THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609220009
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 70 lines
A Southern Baptist minister and a rabbi will stand together tonight, on the holiest of Jewish holidays, united against a Baptist statement that threatened to sever friendly relations between the two faiths.
The Rev. Donald Dunlap, pastor of Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, will join Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Beth Chaverim during observance of Yom Kippur, the Jewish ``day of atonement.''
Dunlap may not directly ask for forgiveness, but he will distance himself from a resolution passed in June by the Southern Baptist Convention, which called for more efforts to convert Jews to Christianity. The resolution was immediately condemned by national Jewish leaders.
``It gives the impression that all Southern Baptists agreed with that and will somehow support it. But that's not true at all,'' Dunlap said of the resolution, which was passed by 14,000 delegates of the 15.6 million-member denomination.
``It comes across as arrogant, it comes across as insensitive to the feelings of Jewish people and it creates more problems in a pluralistic society,'' Dunlap said.
Freemason has had a relationship with another Jewish congregation, Ohef Sholom in Norfolk, since the two began holding joint Thanksgiving services in 1930. The Southern Baptist resolution hurt such interfaith efforts, Dunlap said.
``I heard the resolution with regret, because I knew it created a lot of hurt with the Jewish people who have become my sincere friends,'' Dunlap said.
Zoberman has also experienced interfaith cooperation.
For 10 years, his congregation shared the facilities of Ascension Catholic Church, until Beth Chaverim's own building was completed last December.
The Southern Baptists' resolution is a setback to national efforts at reconciliation and understanding between different faiths, he said.
``After we have experienced marvelous new breakthroughs with the Catholics, with the Lutherans, with the Methodists, why the Southern Baptists would like to resort to old theology that has brought so much pain upon all of us is beyond me,'' Zoberman said. ``We have to take resolutions very, very seriously. We have learned with our own bodies the impact of words, what they can lead to.''
Zoberman will focus on the resolution during his talk, then ask Dunlap to respond and answer questions.
The pastor said that one thing he will explain is the structure of the Southern Baptist body.
The resolution is not binding for any Baptist church, because of the non-hierarchical structure of the denomination, Dunlap said.
The statement represents only those who voted on it, he said, but to people who do not understand that each Baptist church operates independently, it can be misleading.
``Someone said the resolution was drafted in love, offered in love and adopted in love,'' Dunlap said. ``All of that happens to be true, but you can't just deal with that, you have to deal with the reaction to it. And the reaction of all religious groups ranged from anger to regret and that, to me, is very under-standable.''
Yom Kippur is a day of fasting and prayer, dedicated to cleansing and renewal. Jews are also called upon to go to people they have wronged during the year and ask forgiveness. The holiday closes a stretch of 10 holy days that began Sept. 14 with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.
``A lot is at stake here,'' Zoberman said.
``While I am reaching out to offer a dialogue and reconciliation, I am also making a very clear statement that we are going to reach out to Southern Baptists to stand up with us as allies. ``I would like the Southern Baptists to understand the implications of their action.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
The Rev. Donald Dunlap, left, and Rabbi Israel Zoberman will speak
out against the Southern Baptist conversion resolution. by CNB