{"id":188,"date":"2010-07-19T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=188"},"modified":"2010-07-19T05:00:37","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T11:00:37","slug":"radically-redefining-transparency-in-the-sbc-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=188","title":{"rendered":"Radically Redefining Transparency in the SBC: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of \u00a0openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and\u00a0establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.\u00a0Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and\u00a0effectiveness in Government.\u00a0 President Barack Obama<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From breaking his\u00a0promises\u00a0to televise the Health Care debate <\/a>to denying more\u00a0Freedom of Information Act requests than George W. Bush<\/a>,\u00a0President Obama certainly has a curious way of establishing\u00a0“a system of\u00a0transparency.”\u00a0 Some might say his actions\u00a0— not his words —\u00a0have radically redefined the word\u00a0“transparency.”\u00a0 After all, our actions do speak louder than our words.<\/p>\n

In June of this year, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF), after a year of meetings and discussions, presented its final report.\u00a0\u00a0A week before this report was to be voted on by the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, FL on June 15-16, a press release was issued<\/a> informing Southern Baptists that all of the Task Force’s\u00a0“deliberations” would\u00a0kept secret for\u00a015 years.\u00a0 This unilateral action by the GCRTF\u00a0contrasted with their\u00a0own report:<\/p>\n

Component Two:\u00a0 Making Our Values Transparent:\u00a0 We must also work toward the creation of a new and healthy culture within the Southern Baptist Convention.\u00a0 If we are to grow together and work together in faithfulness to the command of Christ, we must establish a culture of trust, transparency, and truth among all Southern Baptists. . . .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That the Task Force could include the above words relating to transparency in their report, while at the same time not only moving to seal the records of their proceedings, but fighting on the Convention floor to prevent ANY records from being released, can only be described as an act of hubris!\u00a0 Of course, there are always good reasons why transparency — as traditionally defined — cannot\u00a0win the day.\u00a0 And the ruling elites, regardless of where they rule from, always think that they know what is best and that the public should be given as little information as possible.\u00a0 When that same\u00a0public dares to ask a challenging question, those with polished rhetorical skills will step\u00a0up to explain away any challenges.<\/p>\n

Such was the case\u00a0when a messenger at\u00a0this year’s Convention\u00a0introduced a motion to open the records of the proceedings of the Task Force.\u00a0 And that is exactly what they were — proceedings.\u00a0 With all due respect to Dr. Mohler\u00a0and others, the Task Force was not impaneled to act\u00a0like a Grand Jury, listening to secret witness testimony and deliberating<\/strong>\u00a0whether or not to indict a criminal defendant.\u00a0 This was not the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, hearing top-secret\u00a0testimony from undercover government operatives.\u00a0 \u00a0 The Task Force derived its authority from messengers at last year’s Convention, who overwhelmingly approved the following motion, made by Dr. Albert Mohler:<\/p>\n

the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 23-24, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky, authorize the President of the Southern Baptist Convention to appoint a Great Commission Task Force charged to bring a report and any recommendations to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida June 15-16, 2010, concerning how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Task Force, in opposing\u00a0the release of even selected portions of their proceedings, used four main arguments to defend sealing the records.\u00a0 The first two arguments were analyzed in my earlier post, Radically Redefining Transparency in the SBC:\u00a0 Part 1.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 20 minute debate during the Convention’s Wednesday morning session (video here<\/a>), both Dr. Mohler\u00a0and Dr. Akin raised the issue of confidentiality as a reason why the records of the Task Force should remain sealed for 15 years.\u00a0 Both stated that the GCRTF\u00a0promised confidentiality — for an unspecified term — to those “invited leaders of Denominational Agencies and beyond,” and that to require the Task Force to release any records would cause them to break their word, something they were quite sure that no Southern Baptist would want them to do.\u00a0 According to Dr. Mohler, some of the proceedings where confidentiality was at issue regarded legally privileged\u00a0personnel matters.<\/p>\n

Several\u00a0problems arise with the confidentiality defense.\u00a0 First, assuming for the sake of argument that promises of confidentiality were made, the process should have been one of openness and transparency (as was promised by President Johnny Hunt), with\u00a0very limited offers of confidentiality extended.\u00a0 Were these promises of confidentiality made in writing?\u00a0 If not, were these promises explicitly conveyed to the secret witnesses and a written record — perhaps in the minutes of that meeting — made contemporaneously to the offer of confidentiality?\u00a0 Dr. Mohler indicated that confidentiality was promised for “a term.”\u00a0What was the promised term and when was it promised?\u00a0 No one has satisfactorily\u00a0answered any\u00a0of these questions.<\/p>\n

Secondly, what issues could this Task Force have been dealing with that were related to “personnel” that\u00a0would have risen to the level of \u00a0“privileged\u00a0 or confidential communication?”\u00a0 This Task Force did not have any authority\u00a0related to personnel.\u00a0 There could have been absolutely NO witnesses that were brought before the Task Force over which they had any supervisory or employer\/employee relationship.\u00a0 The only possible issues dealing with personnel would have been if the names of specific individuals were discussed in connection with current employment or future employment within any of the agencies of the Convention.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, the promise of confidentiality cannot cover the Task Force themselves.\u00a0 However, by arguing that promises of confidentiality were made that no one would want broken, the Task Force ingeniously blanketed their entire proceedings with secrecy, including their own internal discussions and any minutes or audio\/video recordings from meetings where only the Task Force members themselves were present.\u00a0 With the\u00a0confidentiality argument prevailing, ALL Task Force records are now\u00a0sealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I now turn to the most\u00a0egregious argument used by the\u00a0GCRTF to keep their records sealed.\u00a0 This, more than any other argument, offers the most insight into the philosophy of leadership that currently reigns within the highest echelon of the S.B.C. today.\u00a0 This philosophy is expressed most clearly in the following two quotes:<\/p>\n

The consequence of allowing unsealed records is that no future convention committee will indeed allow the recording of it deliberations and meetings because it would be compromised from the beginning.\u00a0 Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President, SBTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we vote to unseal these records, then future committees will be forced to do their work without the benefit of tape recorders and transcripts and we will lose forever the history of their important work. . . . Do not sacrifice history on the altar of politics.\u00a0 Dr. Greg Wills, Professor, SBTS<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

History has indeed been sacrificed on the altar of politics, but Dr. Wills is completely wrong when he ascribes the motivation of politics to those who would open the records of the Task Force proceedings for all Southern Baptists to see.\u00a0 In response to the assertion that future committees will simply not keep records if they will be forced to share those records, one must ask Dr. Mohler\u00a0and Dr. Wills, “Why?”\u00a0 Why\u00a0would future committees not allow records to be made\u00a0of their deliberations?\u00a0 Who would force the members of these committees to purposefully fail to keep any records of their proceedings?\u00a0 After all,\u00a0 I thought the committees of the S.B.C. serve the churches of this Convention.\u00a0 How would\u00a0sealing\u00a0the records\u00a0better preserve the historical records, when\u00a0only a select few have access to those records until the end of 15 years.\u00a0 To argue that future committees will not want to operate in the open, with true\u00a0transparency, is one of the most disturbing aspects of this entire debate and reveals a philosophy of leadership present at every level of government and present within the S.B.C. and some of her churches.\u00a0 That philosophy believes that the best form of government is that which is out of the public eye, that which is not subjected to the sunshine of a concerned constituency.\u00a0 Many leaders would rather conduct as much business as possible behind closed doors, out of scrutiny’s way.\u00a0\u00a0Those in power\u00a0may say they believe in open government and transparency, but too often, their actions tear the very heart out of the concept of transparency.\u00a0 In the end, there really\u00a0are only three kinds of leaders:<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n
  1. Leaders who do not believe in transparency and openness and who\u00a0lead accordingly<\/li>\n
  2. Leaders who believe in transparency and openness and who\u00a0lead accordingly<\/li>\n
  3. Leaders who say they believe in transparency and openness — but really\u00a0do not — and they\u00a0lead accordingly<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/ol>\n

    When it comes to leadership within our nation and within our Convention, I’ll choose door #2 every time.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 If we choose anything less, we will continue to see leaders who use words to convince you they\u00a0believe in transparency, but who radically redefine the term by doing the opposite.\u00a0 And as we’ve learned with President Obama, words, even masterfully spoken or written words, are cheap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cMy Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of \u00a0openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and\u00a0establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.\u00a0Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and\u00a0effectiveness in Government.\u00a0 President Barack Obama From breaking his\u00a0promises\u00a0to televise the Health Care debate to denying more\u00a0Freedom…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37],"tags":[129,3391,3392,3393,996],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-barack-obama","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-transparency"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-32","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}