Associated Baptist Press - 3/5/2009

Associated Baptist Press
March 5, 2009 · (09-32)

David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer

In this issue
Baylor chair, over objections, names search panel comprised entirely of regents (1,578 words)
Bill Leonard stepping down as dean of Wake Forest divinity school (439 words)
Lanny Hall to return to Hardin-Simmons as president (426 words)
School sued for censoring religious message (457 words)
Opinion: A Christian rationale for a truth commission (873 words)

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Baylor chair, over objections, names search panel comprised entirely of regents
By Ken Camp (1,578 words)

WACO, Texas (ABP) -- Baylor University Regents chairman Howie Batson announced March 5 that he had named 14 current members of the school's governing board to a committee charged with searching for the university's next president. He also named 10 representatives of various Baylor constituencies to a non-voting advisory committee.

Batson's decision contravenes calls by faculty, student and alumni groups at the world's largest Baptist school asking him to include non-regents as voting members of the search panel.

Last fall, the Baylor Faculty Senate, the Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor Student Government each passed resolutions urging regents to include as voting members of the presidential-search committee representatives from Baylor's constituent bodies, but Batson chose an all-regent search committee.

"We've been respectful of the spirit of the resolutions," Batson told reporters in a March 5 conference call. "They wanted to be included. They wanted to be heard."

But ultimately, Batson concluded, accrediting rules and Baylor's governing documents required that regents alone hold responsibility for selecting the university's chief executive officer.

"It's not the process we would have preferred. That's obvious from the resolution we passed. But it is the process we have," said Georgia Green, chair of the Baylor Faculty Senate, who was named to the advisory committee.

Green pledged to do her best to provide input into the search process on behalf of faculty, adding, "No president at any university can be successful without the support of the faculty, and that's certainly true at Baylor."

Baylor's presidential search is the "number-one issue" on the minds of alumni and donors -- particularly the need to have "a process that is as inclusive and transparent as possible," Baylor Alumni Association President David Lacy of Waco, Texas, said. "This is what alumni and donors want, and it's paramount to the future of Baylor in finding the most-qualified leader."

The Baylor Alumni Association wants what is best for the university -- including finding the most-qualified president to lead the school, Lacy stressed.

"Although it was our request that all constituents would be given a voting role in the final selection ... [the Alumni Association] is committed to continue working toward finding the most qualified leader," he said. "We know from talking to alumni, that Baylor's alumni desire inclusiveness, transparency and increased communication in this search process. These are the top priorities for alumni and donors for a successful process ... [the Alumni Association] will remain vigilant in advocating for these priorities."

Lacy continued: "We believe strongly that the best outcome for Baylor is achieved if the voices of all the stakeholders are formally voiced and factored into the process of finding the most-qualified president. The board of regents could have furthered its commitment to an inclusive process by giving all stakeholders an official, voting role in the process. The historically supportive Baylor alumni donor base that we represent clearly remains supportive of the most open and inclusive search process possible. This process has been proven to be effective in many other higher education institutions, and significantly enhances the communication and trust between all the stakeholder groups."

Batson noted he researched the presidential-search policies of at least 20 universities, but determined there is no single procedure followed across the board.

But Lynn Tatum, immediate past president of the American Association of University Professors, took issue with the process the regents are following.

"The Baylor process does not conform with best practices at the nation's top universities," said Tatum, senior lecturer in religion and associate director of Middle Eastern studies at Baylor.

"The usual process is to have a search committee composed of a rough parity between regents and faculty, with a few other representatives such as students and/or staff," he said, citing as examples Yale, Rice, Duke, Cornell, Stanford and Princeton universities.

"A few schools will have a committee made up entirely of faculty, working in tandem with a regents' committee," Tatum added, pointing to MIT, Cal Tech and Harvard as examples..

At the board's February meeting, regents charged Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas, to establish the committees. He issued an invitation to all regents not rotating off the board after its May meeting to participate in the presidential search, and 14 accepted an appointment to the committee. Tommy Bowman of Waco, Texas, was the lone returning regent who declined a seat on the search committee.

Bowman "did not believe that his work schedule would permit the time that this effort is likely to require," said John Barry, Baylor's vice president for marketing and communciations. "As a board member, he will still have a vote on the final candidate, but Tommy felt that he shouldn't agree to serve on the presidential-search committee if he couldn't guarantee full participation."

Regent Joe Armes, chief operating officer of Hicks Holdings in Dallas, will chair the search committee, and Ken Hall, president of the Texas Baptist social-service agency Buckner International, will chair the advisory committee.

Batson praised Armes as "an accomplished senior executive who is very committed to Baylor's 2012 vision and [who] has served in many leadership roles during his eight years on the board of regents." He praised Hall for his "long and distinguished record of accomplishment in Baptist life" as a pastor, agency head and denominational leader.

"Both have demonstrated over a long period of time a commitment to Baylor and a desire to see her prosper," he said.

The search committee includes four Texas Baptist pastors -- Stan Allcorn from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Duane Brooks from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, Bobby Dagnel from First Baptist Church in Lubbock and Ramiro Peña from Christ the King Baptist Church in Waco.

Other members of the search committee are Wes Bailey, an insurance executive from Waco; Albert Black, president of On-Target Supplies and Logistics in Dallas; Stephen Carmack, chair and chief executive officer of Legacy Bank in Hinton, Okla.; Harold Cunningham, a retired Baylor administrator from Crawford, Texas; Gary Elliston, an attorney in Dallas; Sue Holt Getterman, a philanthropist from Waco; Neal "Buddy" Jones, owner of HillCo Partners in Austin, Texas; John Reimers, a dentist from Beaumont, Texas; and Dary Stone, vice chairman of Cousin Properties in Dallas.

Batson named the search committee more than seven months after regents fired John Lilley as president -- halfway through his contract -- for "failing to bring the Baylor family together."

Lack of togetherness in the "Baylor family" has plagued the university at least six years. Robert Sloan stepped down as Baylor's president in 2005 after two tumultuous years in which the Faculty Senate twice gave him "no confidence" votes, and the regents voted three times on his continuing employment.

The regents unanimously elected Lilley about nine months after Sloan and the board agreed to the terms of his departure, but they fired him after a little more than two and a half years.

Last August, regents approved Batson's appointment of David Garland, dean of Baylor's Truett Theological Seminary, as the university's interim president.

Batson, who rotates off the regents board after May, is not a member of the search committee. When asked if he would be considered as a presidential candidate, he replied the board needs to conduct "a national, comprehensive search," and he is "very, very happy at First Baptist Church of Amarillo."

Garland "expressed no interest in the permanent job," Batson noted, but added he is "doing an outstanding job" as interim.

While regents haven't precluded anyone from consideration, Batson said he questioned the wisdom of an interim ever being considered among a field of candidates for a permanent post.

With the exception of at-large members named by the regent's chair, members of the advisory committee were selected by the groups they represent, Batson said. He characterized the advisory committee as "very ecumenical" and "very eclectic."

In addition to Hall, a past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, other members of the advisory committee include Baylor faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Faculty Senate representatives are Green, associate dean of the Baylor School of Music; and Jaime Diaz-Granados, chair of the psychology and neuroscience department. Thomas Hibbs, dean of the Honors College, represents the Baylor Council of Deans, and Batson named religion professor Mikeal Parsons as at-large faculty representative.

Angela Funai, director of foundation and corporate development at Baylor, represents the Baylor Staff Council, which she chairs.

Thomas Phillips, a retired Texas Supreme Court chief justice, represents the Baylor Alumni Association. Also named as alumnus-at-large was Randy Lee Pullin, a life member of the Baylor Alumni Association.

Clifton Robinson, chairman of Specialty Property, was named to represent the Waco community in which Baylor's main campus is located, and Chelsea Saylors, a senior from Rowlett, Texas, represents Baylor Student Government.

"The presidential-search committee has the responsibility to recommend the best finalist for the board's consideration in selecting Baylor's next president, and it will do so having been informed by a steady flow of very good information from the presidential-search advisory committee," Batson said. "We're grateful that all these members of the Baylor family have stepped forward to assist in this very important process that is so critical to our university's future."

The presidential-search committee has established a website that will be updated with the latest news as the presidential search process unfolds. Through an online form on the website, individuals are invited to provide input regarding the university's next chief executive, Batson stressed.

Ken Camp is managing editor of the Texas Baptist Standard.

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Bill Leonard stepping down as dean of Wake Forest divinity school
By Bob Allen (439 words)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP) -- The founding dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School is stepping down next year, school officials announced March 5.

Bill Leonard will retire from that post June 30, 2010. But he will continue to teach full-time as professor of church history and Baptist studies in the divinity school and professor of religion in the university's religion department. Wake Forest, founded in 1834 and located in Winston-Salem, N.C., is one of the most historic Baptist universities in the world.

Leonard, who turns 63 March 20, said the university has established a standard tenure of 10 years for deans. It has been 14 years since he came to Wake Forest, and next year will be the 10th year since the divinity school held its first classes in the fall of 1999.

"It was time to move along as dean and back to full-time teaching and research," he said.

As founding dean, Leonard recruited the divinity school's first faculty. The school now claims 12 professors.

Wake Forest is one of 15 seminaries, theology schools or Baptist-studies programs that partner with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a moderate Baptist group that split from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1991. Though Baptist in heritage, the school's outlook is ecumenical and it has no formal denominational affiliation.

A total of 163 students have graduated from Wake Forest Divinity School. Current enrollment is 104.

"The opportunity to work with Wake Forest undergraduate and divinity students has been one of the highlights of my time as dean and I look forward to continuing those classroom relationships," Leonard said. "When I hear the seniors preach in weekly Divinity Chapel I know that this endeavor was worth the effort."

Leonard is a graduate of Texas Wesleyan College. An ordained Baptist minister, he holds a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His Ph.D., from Boston University, is in American religion with an emphasis on revivalism.

He taught church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1975 until 1991. He left to join Samford University in 1992 as religion professor and department chair before coming to Wake Forest in 1996..

Leonard has been interim pastor of churches in several states. He has written or edited 16 books, including God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the SBC in 1990; Baptist Ways: A History in 2003; Baptists in America in 2005 and Baptist Questions, Baptist Answers in 2009.

He is popular as a speaker and lecturer and is often quoted by media outlets as an expert on Baptist history and politics.

School officials said there will be a national search to find Leonard's successor.

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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Lanny Hall to return to Hardin-Simmons University as president
By Ken Camp (426 words)

ABILENE, Texas (ABP) -- Hardin-Simmons University trustees elected as their school's president Lanny Hall, president of Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, and a past president and chancellor at Hardin-Simmons.

Hall will be the 15th president in Hardin-Simmons' 118-year history, returning to the university where he started as a student more than 40 years ago and where he served a decade as president.

"Dr. Hall knows and loves the school and has an exciting vision for enhancing its academic excellence and facilities," Trustee Chairman Hilton Hemphill said. "He has extensive experience in fundraising and in the financial management of a university."

Hall began his administrative career in higher education in 1986 as executive vice president and chief academic officer at Howard Payne, leaving there to take over the reins as president of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas.

Hall served as president at Hardin Simmons 10 years before being named chancellor in 2001. As chancellor, he held the Haggerton Chair of political science and served as executive director of the HSU Institute for Leadership.

During his administration, Hardin-Simmons more than doubled in enrollment and experienced growth in endowment, academic programs and campus facilities.

Under his leadership, the university added numerous new campus buildings, including the Skiles Social Sciences Building and the Connally Missions Center.

"Carol and I love the work in which we have been engaged over the last 20 years," Hall said. "We welcome the opportunity to put all of our experience, ability, talent and energy to work again for Hardin-Simmons University."

The presidential search committee and the search advisory committee jointly evaluated numerous candidates who were identified from across the country. The committees included trustees, faculty, staff, members from various HSU boards and the HSU student body president.

"Personal interviews were conducted with the top 10 candidates with more in-depth visits with the four finalists," Hemphill said.

Hall was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1984 and served in key government leadership positions at the national level.

Hall earned his Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Texas in Austin in 1985.

He and his wife, Carol, have two children -- Lana McCutchen and Chad Hall -- and three grandchildren.

"With an understanding of HSU's history and heritage, and with abiding respect for the solid fiscal foundation that the University enjoys today, I look forward to the high privilege of leading HSU," Hall said.

Hardin-Simmons began looking for a new president shortly after Craig Turner left last summer to accept the presidency at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.

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School sued for censoring religious message
By Bob Allen (457 words)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) -- An elementary school in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., is being sued for censoring the word "God" out of posters promoting a student-led prayer event.

A lawsuit filed March 3 by the Alliance Defense Fund said administrators at Lakeview Elementary School ordered students and parents to either remove signs promoting a "See You at the Pole" event or edit out religious language. With too little time to redo the posters, parents in the suit complied by covering the phrases like "In God We Trust," "Come and Pray" and a theme Bible verse with green paper.

Filed on behalf of 10 parents and the children, the lawsuit claims school officials violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights both by limiting their free speech and establishing hostility toward their religion. It seeks injunctive relief, nominal damages and court costs.

It isn't the first time the school has landed in hot water over religion. Last year a federal judge ruled the school unconstitutionally endorsed religion by allowing a group of parents to pray in the school cafeteria and pass out fliers to students during school hours.

Federal District Judge Robert Echols ruled that such accommodation excessively entangled the school with the religious purposes of Praying Parents, a loose-knit organization of parents who gather to pray for the school. Echols said the Constitution demands that public schools be neutral toward religion and that by promoting the group administrators effectively promoted its religious views.

Echols said students could still make flyers for "See You at the Pole," though. School policy allows such posters as long as they contain a disclaimer that the event is not sponsored by Lakeview.

For that reason, some members of the Praying Parents group said they were astonished last September when a school employee told them that posters their children made could not be displayed because they contained the word "God."

The parents obscured the religious phrases as directed but later complained about what they viewed as censorship and an attempt to belittle their religion. They said their children want to participate in future public prayer events, but now fear reprimand if they do.

"Christian students shouldn't be censored for expressing their beliefs," Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum said in a press release about the lawsuit. Kellum said school officials "appear to be having an allergic reaction to the ACLU's long-term record of fear, intimidation and disinformation" with regard to religious expression in public schools.

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said he sympathizes with school administrators attempting to negotiate complicated church-state issues amid competing voices, but based on what he knows about the case, "It looks to me like the school clearly overreacted" by censoring religious content altogether.

Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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Opinion: A Christian rationale for a truth commission
By David Gushee (873 words)

(ABP) -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has begun hearings exploring the possibility of establishing a "Truth Commission" to investigate Bush policies in several areas related to national security. I want to comment here in favor of an inquiry on the subject of torture, leaving other issues aside for now.

Our nation needs a Truth Commission on the issue of torture because we need to know exactly what happened. We need the truth, and we need it from multiple perspectives. Minimally, such a body needs to gain access to all government documents in which policies related to detainee interrogation were debated and articulated. The commission further needs to talk to the policy-makers who developed the policies, at least some of the people who implemented them, and some who were on the receiving end of that implementation and are willing to speak about it. If there are surviving videotapes of these interrogations, these also need to be examined by any Truth Commission.

The Bible teaches that truth is central to God's character, to a community's well-being, and to the way of life of God's people. Many people who know the Bible only minimally think of truth primarily in terms of a moral obligation not to bear false witness. But the Bible at least as often emphasizes truthfulness as an aspect of character -- both personal and national character. Believers are called to live in truth, to walk in truth, to stay on the path of truth. And it is recognized repeatedly in Scripture that truth is essential to healthy public life, and that lies corrode life in community.

It has been very difficult to have an honest public debate about exactly what our nation has done to those in our custody because we have never been given full information. We have half-debated what has been only half-revealed. We need to bring what has been done in the shadows into the full light of day, and see how it looks when exposed to that cleansing sunlight.

Those who have defended these policies as both moral and essential to national security would be given full opportunity to make their case in light of what was actually done, to how many people, with what results, and with what effects on everyone involved. If the policies were truly defensible, they will reveal themselves as such in the process of exposure to the sunlight of public scrutiny. If they were not defensible, that will also very likely be obvious in the course of public examination.

Finding out exactly what happened could be the first step toward a process of national and international reconciliation. In Scripture, reconciliation is a fundamental theme. It is God's goal in relation to humanity, and should be the goal of Christians (and all people) in relation to one another. It is sufficiently important to fractured societies and to international relations that, in many cases, lives depend on it.

Biblically, reconciliation generally involves truth-telling, repentance and forgiveness. Unpacked a bit further, reconciliation includes the wrongdoer's acknowledgment of responsibility, confession of the act as sin, expression of grief for any harm done, serious commitment to a new course of action and request for forgiveness. It sometimes also involves some concrete form of recompense offered to the one harmed by the one who did the harm.

Of course, forgiveness then needs to be extended by the aggrieved party for full reconciliation to be experienced. And in situations in which wrong has been done by both sides, both parties need to walk through this process and extend forgiveness to each other at the end of it.

Is it too much to dream that the United States of America could walk through a process like this in relation to our detainee policies? Once our nation's acts have been exposed to the clear light of day and we see that the facts merit repentance, I dream that we would demonstrate the moral courage to acknowledge responsibility for wrong acts, confess them as sin, express real grief for the harms done, commit ourselves to a new course of action (and solidify that commitment in concrete legislation and executive policies), offer recompense to those whom we have harmed where that is appropriate and ask our victims for forgiveness.

There is much discussion about whether punishment of wrongdoers is appropriate as an aspect of a Truth Commission process, or as one possible outcome of such a commission. It partly depends on whether our goal is fundamentally a truth-and-reconciliation goal or instead a justice-and-punishment goal. I fear that the inevitable result of a commission of inquiry that might lead to prosecution is that everyone will "lawyer up" and the truth will remain buried in layers of legal maneuvering and refusal to testify.

Probably the full truth will be revealed only if everyone is granted immunity from prosecution for their actions in relation to detainees. No one would be prosecuted for anything other than for refusing to tell the truth about what they knew and what they did. This decision not to prosecute would not be because any crimes committed were insignificant, but because getting the truth out for the sake of healing and reconciliation was judged the higher good. This is probably the best way forward.

David Gushee is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University.