WASHINGTON (RNS)—Charles Haynes, a First Amendment scholar, has spent more than two decades helping schools walk the line between religion and state and advocating for the rights of people of a range of faiths and no faith.

Over the past year, Haynes, 69, has been in the process of retiring from the Freedom Forum Institute’s Religious Freedom Center, continuing to serve as an adviser as he makes plans to write and volunteer in the future. The author and speaker says it “lifts his heart” when he can gather representatives of groups ranging from People for the American Way to the National Association of Evangelicals—along with Hindus and humanists—around the same table.

In an interview, Haynes talked about the state of religious freedom in the nation, his hopes and worries about its future, and his little-spoken-of personal faith. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to retire?

Oh gosh, there are so many reasons. I think the time has come for me to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders and to dedicate myself to guiding and mentoring as we transition into a new era in the work of religious freedom. I also, of course, have personal projects, writing projects and things that I would like to do. I thought this would be a good way to carve out some time for those personal things, but at the same time guide the center and its future.

What will you be doing next?

Well, first and foremost, I’m going to continue to try to be a voice for religious freedom and liberty of conscience, which has been my lifelong passion. I’ll continue to chair the Committee on Religious Liberty, which is now housed at the Religious Freedom Center. And then I want to develop my spiritual life and writing and contemplation. My spiritual life is deeply important to me and to have more time to nurture that and develop that and to write about that is something I’m looking forward to. And then thirdly, I really feel called to do more to serve directly people in need. I just feel a special calling to address the issue of homelessness. It certainly could be as modest as simply volunteering and working with people in a shelter.

Religious freedom is a rallying cry from people of a variety of perspectives these days. How do you define it?

My definition is rooted in our framing documents as a country and our center is committed to upholding those first principles. It’s grounded in the Constitution with its First Amendment. So no religious test for office in the Constitution itself, then no establishment and guarantee of free exercise. Those core principles, I think, define the arrangement, the principles that guide us and allow us to live with even our deepest differences.

You co-authored guidelines on religious liberty and public schools that the Education Department distributed across the country. The first chapter is entitled “From Battleground to Common Ground.” Over the last two decades, has that trajectory continued or has it gone in the opposite direction with more battles than agreement?

I think in public education we’ve made great strides in moving from battleground to common ground. It’s not often noticed but over the last three decades public schools have gone from either being places where religion was kept out and not mentioned in the curriculum or being places where one religion continued to be imposed even after the Supreme Court’s decision saying that was unconstitutional.

Thirty years later, there is more student religious expression today in public schools than probably anytime in the last hundred years. There’s more teaching about religions in the curriculum today, constitutionally, than probably in any time in our history now. That’s dramatic change.

Is there something that you hope for with schools and religious freedom that has not yet occurred?

The biggest missing piece is that many school districts still don’t have their own local policies on how to get this right. I am calling for a proactive approach in the local community to these issues rather than waiting until there is a fight or conflict or a question they can’t answer. If I have a disappointment at this juncture, it’s that I haven’t persuaded more school boards and administrators to really tackle this proactively and not wait until there’s a fight.

Generally, gay rights and religious rights have been in a tug of war in many people’s minds in recent times. Given all this consensus that you’ve just talked about, do you see any way that the continuing conflicts over nondiscrimination and religious liberty can be resolved?

We have to have the civic will to resolve these conflicts, and I don’t see enough of that right now. There are some people who are working hard to create a more civil dialogue on that conflict. (University of Illinois College of Law) Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson (and state) Sen. Stuart Adams in Utah are working on what they call the Fairness for All campaign. That’s a good example of trying to help state legislatures do what they did in Utah to work out the compromise legislation. But, unfortunately, too many people on different sides of this issue, in my view, still have a zero-sum game approach to these fights: “We’re going to win it all.” I tell my friends: We’re all a religious minority, a sexual minority, somewhere in the country, and we need as Americans across our differences to learn how to protect the rights of others.

I do have to ask you about the Trump administration, which has proclaimed its dedication to working on religious freedom, including the State Department having a ministerial on the subject this year and the president signing executive orders with the intent of helping clergy and employers follow their religious conscience. Do you see substantive advances on religious freedom since President Trump took office?

I think on the question of international religious freedom, there are many people who are serving now in the Trump administration who have served in other administrations who genuinely believe that the United States must put religious freedom at the heart of our foreign policy. I think this is not new, but I think that it is continuing under this administration, and I’m grateful for that. I can’t speak for what the president himself believes about this or doesn’t believe, but I think that the people working on this in the State Department and the people that convened from many different perspectives and faiths to talk about this with the State Department, I think that’s a genuine effort for a nonpartisan commitment to international religious freedom.

What about on the domestic front? Do you think the Trump administration has advanced or helped religious freedom in any specific way?

On the domestic front, I’m concerned the administration has risked dividing us further on religious freedom. It’s bad enough that religious freedom has to be put in scare quotes now by some people because people don’t believe that that phrase any longer represents something we all support. I think that the poisoning of the well for nonpartisan collective support in this country for religious freedom is a great danger. And when we have a religious liberty task force created from the Department of Justice that appears to really be interested in one cluster of issues, and that is, of course, for the LGBT versus religious claims, that raises all kinds of red flags for people who want to support religious freedom but don’t want it to become, as the expression goes, a sword rather than the shield. They don’t want to weaponize this issue and make it more difficult to find any common ground.

Are you worried or hopeful about the state of religious freedom in this country and beyond it?

Well, I worry. This is the moment we’re being tested, and I have concerns that we may fail this test. Millions of Americans feel as though they are not fully American and not totally safe in their communities to wear their religious garb, to worship openly and freely, to be Americans and also to be a Muslim or a Sikh or a Hindu. When people feel that way, there’s no religious freedom. The idea that a court decision or a lawyer is going to protect them or save this arrangement is a faint hope because that’s not how it works. What protects religious freedom is people in the local community willing to live out this vision of pluralism in a way that protects the rights of all.

What is your religious affiliation and has it changed over your lifetime?

My career has been defined by making sure that my own religious convictions or political convictions don’t get in the way of finding common ground and being an honest broker. Having said that, of course, I have my own religious convictions and they have evolved and changed. At heart, I’m Episcopalian and I’ve been a lifelong Christian. I went to seminary, and I didn’t go the ordination route. I have migrated from the (United) Methodist Church to the Episcopal Church. At the same time, I have been deeply influenced by the great Indian spiritual master Meher Baba, who passed away in 1969. But I met him actually as a young child, and I traveled to India to see him when I was only 13 and with my family, and that encounter and that influence has deeply shaped my life. I don’t think I ever really understood my Christian faith until I met Meher Baba. He was someone who really helped me to see so much of the universal truths in the various great religions of the world and helped me to really find a deeper relationship with God.

So how would you sum up how your personal faith, given what you just told me about this trajectory you’ve had, informs your work on freedom for people of all faiths and none?

I have a deep conviction. My faith tells me that religious freedom is rooted in the inviolable dignity of every human being and that informs everything I do. Whatever their faith tradition or whether the person has no faith tradition, that inviolable dignity of the human is at the heart of my commitment to religious freedom for every human being. And also, my understanding of the gospel is close to what I gathered (17th-century religious liberty advocate) Roger Williams believed. And that is that the gospel is about recognizing that God has created every human being with freedom of conscience. I don’t bring this into my work and preach it from the rooftops, but it’s what motivates me. To me, it’s not a choice that we give people or protect people’s religious freedom. For me, it’s a requirement of faith. It’s what God requires.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Half of America’s Protestant pastors say they approve of the job President Donald Trump has done in the White House, but many are unsure.

A new LifeWay Research study of Protestant senior pastors found 51 percent approve of how President Trump has handled the job, with 25 percent strongly approving.

“After almost two years of actions and statements from the White House, most pastors likely consider some positive and others negative,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “When asked to evaluate the president’s job performance with no neutral option, most pastors approve.”

Still, 28 percent disapprove and another 20 percent say they aren’t sure.

Hesitant to offer an opinion

Pastors specifically were prompted to evaluate the president’s job performance, said McConnell. There is no lack of data on President Trump, but many still were hesitant to give an opinion.

“Compared to the middle of President Obama’s first term, we see twice as many pastors say they’re undecided on President Trump’s job performance,” said McConnell.

In the leadup to the 2010 midterm elections, a LifeWay Research survey found 30 percent of Protestant pastors approved of President Obama’s job performance. That survey showed 61 percent disapproved and only 9 percent said they were not sure.

“There is no lack of information on what President Trump is doing or how he is doing it,” said McConnell. “So, the undecided posture appears to be an unwillingness to identify with either of the political sides that have emerged in American politics.”

The hesitancy of pastors to take sides where Donald Trump is concerned stretches back to the presidential election.

Despite 52 percent of Protestant pastors identifying as a Republican and only 18 percent calling themselves a Democrat in the LifeWay Research survey prior to the November 2016 election, only 32 percent said they planned to vote for Trump. A full 40 percent said they were undecided, with 19 percent planning to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Pastors’ opinions on President Trump’s performance highlight divisions among the group, which often fall along political lines.

Few African-American pastors approve

African-American pastors are the least likely to approve of the president’s handling of the job. Only 4 percent approve of his performance, while 85 percent disapprove.

Outside of African-Americans, pastors are much more split. Slightly more than half of white pastors (54 percent) approve, along with slightly less than half of pastors of other ethnicities (47 percent).

“In 2016, only 6 percent of African-American pastors identified as Republican, and nothing in President Trump’s first two years has generated approval from African-American pastors beyond that level,” McConnell said.

Division among old and young

Younger pastors are the least likely age group to approve of the president’s performance. Four in 10 (41 percent) of those 18 to 44 say he’s done a good job, while 56 percent of those 45 and older support President Trump’s job performance.

Young pastors also are more likely to say they’re not sure about the president. A quarter are unsure, compared with 18 percent of pastors 55 to 64 and 16 percent of pastors 65 and older.

In 2016, pastors 18 to 44 were the least likely to identify with a political party and least likely to support Donald Trump as a candidate.

“They are less tied to traditional political identities and remain slow to express approval of President Trump,” McConnell said.

Varies by denomination

Pastors’ responses are also split across denominations. Pentecostals (86 percent) and Baptists (68 percent) are most likely to approve of the president’s performance.

Church of Christ pastors (55 percent) and Lutherans (41 percent) are more split, while few Presbyterian/Reformed (28 percent) and Methodists (25 percent) say they support the job President Trump has done.

Even in these denominational divides, the views of the president’s performance largely follow political leanings, according to McConnell.

In 2016, pastors in Pentecostal (76 percent) and Baptist (67 percent) churches were most likely to be Republicans. Pastors in Presbyterian/Reformed (29 percent) and Methodist (25 percent) churches were least likely to say they’re part of the GOP.

Other findings in 2018 include:

• Pastors of churches with less than 50 in attendance are the least likely to approve of President Trump’s job performance (42 percent).
• Pastors in the South (55 percent) and West (57 percent) are more likely to approve than those in the Northeast (40 percent).
• Male pastors (56 percent) are more likely to approve than female pastors (30 percent).
• Pastors with no college degree (71 percent) or a bachelor’s degree (67 percent) are more likely to approve than those with a master’s degree (41 percent) or a doctoral degree (52 percent).
• Self-identified evangelical pastors (63 percent) are more likely to approve than self-identified mainline pastors (41 percent).

“With the majority of Protestant pastors identifying as Republican, it is not surprising that a majority approve of President Trump in his first term,” McConnell said. “Clearly, pastors’ political views factor in how they evaluate the president’s leadership and accomplishments in the first half of his term.”

Researchers conducted the phone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors Aug. 29-Sept. 11. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Analysts used quotas for church size.

Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called. Researchers weighted responses by region to reflect the population more accurately. The completed sample is 1,000 surveys, providing 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

Comparisons are made to phone surveys of 1,000 Protestant pastors conducted by LifeWay Research Aug. 22-Sept. 16, 2016, and Oct. 7-14, 2010, using the same methodology.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Representatives of two black Baptist denominations—the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention USA—declared Oct. 9 they would stand apart from white liberals and conservatives alike while seeking to address a politically divided nation.

Rejecting the “politics of fear” they say has taken hold in this election season, the pastors assembled at the National Press Club said that race and spirituality should not be ignored as the two sides work to get out the vote.

“As the body of Christ, we do not serve as mere mascots of the liberal left, sent by patronizing paternalists to serve as the point on the head of their ideological spear,” reads a declaration released by Progressive National Baptist Convention President Timothy Stewart and Calvin Butts, the denomination’s social justice chair.

“Nor do we set horses with those of the religious right who hide their rampant racism and hysterical hypocrisy amidst the existential ruins of a morally and theologically bankrupt spirituality.”

‘An issue of justice’

Matthew V. Johnson Sr., the Birmingham, Ala., pastor who wrote the declaration, said in an interview white religious conservatives and liberals have focused on opposite sides of hot-button issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights while not giving race and racism enough attention.

“It’s not just about black special interests,” said Johnson, vice chair of the Progressive National Baptists’ Social Justice Commission. “This is an issue of justice.”

At the news conference, Johnson noted Democrats and others protesting the nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh showed a lack of concern about the nominee’s record on race issues. Their indifference, Johnson said, is an example of “the problem that we have with the liberal left.”

The Progressive National Baptists, the denomination of Martin Luther King Jr., formed as a breakaway group from the National Baptist Convention in the 1960s after the National Baptist Convention opposed sit-ins and other civil rights protests. The presence of Amos Brown, social justice chair of the National Baptist Convention, demonstrated his group’s support for the younger denomination’s declaration.

Butts, senior pastor of New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, said that as black preachers, “We have our own view of the gospel message which is the only authentic view.”

Naming Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr. and Paula White—all members of the Religious Right— Butt said: “They’re heretics as far as we’re concerned—hypocrites. And we need to be unafraid to say this and stand firmly on who we are.”

Not just about President Trump

At its annual meeting in August, the Progressive National Baptist Convention protested Trump administration policies it believes are harmful to the poor, people of color and working-class families.

But the October declaration states that the nation’s current cultural crisis is not the sole fault of its president.

“The presidency of Donald Trump is not the cause of the American malady but a symptom, a consequence, an effect; although by the aid and abetting of the present administration the sickness has received license and worsened,” the declaration reads.

Speakers at the news conference said getting out the vote could be just one effect of their declaration.

Brown emphasized the need to “get rid of this excuse: ‘My vote won’t count.’”

“Every vote counts. We’ve got to get that over to our congregations,” he said.

Butts anticipated the declaration also would lead to other steps, including black church support of personal withdrawing of money from banks, such as Wells Fargo, for their role in the subprime mortgage crisis that has disproportionately affected minority homeowners.

“We will be asking our churches to focus on action against these banks,” Butts said. “And always remember that when this economy booms, it is usually at the exploitation of black and brown people.”

Others attending the declaration announcement included representatives of the Church of God in Christ, the Interfaith Alliance, the National African American Clergy Network and the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Patrick Carolan, leader of a Franciscan network active on environmental issues, used to meet fairly regularly with Obama administration staffers.

Since President Trump took office, he met with then-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. But he’s never been invited to the White House.

“We haven’t been invited to any meetings there or to any other agency,” said Carolan, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network, who noted his staffers also had regular meetings in the Bush administration.

Although the White House is always a busy place with limited invitation lists, the two previous administrations made concerted efforts to connect with a wide array of faith groups. Not all of those groups agreed with most of their political positions but nevertheless could meet together, at least on occasion, for what the Obama administration called “partnerships for the common good.”

Now, it appears the Trump administration is taking a different approach—giving selective access to the White House to some faith groups while having cabinet-level offices meet with others. Some groups say they have been left out.

Conservative Christians are highly visible visitors

Conservative Christians have been the most visible religious visitors to the White House. Notably, they were guests at a dinner just for them in the State Dining Room in August. Days later, Americans United for Separation of Church and State requested the White House halt such gatherings of evangelicals.

When asked about AU’s assertion that continuing meetings with that select stripe of American religiosity violated federal law, the White House stated: “The Administration continues to engage hundreds of faith leaders on various issues that directly impact their communities.”

Carolan insists he and numerous other religion-related advocacy groups in the nation’s capital are not in that number.

“We’re not,” he said. “We work with a wide variety of faith organizations on a variety of issues, and I don’t know a single organization that is in contact on a regular basis with the Trump administration or on any basis with the Trump administration.”

What about Sikhs and Muslims?

The White House, which has yet to appoint an adviser to its Faith and Opportunity Initiative announced in May, did not immediately respond to requests for additional information about its connections with faith groups. But the Justice Department and State Department provided some details of their religious outreach.

More than a year ago, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund called interaction with the White House at a “very limited level to practically nonexistent.” More recently, there have been meetings with offices of the Departments of Education, Justice and Homeland Security, said Gujari Singh, communications director.

The American Sikh Council, with dozens of gurdwaras representing 100,000 families, said it has received no invitations.

“No one from the White House has ever communicated with us since the new president came in,” said Kavneet Singh, the council’s chief resource and advocacy officer. “We have attempted to contact the Trump administration but to no avail.”

Imam Mohamed Magid, leader of All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia, declined his sole invitation to the White House when he was traveling during the Rose Garden ceremony in May marking the National Day of Prayer. But the former president of the Islamic Society of North America attended the State Department’s religious freedom summit in July and has met with Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, about the plight of Rohingya Muslims, along with an interfaith coalition pleading their cause.

Islamic Relief USA spokesman Minhaj Hassan, who reported no direct contact from the White House in the administration’s first six months, said his organization now has met with officials from the White House and five federal departments or agencies.

His relief group, along with the Hindu American Foundation and Church World Service, is among the groups that report meeting with the State Department. A department official confirmed Brownback’s regular roundtables include faith group representatives and “those holding no faith at all.”

Those meetings have addressed “policies and practices of foreign governments and non-state actors that impact religious freedom, cases of individuals imprisoned on account of their beliefs, and global themes and trends impacting the enjoyment of these rights,” the official said.

Catherine Orsborn, director of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, an interfaith group that counters anti-Muslim bigotry, has attended State roundtables, which she said have recently focused on alleviating persecution of Uighur Muslims in China and Rohingya in Myanmar. She said the Justice Department also asked her organization, Muslim groups and other organizations for advice as it prepared training for law enforcement to increase understanding of Muslim and Sikh Americans.

Jewish groups on the guest list

Jewish leaders report continuing connections with the White House.

“Regardless of what administration is in the White House, we have always been able to ensure the Reform Jewish Movement has a seat at the table and our concerns are met with respect,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, whose group has advocated on issues such as health care, criminal justice and immigration.

Nathan Diament, executive director for public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, ticked off examples of invitations Orthodox Jewish leaders have accepted: Trump’s Hanukkah reception, the National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden and the pre-Rosh Hashanah conference call.

Not much has changed for the National Council of Churches and Christian Churches Together, two groups whose memberships include a wide range of Christian traditions. NCC President Jim Winkler said he attended one meeting with an interfaith group and a White House staffer in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building about a year ago and has had no other interaction. Christian Churches Together Executive Director Carlos Malavé said he has received no invitations to meetings at the White House or with senior staff.

Evangelicals: ‘Other faith leaders besides us’ are welcome

Evangelicals, who have detailed their own gatherings with White House staffers, say they have been told of meetings with people of other faiths.

“It’s been made clear to us that they are getting advice from other faith leaders besides us,” said Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary, who attended the Rose Garden ceremony in May that featured prayers from Catholic, evangelical, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Mormon speakers.

Johnnie Moore, who has served as an unofficial spokesman for the group of evangelicals who have prayed for and met with Trump, said he has been part of White House staff meetings with nonevangelicals on topics such as criminal justice reform, disaster relief and the opioid epidemic.

“I have been in meetings at the White House with Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and evangelical Christians as well as with Hindu, Jewish and Muslim citizens and clergy,” Moore said.

‘A world of difference’

Asked about the current administration practices—giving White House or cabinet-level access to some groups and having no interaction with others—religious freedom expert Charles Haynes said he sees a change from previous presidents dating to Bill Clinton.

“I think it’s a world of difference,” said Haynes, in contrast with the three administrations where he saw a “common thread” of engaging people of different faiths and backgrounds.

“Yes, of course, more traditionalist religious people in different faith communities are probably going to have a seat at this current table, but what about people who deeply disagree?” asked Haynes, founder of the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. “What about progressive groups or religious groups?”

Mythili Bachu, the past president of Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, Md., is familiar with White House invitations because a priest from her Hindu temple, Narayanachar Digalakote, prayed at the Rose Garden in the spring and also took part in a Diwali White House ceremony with President Obama. She sees communications with the White House—past and present—as a two-way street.

“We also have to reach out and say how we can help them,” said Bachu. “They’re so busy, so I’m not going to sit here and say one is better than the other, but we have to do our bit also.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—Murderous rampages have become so common, crime trackers disagree over proper terminology to describe the carnage.

“Active shooter” incidents the FBI tracked at 30 in 2017 marked a 50 percent increase over the previous year. But that category is not as expansive as “mass shootings” the crowd-sourced database Mass Shooting Tracker tallied at 427 in the same period.

In the midst of increasing violence, churches face the challenge of continuing to show God’s love, grace and mercy in the midst of Satan’s prolific work, pastors affected by such violence said in a series of interviews.

First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, east of San Antonio, suffered the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history Nov. 5, 2017, with 26 dead and 20 injured. The fatalities included Annabelle Pomeroy, the 14-year-old daughter of Pastor Frank Pomeroy.

“The church should respond to such tragedy as it would any other tragedy and that is with grace and mercy,” said Pomeroy, whose church broke ground on a new building in May. “Whether dealing with survivors or with perpetrators, we have been called to be emissaries of Christ in all situations. We are to extend a hand of forgiveness and then counsel with wisdom to whomever will listen, so as to lead others to Christ.”

Daily homicides in urban centers

Baltimore suffered the highest homicide rate in 2017 among U.S. cities with more than 500,000 people, according to FBI figures released Sept. 24. The city’s 342 homicides the FBI tabulated yielded a rate of 56 per 100,000 people.

“These are 342 people made in the image of God. This has become normal—no outcry, no march, no national media attention,” said Tally Wilgis, who founded Captivate Christian Church, a Southern Baptist church in urban Baltimore.

“While mass shootings draw media coverage, the loss of life is happening in our urban centers at an astronomical rate.”

Wilgis, executive director of Baltimore Baptist Association, believes society has become desensitized by the rapidity of such occurrences, including lone killings and mass murders.

Among the murders with the highest casualties are the killing of 58 and wounding of 489 during an outdoor Las Vegas concert in October 2017, and the murder of 49 and wounding of 53 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. In that same two-year period, the FBI ranks the Sutherland Springs murders as the third highest.

“The contrast between heaven and earth cannot be clearly known unless the people of God are vocal ambassadors of heaven,” said Wilgis, warning against complacency. “Sin, death and destruction are not acceptable conditions for the Christian. The lost world around us must know that violence, death, and destruction are not to be expected. Our hope rests in Jesus’ making all things new.”

In the nation’s most recent mass shooting, a temporary employee at an Aberdeen Rite Aid distribution center north of Baltimore began firing a handgun Sept. 20, killing three workers and injuring three others before killing herself, police said.

“We should be concerned with mass public shootings,” Wilgis said. “But the main reason we draw our attention to these events at the expense of what is happening in our inner cities is because we have accepted as a society the murder of people who do not look like us and do not live near us.”

‘God’s grace covered a whole city’

Marshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, S.C., has sought to help the city heal from the 2015 mass murder of nine members of Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killed by a visitor to their evening Bible study and prayer meeting.

“All mass shootings are horrible evils with devastating effects on families and entire communities,” Blalock said. “The real story, however, is how the church protected the city. Emanuel Church members showed grace in the face of a hate crime intended to cause a race war. The churches of the city took the lead to protect the city from the rage and hatred that could have destroyed it. The power of God’s grace covered a whole city in the midst of our worst nightmare.”

In 2016 and 2017 combined, the FBI tracked 50 cases of active shooters, resulting in 221 deaths and 722 wounded, excluding the killers. The two-year period held a stark increase from the period of 2000-2015, when 200 active shooter incidents yielded 578 deaths and 696 wounded victims, according to FBI reports.

The FBI defines an active shooter “as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Mass killings, in FBI jargon, “include three or more killings in a single incident.”

Mass Shooting Tracker, which defines mass shootings as single outbursts of violence in which four or more people are shot, has counted 332 incidents which killed 383 and injured 1240, according to massshootingtracker.org.

Pomeroy recommends God’s grace for a murderous society, and he said Christ must be the driving force in recovery.

“Christ has to be in the lead of all discussions. I believe that where many churches fail is by allowing committees and personalities (to) lead in the discussions and decisions in the aftermath and forget about God,” he said. “As long as Christ is first in all conversations, I believe the community and the church both prosper.”

Wilgis, Pomeroy and Blalock recommend churches take steps to make their property a safe haven from crime.

“I do not think we have seen the last of the persecution, therefore I would warn churches to set up a safety response team and have them adequately trained for all emergencies, from heart attacks to fire to active shooters,” Pomeroy said. “Shun complacency and be proactive about making your church a safe refuge from the storm.”

CHICAGO (RNS)—The biggest reaction Eric Metaxas got from students at Judson University was when the school’s president introduced him as one of the writers and voices on VeggieTales.

Many Millennials grew up watching the popular Christian animated series. Metaxas co-wrote an episode called “Lyle the Kindly Viking” and narrated another on Queen Esther during one chapter in his eclectic career.

‘Very confusing’

A well-known talk radio host and the author of popular biographies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther, he’s also written books for kids, including “God Made You Special,” featuring Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber of VeggieTales.

And he wrote a forthcoming humor book, Donald Drains the Swamp, referring to President Trump, whom he has vocally supported.

“I want to stress to you that I’m very confusing,” he told students, smiling.

Metaxas was at Judson to talk about his book If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty for the school’s annual Constitution Day chapel service.

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving Independence Hall after signing the Constitution, he was asked what kind of government they had created, Metaxas said.

“A republic, madam, if you can keep it,” was his reply, according to Metaxas.

“You’ve got to understand that the Constitution doesn’t keep itself,” he explained. “We the people have to understand it and keep it. We have to keep the republic. It’s up to us.”

Founders views on religion ‘nuanced’

Historian John Fea is skeptical of Metaxas’ views on American history and his support of the current administration. A couple of days before Metaxas spoke at Judson, Fea was in Chicago to talk about his new book, Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump, during a taping of the “Things Not Seen” podcast at a seminary bookstore on the University of Chicago campus.

Fea teaches American history at Messiah College, an evangelical school, and he rejects the idea—popularized by evangelical writers such as Metaxas and David Barton—that America was founded as a Christian nation. It’s important for evangelical Christians to see a different view of early American history from a fellow evangelical, he said.

“Because, you know, frankly, Barton and Metaxas especially are much more popular than people like me who are trying to push back,” he said.

The Founding Fathers’ view of religion was “much more nuanced and complex than people on the left and the right make it,” Fea insists.

Progressives are tempted to believe the Founding Fathers were all secular, didn’t care about religion or wanted everybody to be free of the matter of religion, he said in an interview with Religion News Service. On the other hand, conservatives see the country’s foundation as “uniquely Christian.”

In reality, he said, some of the founders were Christians, and some were not. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin would not have embraced “orthodox Christianity,” Fea said. However, they believed religion could be useful in a republic—that in order for a republic to work, one needed to sacrifice one’s own interests for the greater good.

In writing the First Amendment, they wanted religion—all religion—to flourish. At the time, there were few non-Christians in America, he said. Even so, the Founding Fathers’ writings show they always saw it applying to Jews, Muslims, Hindus and people of other faiths and no faith, as well, he noted.

Views of America’s origins play a powerful role in today’s political climate, Fea said. Part of the idea of making America great again includes keeping America Christian.

‘God’s almost chosen people’

Much of Metaxas’ talk on his book “If You Can Keep It” centered on a similar idea—that the founders recognized virtue, faith and freedom as essential to keeping the republic. He made that point by referring to a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, calling Americans God’s “almost chosen people.”

“When God blessed America—and he has blessed us all these years—he didn’t do it to bless us. He did it to bless the whole world through us,” Metaxas said.

Metaxas, who declined an interview with RNS, also linked his ideas to current politics, expressing concern that government has been growing larger and “we’ve effectively been losing our freedoms.”

He encouraged each student to do his or her part, whatever that might look like, and explained what it means to “drain the swamp” of corruption and money, a popular Trump talking point.

The idea of being blessed to be a blessing resonated with some Judson students. Freshmen Arianna Wink and Madison Psinas said over lunch afterward they hadn’t learned in public school about the role religion may have played in the country’s founding, but they liked what Metaxas said about virtue and speaking up for what they believe.

“I haven’t grown up hearing a lot of politics mixed with religion,” said Psinas, who was one of a small group of students who had the opportunity to meet with Metaxas the day before.

“His discussion about compassion, living by example and being able to voice your opinion in this country was something we needed to hear in terms of feeling like we can really express ourselves and our faith.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A church-state watchdog group is demanding a halt to meetings between the Trump administration and an informal group of evangelical advisers who have proved to be among the president’s staunchest supporters.

Alleged violation of Federal Advisory Committee Act

Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the group is violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 1972 law that provides transparency and procedural standards for committees created to meet with the executive branch. The watchdog called for a stop to the group’s meetings and advising “unless and until” it complies with the law.

“It is clear that the President’s Evangelical Advisory Board is doing substantive work with the Trump Administration behind closed doors—without any sunlight for the public to understand how and why decisions are being made,” wrote Americans United Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser in an Aug. 30 letter addressed to White House counsel Don McGahn and other administration officials. It also was sent to Johnnie Moore, who has served as an unofficial spokesman for the evangelical group.

The letter arrived the same week President Trump hosted a dinner for about100 evangelicals in the White House’s State Dining Room. The president welcomed them Aug. 27 by saying “these are very special friends of mine, evangelical pastors and leaders from all across the nation.”

Ticking off the names of leaders in attendance, including Florida megachurch pastor Paula White, evangelist Franklin Graham and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., Trump added: “I know you, I watch you, I see you. Yours are the words we want to hear.”

Evangelicals who have met with the Trump administration have said they discussed a range of policy issues, from abortion to transgender rights to international religious freedom.

Administration denies existence of formal advisory board

“The (Trump) Administration continues to engage hundreds of faith leaders on various issues that directly impact their communities,” said Hogan Gidley, deputy press secretary. “The White House does not have an Evangelical Advisory Board; instead, the President signed an executive order establishing the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative that serves all faith-based communities.”

Rachel Laser, president of Americans United, called for greater transparency about the advisers.

“President Trump has granted leaders of a narrow segment of one religion unprecedented influence on policy decisions that affect all of us,” said Laser. “Americans have a right to know that—and to have a government that works for everyone, not just some.”

In the letter, Luchenitser said the activities of the advisory group “are well within FACA’s scope.”

Moore, responding to a request for comment, denied the group has any official capacity.

“There has never been—and I know of no plans for there to be—a White House Faith or Evangelical Council,” he said. “It is hard to shut something down that doesn’t legally exist!”

He said there has been “confusion” about the group because members of the media “innocently chose to carry over language used in the campaign into coverage of the administration, but that campaign council was officially disbanded after the campaign.”

Moore also said Americans United’s complaint seems to primarily be a “fundraising ploy” by the watchdog group.

Others have previously shunned the name “faith council” as an appropriate description. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said that label would come with “certain legal ramifications.”

Press secretary refers to ‘Faith Advisory Board’

When press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to a question about a July 2017 meeting, at which photos appeared on social media of evangelical leaders praying for Trump, she defended the prayer and added: “It’s his Faith Advisory Board, and they meet from time to time to speak about issues that are important to that community.”

Melissa Rogers, the former director of President Obama’s White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said the Obama administration’s faith-based councils produced public reports, held public meetings and were subject to the 1972 law.

She tweeted on Aug. 28 after reports of this week’s dinner: “Once again, the Trump WH appears to favor evangelicals (more specifically, a particular kind of evangelical) over others, while claiming to promote religious freedom.”

Americans United also has sent Freedom of Information Act requests to 10 federal agencies seeking information about administration meetings and communications with the evangelical advisers. It also seeks to determine the sources of funding for the dinner.

Rob Boston, Americans United’s spokesman, said his advocacy group hopes for a response to its letter from the White House, though one is not required.

“The federal government does have to respond to our FOIA requests,” he said.

RNS National Reporter Jack Jenkins contributed to this report.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (BP)—The U.S. Army dropped its investigation Aug. 24 against Southern Baptist chaplain Maj. Jerry Scott Squires, a Southern Baptist chaplain, exonerating him of all charges.

Squires, who had been charged with discrimination against a lesbian soldier who wanted to attend a marriage retreat, handled the situation in accordance with military policy and followed the guidelines of his denominational endorsing agency, the Army determined.

Squires had been charged with unlawful discrimination and dereliction of duty, and he could have faced confinement in a military prison.

Praised as ‘victory’ for free exercise of religion

“This is great news for both Chaplain Squires and all of the military chaplains who are serving our men and women in the U.S. Armed Services,” said Gen. Douglas Carver, executive director of chaplaincy at the North American Mission Board.

“It is a significant victory for all who support and defend the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, especially regarding the freedom of religion.”

Carver thanked Squires’ commanding general “for having the moral courage to make the correct but difficult decision regarding the investigation into Chaplain Squires.”

In early 2018, Squires told a soldier that he could not perform a marriage retreat for the soldier and her same-sex partner, and Squires provided an alternative by rescheduling the event so another chaplain could conduct the retreat.

An investigating officer initially determined Squires had discriminated against the soldier and recommended he face disciplinary action.

Lawyer asserted chaplain followed protocol

Mike Berry, the attorney from First Liberty Institute representing Squires, argued the chaplain’s actions adhered to Army protocol by taking the appropriate steps to provide the service Squires could not personally oversee or attend in keeping with the policy of his endorser.

“Few chaplains have endured the investigative scrutiny that Chaplain Squires suffered over the last seven months,” Carver said. “We applaud Chaplain Squires and all chaplains like him who remain dedicated to their faith while seeking to respect all persons within the diverse military community.”

NAMB, the entity that endorsed Squires, augmented its ministry guidelines for chaplains in 2013 after the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage only in terms of opposite sex unions. Southern Baptist chaplains are expected to serve respectfully within the pluralistic culture of the military with grace and charity, obeying such biblical commands as Romans 12:18 to, if at all possible, “live at peace with everyone.”

“From the moment the investigation began, Southern Baptists have stood behind Chaplain Squires with their prayerful support, wise counsel, and encouraging words,” Carver said.

“Our partners in the gospel from other denominations faithfully stood with us as well. We are here to ensure that our chaplains can exercise their religious freedom and model the tenets of our faith as Southern Baptists in an uncompromising and Christ-honoring manner.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war who embraced patriotism loudly and religion quietly, died Aug. 25 at age 81.

He was diagnosed in July 2017 with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The longtime Arizona Republican senator, reared in the Episcopal Church, attended a Southern Baptist megachurch—North Phoenix Baptist Church—in his later years.

He viewed himself as a Christian but had “a distrust of the Religious Right and a faith that is too public, too political,” said Stephen Mansfield, author of books about the faiths of presidents and presidential candidates, in an interview last December.

‘Saved and forgiven’

During McCain’s runs for president, especially his second campaign in 2008, he spoke about his faith. But, even then, he tended to tell a story about a silent expression of belief in God.

In a family memoir and a campaign ad, as well as a televised interview with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Southern California, McCain recalled a guard in his prisoner of war camp in Vietnam who shared his faith one Christmas.

“He stood there for a minute, and with his sandal on the dirt in the courtyard, he drew a cross and he stood there,” McCain told Warren at the Saddleback Civil Forum. “And a minute later, he rubbed it out, and walked away. For a minute there, there were just two Christians worshipping together.”

Asked by Warren what being a Christian means, McCain simply replied: “It means I’m saved and forgiven.”

At the time of his presidential campaign, McCain biographer Paul Alexander said the senator’s military and faith backgrounds were responsible for his religious reserve.

“He’s a very spiritual person but … in his core, he’s a military man,” said Alexander, author of Man of the People: The Maverick Life and Career of John McCain. “They don’t feel comfortable talking about religion.”

Prayed ‘more often and more fervently’

During more than five years in a POW camp in Vietnam, McCain drew on his Episcopal roots—his great-grandfather was an Episcopal minister, and McCain attended Episcopal day and boarding schools.

In his family memoir, Faith of My Fathers, he recounted how he “prayed more often and more fervently than I ever had as a free man.”

George “Bud” Day, a fellow POW, said McCain was among those who volunteered to preach at religious services the prisoners eventually were permitted to hold at the prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton.”

“He was a very good preacher, much to my surprise,” Day said in 2008, when he was 83. “He could remember all of the liturgy from the Episcopal services … word for word.”

Day died in 2013, and McCain spoke at his funeral.

One Christmas in captivity, McCain recalled in the memoir, as “room chaplain” he was given a few minutes to copy passages from a Bible. Then, in between hymns sung with emotion by his comrades, he read portions of the story of the birth of Christ.

“It was more sacred to me than any service I had attended in the past, or any service I have attended since,” he wrote.

In recent years, McCain sometimes spoke in person and online of his reliance on prayer. He tweeted about praying for people who were victims of tragedies, from a church in Sutherland Springs to the tourist attractions of New York City.

Kept distance from Religious Right

“Prayer was the most important thing for him when he was a POW, and he often mentions prayer in times of national crisis,” Mansfield said. “Otherwise, he’s been cautious about mentioning it very publicly, because he does not want to be identified with the Religious Right or some of the more religious politicians he despises.”

McCain’s differences with some conservative Christians were displayed prominently in the 2000 campaign when he called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell “agents of intolerance,” remarks for which he later apologized.

In a conciliatory move, McCain spoke at the 2006 commencement at Falwell’s Liberty University and, in an even greater outreach to the Religious Right, he chose then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, an anti-abortion evangelical, as his 2008 running mate.

He made an immediate defense of then-Sen. Barack Obama when a woman at a 2008 campaign appearance expressed her lack of trust in the Democratic candidate because she believed he was “an Arab.” McCain corrected her and said Obama was a “decent, family man.”

“For a few moments in his own campaign stop, he defended his opponent,” Mansfield recalled in a January 2018 interview. “He, like Reagan, has no problem speaking kindly of the other side and in personal terms.”

Paul Kengor, a political scientist at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, said a story about McCain’s family life demonstrated to him McCain’s Christian character.

His wife, Cindy, unexpectedly adopted a child with a cleft palate from an orphanage run by Mother Teresa in Bangladesh in 1991. He first learned of her decision when she arrived at the airport with the child, The Telegraph reported.

Kengor, author of books on the faith of politicians, said: “Some people talk the faith and some people walk the faith. That story struck me as an impressive example of a Christian living the faith. Yes, it was Cindy’s bold initiative, but John McCain accepted it and became a father to that girl—by all accounts, a loving father.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP)—A group from The Satanic Temple temporarily erected a goat-headed, winged statue on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds Aug. 16 to protest the Ten Commandments monument already placed there.

“If you’re going to have one religious monument up, then it should be open to others, and if you don’t agree with that, then let’s just not have any at all,” said Satanic Arkansas cofounder Ivy Forrester, a rally organizer, according to the Associated Press.

The 7.5-foot-tall statue of Baphomet, which features the devil in goat form seated and surrounded by smiling children, was removed later that day because a 2017 state law requires legislative sponsorship for a monument to be considered.

“The extremist group that has targeted our state again today came and spoke against the Ten Commandments monument during our public meetings and sought for a sponsor of a bill to erect their profane statue. They never had any takers,” said Arkansas Sen. Jason Rapert, who sponsored the Ten Commandments monument. “The process was open, and they failed to convince any of the 135 legislators to sponsor a bill to carry out their idea.”

But the group said they will continue to fight for the Ten Commandments to be removed or for equal consideration to be given to all religious groups. Both the Arkansas affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed separate lawsuits earlier this year, asserting the monument violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

About 150 people gathered for the peaceful Aug. 16 rally to protest the Ten Commandments monument, while counter-protesters stood nearby holding signs with Bible verses and occasionally singing songs.

Oklahoma faced the same type of battle in 2014 when The Satanic Temple, based in Salem, Mass., wanted to donate a Baphomet statue for display on the Oklahoma State Capitol lawn. In 2012, Rep. Mike Ritze had donated a Ten Commandments monument that was installed on the Capitol grounds.

A motorist—later identified as Michael Tate Reed—rammed his car into the Oklahoma Ten Commandments monument in 2014, but a replacement monument was installed. However, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately ruled the monument violated the constitution, and it was removed.

The Satanic group then set its eye on the Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas, according to Lucien Grieves with The Satanic Temple.

In 2017, Reed allegedly destroyed Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument in the same way as he did in Oklahoma, less than 24 hours after it was installed. The monument was replaced in April this year.  A circuit judge acquitted Reed, who had been charged with first-degree criminal mischief, citing grounds of mental disease or defect.

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—When white supremacist groups announced plans to hold a demonstration in the nation’s capital to mark the one-year anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., many were concerned the day would descend into violence, as it did in 2017, when one woman was killed and many more injured after a man who had marched with racists allegedly plowed his car into a group of counter-protesters.

But by Sunday evening, Aug. 12, Washington had hosted far more anti-racist Methodists, Baptists and other religious demonstrators than white supremacists, and the thousands of other counter-protesters spread across the city suggested white nationalists inadvertently had done more to unite people across religious and racial differences than bolster the ranks of racists.

Bigotry denounced as ‘terrible disease of the spirit’

A broad swath of religious groups began organizing ahead of this year’s rally in Washington, hosting vigils, trainings and events. Auburn Seminary, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Bishop Michael Francis Burbidge of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., issued statements condemning racism, the planned white supremacist rally or both.

“Let us pray for those who shout ‘Jews will not replace us’ or ‘you will not replace us,’” William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign declared at a teach-in Friday at Washington Hebrew Congregation. He was referring to the chant bellowed by white supremacists the year before as they marched with torches onto the University of Virginia campus—all while, as Barber noted, a group of religious activists met to condemn racism in a church across the street.

Barber spoke of white supremacists as “those who have been overcome by the insanity of hate and the insanity of racism.”

“For we know it is a disease, a terrible disease of the spirit that diminishes the humanity of anyone it infects,” he said.

‘United to Love’

On Sunday, the blitz of faith-based activism was evident across the city, beginning with a “United to Love” rally on the National Mall organized by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. Dozens of attendees swayed and sang as a choir led the group in singing hymns, and some waved signs emblazoned with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., such as, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”

The event also included a sermon from the conference’s Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, who stood silhouetted against the U.S. Capitol as she spoke. She repeatedly condemned racism and white supremacy, arguing that those who champion racism “betray God.”

“Hate kills,” she declared. “Hate destroys. Hate controls. Hate dominates. Hate imprisons. Hate legislates inequality. Hate hides behind religion and politics to promote oppression and inequality. Hate is not of God.”

As she spoke, a lone white man walked up to demonstrators and began shouting racial slurs, insisting white supremacists will “rule the night.” When security officials turned to face him, he quickly fled.

Cassandra Lawrence, a student at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington and member of Foundry United Methodist Church who attended the Methodist rally, explained that while the heightened profile of such vitriol has galvanized racists, it also has united others to counter it.

“I think that they rise together,” Lawrence said, noting more than 40 people were attending the event from Foundry alone, with others planning to stop by after their worship service.

“In our darkest moments, our brightest moments also rise. You’re seeing more and more people getting involved—there are churches all over the region today who maybe aren’t here, but they’re having vigils, they’re preaching sermons. … Everybody is coming alive.”

Secular and religious protesters unite

The broad mobilizing power of combating white supremacy was on full display a few blocks away in Freedom Plaza, where hundreds gathered for another rally against racism, primarily organized by secular organizations. But faith groups also had a substantial presence. Jewish protesters painted their faces with Stars of David and waved signs reading “Jews are welcome here,” Unitarian Universalists stood around a banner reading “Standing on the side of love,” and Quakers gathered around a sign reading “Love thy neighbor, no exceptions.”

Dotting the crowd were several faith leaders from various traditions, many clad in religious clothing or vestments.

“We need to stand up against anything that negatively affects God’s people,” said Gayle Fisher-Stewart, an attendee of the event and an Episcopal priest at Calvary Episcopal Church in Washington. “We need to be here, to show up and to let people know that no one is better than anybody else, that we are all created in the image of God.”

Baptists gather at MLK Memorial

Forging unity across difference also was a key theme at a Baptist gathering convened around the same time at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, although the tone was less overtly adversarial. There, two Washington congregations—First Baptist Church, which is predominantly white, and Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, which is historically black— convened for a joint Communion service organized by the New Baptist Covenant, an organization founded by former President Jimmy Carter.

Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist, told the small, interracial crowd that white Christians should do more to acknowledge how faith has been used to justify racism and how “the sin of white supremacy was embedded in the founding documents of this nation … (and) has done irreparable harm to generations of African-Americans and Native Americans.”

Darryl Roberts, pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist, explained the two churches once had been a single congregation, but they split across racial lines in the mid-1800s. Sunday’s service was the first public expression of their attempts at sustained relationship building and dialogue.

“You have a predominantly white congregation and a black congregation coming together at a historic moment to send a message of unity in a time of hatred,” he said.

Near the White House, an unexpectedly small band of white supremacists finally arrived at the site of their demonstration. The tiny gathering was dwarfed by thousands of counter-protesters whose numbers extended beyond Lafayette Park and spilled into the streets for nearly a block.

Huddled near the back of the park was a group of Quakers sitting in quiet protest just a few feet away from a cluster of roughly 15 interfaith clergy that included priests, pastors and Muslim leaders. Both groups originally had intended to stage direct action protests against the white supremacists, but they abandoned their plans after observing the one-sided nature of the event.

“We can’t even get through there right now,” said Sandy Sorensen, smiling as she pointed to the sprawling crowd. An organizer with a local United Church of Christ congregation, Sorensen explained the group of clergy now planned to offer as-needed pastoral support for the Black Lives Matter group.

When the same group was shown an image of the small white supremacist gathering across the way, Susan Hayward, a United Church of Christ pastor who was among those who counter-protested in Charlottesville last year, shook her head in disbelief.

“Wow,” Hayward said before looking over her shoulder at the mass of rowdy counter-protesters behind her. Shortly thereafter, she and her fellow faith leaders turned back toward the crowd, looking for ways to help their several thousand new allies in the fight against white supremacy.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (BP)—Evangelical pastors in Charlottesville, Va., said a community interracial worship service appeared to be the largest local gathering during what media described as a weekend of peaceful but tense demonstrations in the city.

One year after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned violent and left three people dead, an attempted repeat in Washington of the Unite the Right rally Aug. 12 drew fewer than 40 white nationalists and was dwarfed by counter-protestors, according to media reports.

Amid the weekend events, Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear released a statement along with SBC First Vice President A.B. Vines and Second Vice President Felix Cabrera declaring “the spirit of racism is antithetical to the gospel.”

“It has been one year since white supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Va.,” the three SBC officers said Aug. 11. “We say now, as we said then, that the spirit of racism is antithetical to the gospel. The church, God’s ‘Plan A’ for rescuing the world, should stand as a place of refuge for people of every color united in one body, reflecting the diversity of our communities and proclaiming the diversity of the kingdom. We pray for those who feel the hurt from demonstrations like the one today, and for healing and peace in our society.”

Worship event focuses on Psalm 133:1

On Sunday night, a multiethnic coalition of evangelical pastors in Charlottesville convened a worship service at the city’s outdoor Sprint Pavilion, with a theme of “better together” and a focal Scripture of Psalm 133:1, which says, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” The only requirement for individuals appearing on the worship service’s platform was that they affirmed salvation is found in Christ alone.

“You could literally hear a pin drop in the pavilion” as worshippers prayed silently, repenting of racism, said Rob Pochek, pastor of First Baptist Church Park Street in Charlottesville, who helped organize the gathering.

“We exceeded our expectations,” he said. “There were many events in our community” to mourn the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist rally, he added.

“Most of those events had dozens, and some had hundreds of people in attendance. We had well over a thousand people at the Better Together event. It was by far the largest event of the weekend,” Pochek said.

Times of lamentation and repentance

About 20 churches of various ethnicities and denominations participated in the service, lamenting racism, repenting and rejoicing that Christ one day will end racial strife.

“We were acknowledging the inequities of mass incarceration, the inequities of housing” among other race-related sins, Pochek said. During the repentance portion of the service, one local pastor “mentioned some of the specific neighborhoods that had been predominantly minority neighborhoods that had been eradicated to make way for businesses of shopping.”

In addition to local church members, some passersby joined the service. Anti-Fascist demonstrators allegedly had planned to protest the gathering, Pochek said, but thunderstorms dispersed them.

Stanley Woodfolk, African-American pastor of Evergreen Ministries in Charlottesville, told WVIR news local believers recover from painful racist events of the past “by putting emphasis on building relationships, conversing with people we don’t know personally.”

Charlottesville evangelicals plan to follow the worship service with a “fellowship tables” meal, where Christians of various ethnicities will eat together and listen to one another’s stories. A community-wide fall event is in the initial planning stages.

“Generally speaking,” Pochek said, Charlottesville has “been one of those cities where 11 o’clock Sunday has been one of the most segregated hours of the week,” he said, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.

“There are exceptions to that in our town—great exceptions,” Pochek said. “But the onus is on me as a Caucasian pastor of a fairly large church in the city … to earn the trust of my African-American, my Hispanic-American, my Asian-American brothers and sisters in Christ who are leading other churches in this city.”