claims “no position” on Abortion Issue.  But…

 

  1. Mr. Tichenor concedes that the BJC was “pro-choice” on abortion but contends that James Dunn moved the BJC “away from a pro-choice position to a no position on abortion.”  He further argues that it is “unfair to hold the current staff” responsible for the pro-abortion activities of a former BJC Executive Director.  But the real issue is whether anything has changed at the BJC except their publicly stated position.  The BJC’s claim that they take “no position” on the single most divisive issue in contemporary America, in light of its numerous church/state allies who argue that abortion is a religious liberty issue, is the height of deception.  The purpose for this section of our BJC flyer is to show that all evidence points to the BJC as a committed “pro-choice” organization, a position that could severely damage the BJC’s financial support and credibility among Southern Baptists if that position was open and “public.”    

  2. According to a 1980 article appearing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, while Dunn was still head of the Texas Christian Life Commission, conservative Texas Baptists got approval of an anti-abortion resolution at the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas: “The resolution, approved Thursday, states that all medical evidence indicates that an abortion ends the life of a developing human being and urges ‘that we not support or condone the use of tax money or public, tax supported medical facilities for abortion.’  Conservatives defeated attempts to remove the sentence opposing use of tax money for abortions.  Dr. James Dunn, head of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, said the resolution is contrary to abortion statements in the [Texas Christian Life] Commission’s report made to the convention, and he said he was disappointed over the opposition to use of public funds for abortion.  Dunn and other Baptists said thousands of teen-agers are victims of rape and incest each year and could not afford private hospitals for abortions.” (Fort Worth Star Telegram, Oct. 31, 1980, p. 15A)   In 1978, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) filed a friend-of-the-court brief stating that denial of taxpayer money for elective abortions was a violation of both the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment. (Church and State, November 1978, p. 10)  According to the Southern Baptist Advocate, Dunn was funding AU through the Texas CLC: “In the budget for the Baptist General Convention of Texas there is no item for Americans United, but investigation on the part of THE ADVOCATE discovered it to be veiled in the budget of The Christian Life Commission.  One must wonder what other expenditures are so veiled.”  (September, 1980, p. 5)  Dunn assumed his position as executive director of the BJC January 1, 1981.  About that same time he also became a trustee of Americans United and a member of People for the American Way’s (PAW) board of directors.  Both AU and PAW have been outspoken advocates of abortion rights. 

  3. In March of 1981, speaking at the annual meeting of the SBC’s Christian Life Commission, BJC Executive Director James Dunn opposed the Human Life Amendment stating that “…under the sort of laws proposed by the hard-line anti-abortionist…[o]ne  specific brand of theology would be written into the Constitution of the United States…  It is a church/state issue when the sex ethic of one theology is pushed as the law of the land.” (Proceedings of the March 23-25, 1981 CLC Seminar)  However, Dunn also claims that in the same month of the same year the BJC’s full board voted “that the staff should take no position and no action on the abortion issue.” (Report from the Capital, May 14, 1996, p.3)  Certainly, Dunn’s stated opposition to the Human Life Amendment constitutes “a position” on abortion. 

  4. On April 13, 1978, three years before Dunn spoke at the CLC conference, Foy Valentine, Executive Director of the CLC, was invited by the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) to become a “national sponsor of the coalition,” at which time Valentine accepted.  Valentine had already signed an RCAR document in 1977 entitled “A Call to Concern,” which stated that they viewed “campaign[s] to enact religiously-based anti-abortion commitments into law…as a serious threat to religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”  Thus, Valentine’s commitment to abortion as a religious liberty issue is well established.  The RCAR document also supported federal funding for abortions, a position taken by Americans United in 1978 and the Texas CLC in 1980.  Valentine and Dunn have served together on the trustee board of Americans United. Valentine served as  President of AU from 1989 to 1993 and has served on the BJC board of directors.     

  5. In regard to former BJC executive director James E. Wood Jr. and his involvement with RCAR, Mr. Tichenor writes: “It is unfair to hold the current staff and trustees accountable for actions taken nearly 20 years ago by a former executive director of the BJC.  James Wood’s signature on a 1979 document issued by the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) is not the policy of the BJC for today.”  Mr. Tichenor’s attempt to distance former BJC executive director James Wood from current BJC leadership, reflects a rather sloppy logic, considering Dr. Wood has long served as head of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church/State Studies at Baylor University, a major player in the SBC moderate movement.  Furthermore, J. M. Dawson, after whom the Baylor church/state institute is named, was the first executive director of the BJC.  (Dawson also served as the first executive director of Americans United until a permanent replacement could be found in 1948.) 

  6. Dr. Wood’s signature on the 1979 RCAR statement, “A Call to Commitment,” stated that: “We view the effort of the anti-abortionists to amend the Constitution to prohibit all abortions as a serious threat to the First Amendment which protects the free exercise of religion.”  The statement continues, “If, therefore, a particular religious doctrine on abortion is incorporated in the supreme law of the land, our religious liberties will have been seriously eroded.”  This is no different from Dunn’s statement that: “It is a church/state issue when the sex ethic of one theology is pushed as the law of the land,” or from the RCAR document signed by Valentine in 1977 stating that: “campaign[s] to enact religiously-based anti-abortion commitments into law…[represents] a serious threat to religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”    According to RCAR, AU and leaders of the BJC, when abortion is restricted in the legislative process, it is automatically viewed as a church/state issue because it represents an effort to “establish” at law a particular theological position.

  7. In regard to the BJC’s inclusion of RCAR in their 1989 Congressional Directory and Action Guide under the heading “Resources for Political Education and Action,” Mr. Tichenor argues that such an inclusion is “certainly not an endorsement of any position which may have been taken at that time or which may be taken in the future by RCAR.”  The question remains, however, for what reason would such a radical pro-abortion group be listed in the BJC’s Congressional Directory, unless the “right” to an abortion is indeed viewed by the BJC as a religious liberty issue. According to a 1983 RCAR document (revised in 1990) entitled: ABORTION: Why religious organizations in the United States want to keep it legal:  “RCAR’s purpose is to educate the American public about the diversity of views on abortion in the religious community, and about the threats to religious liberty that are posed by anti-choice legislation.”  It should also be noted that RCAR has helped church/state groups like the BJC in such efforts as school prayer.  According to the March 1994 issue of RCAR’s newsletter, Reporter:  “[RCAR] Membership Director Laurie Shepard is working closely with People for the American Way and other ‘separation of church and state’ groups to organize clergy for cross-issue collaboration.  The first fruit of this labor is a national clergy sign-on letter opposing organized school prayer which is being circulated by People for the American Way.” 

  8.  In 1994, Mary Jane Patterson, former director of the Washington office of the Presbyterian Church (USA), was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy.  Ms. Patterson was President of RCAR from 1982-1985 and serves on the governing board of Americans United with the BJC’s James Dunn.  Dunn is a board member of the Churches’ Center and also a past recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. (Report from the Capital, May 1991, p. 9)   A picture of Patterson and Dunn with a brief article appeared in the May 17th 1994 issue of the BJC’s Report from the Capital.  Others serving with Dunn on the boards of the Churches’ Center that signed the 1977 RCAR statement, “A Call to Concern” include: M. Douglas Meeks, James A. Nash, Donald W. Shriver, Jr., J. Philip Wogaman, Norman Faramelli, and Paul Deats.  Robert Tiller, also a board member of the Churches’ Center, was recently named a “member representative” to RCAR, representing a “pro-choice” organization within the American Baptist Churches USA (ABC).  Tiller is Director of Government Relations for the ABC, and a long time member of the BJC board.  (See section II.3 for BJC involvement with supporters of the Partial Birth Abortion procedure.)

  9. The significance of RCAR among SBC moderates is seen in their support of the abortion rights organization.  Numerous SBC professors also signed the 1977 and 1979 RCAR documents: Bob E. Adams, former professor at Southwestern Seminary, “breakout” leader at the 1995 General Assembly of the CBF and recent past contributing editor for the BJC; Thomas A. Bland, former professor at Southeastern Seminary; Dan McGee, professor at Baylor University and “breakout” leader at the 1992 CBF General Assembly; Glen Stassen, former professor at Southern Seminary and “breakout” leader at the 1992 CBF General Assembly; and Paul Simmons, former professor of Christian Ethics at Southern Seminary and chairman of the Theological Education Committee of the CBF of Kentucky.  Simmons has long been a leading spokesman for RCAR, giving an element of Southern Baptist credibility to its pro-abortion agenda.  John Hewett, former moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship was the Kentucky state coordinator for RCAR in 1979.  Americans United and RCAR have enjoyed a very close relationship over the years, where Dunn, Valentine, Wood, Simmons and Hewett have all served in official AU leadership positions.

  10. Mr Tichenor boldly concludes this section stating: “The simple truth is that the BJC does not advocate either a pro-life or a pro-choice position.  The BJC does not have a position on the issue of abortion.”

 

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