Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 23, 1994 TAG: 9407290042
SECTION: RELIGION PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM JONES FORT WORTH (TEXAS) STAR-TELEGRAM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A generation ago, Southern Baptists, even some of the moderate ones, were worried about John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, gaining the White House.
Kennedy was so concerned that he set up a meeting with Baptist clergy at the Rice Hotel in Houston. The young JFK wowed them.
Kennedy brilliantly turned many detractors into supporters by reassuring them that he would not call the Vatican before making decisions.
But many key leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention were unconvinced, and the denomination's president at the time publicly blasted Kennedy because of his allegiance to the pope.
Even Kennedy might have been surprised in the turnaround of Baptist-Catholic relations in the waning years of the 20th century.
Part of the change is a result of a revolution in the Roman Catholic Church and among Southern Baptists. Catholics, because of Vatican II and its message of ecumenism, are more open to working with other religious groups.
And the Southern Baptist Convention now is controlled by fundamentalist conservatives, who are adamant about their literal readings of the Bible.
Wouldn't that make the Baptists even more likely to reject Catholics?
In a word, no.
The conservative Baptists, unlike moderates who still are at odds with Catholics on church-state issues, are now on the side of Catholic leaders who support tuition tax credits or vouchers to help parents send their children to religious or private schools.
And, more importantly to some, Baptists have joined Catholic leaders in a crusade against abortion. The nation's two largest religious groups also agree, perhaps for different reasons, on the subject of condoms and birth control.
Whatever the reasons - and not all Catholics and Baptists agree with their leaders on such volatile issues - the two groups are closer than ever.
U.S. Catholics were among the first to ask their young people to join the Southern Baptist ``True Love Waits'' campaign, in which young people signed abstinence pledge cards.
This month, U.S. Catholic bishops voted to reject President Clinton's health-care reform package if it includes a provision for abortion. U.S. Catholic bishops have backed health reform for many years; they said they could not compromise on abortion.
Last month in Orlando, Fla., Southern Baptists took a similar action in approving a resolution that supported health-care reform but rejected any plan that would include abortion services.
At the Orlando meeting, Baptist messengers also rejected proposals to dissociate themselves from a Catholic-evangelicals statement affirming that the two groups could work together on many issues.
Some condemned the document, contending it implied that Baptists could no longer try to convert Catholics, and vice versa.
But two Baptists who signed the document, Larry Lewis, the Home Mission Board president, and Richard Land, executive director of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission, said the agreement doesn't rule out sharing one's faith.
In a remarkable news conference, Lewis and a priest, the Rev. Frank Ruff, head of Catholic dialogue with Baptists, candidly stated their differences over theological matters.
Lewis said Baptists understand there are differences, but that does not stop the two groups from working together.
The question now is, Why can't warring Southern Baptist conservatives and moderates extend that same sort of tolerance toward each another?
Jim Jones is religion editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
by CNB