Fred Thompson's church roots draw interest

The Christian Chronicle ^ | March 30, 2007 | Tamie Ross and Bobby Ross, Jr

[FairOpinion]

Is Fred Thompson a member of the Church of Christ?

As the 64-year-old former Tennessee senator reportedly mulls a bid for president, a number of readers have e-mailed The Christian Chronicle with that question.

The 106th Congressional Record listed Thompson’s religious affiliation as “Church of Christ (Stone Campbell).” In an interview with the U.S. News and World Report this week, Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo said: “Thompson is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ.”

Corallo did not immediately return calls from the Chronicle seeking additional information about the politician and Law and Order actor’s religious background.

David Pinckley, treasurer of the Pulaski Street Church of Christ in Thompson’s hometown of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., said the two grew up together.

“We went to school together, played football, went to church for many years here in Lawrenceburg,” Pinckley told the Chronicle on Friday.

“I don’t know his religious status right now, but we were both baptized around 1951 … 1952 maybe,” Pinckley added. “We were either 10 or 11 years old then. He was baptized at the First Street church in Lawrenceburg. It’s a non-institutional church now, but it wasn’t then.”

Thompson spoke in 1997 at a fund-raising event at Freed-Hardeman University, a Henderson, Tenn., college associated with Churches of Christ. Thompson used his speaking fee to create an endowed scholarship at Freed-Hardeman for history and political science students, said Stephen Morris, assistant professor of political science and university counsel.

The Robert and Ruth Thompson academic scholarship – named after Thompson’s parents – offers freshman scholarships worth between $2,500 and $5,000. His father is deceased, but Ruth Thompson lives in Franklin, Tenn., and remains a member of the Church of Christ, Pinckley said.

Thompson’s faith became an issue in the national media when Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a Thompson candidacy in an interview with U.S. News.

“Everyone knows he’s conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for,” Dobson said of Thompson. “(But) I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression,” Dobson added, telling U.S. News that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party’s conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Focus on the Family later issued a clarifying statement, saying that in the U.S. News interview, “Dr. Dobson was attempting to highlight that to the best of his knowledge, Senator Thompson hadn’t clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him. Dr. Dobson told (the reporter) he had never met Senator Thompson and wasn’t certain that his understanding of the former senator’s religious convictions was accurate. Unfortunately, these qualifiers weren’t reported. … We were, however, pleased to learn from his spokesperson that Senator Thompson professes to be a believer.”

According to U.S. News, Thompson has said he is leaving the door open for a presidential run and has won plaudits from conservatives who are unenthusiastic about the Republican front-runners. A Gallup-USA Today poll, released Tuesday, showed Thompson in third place among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Divorced since the mid-1980s, Thompson married Jeri Kehn, a political and media consultant 24 years his junior, at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Naperville, Ill., in 2002. They have two young children. Thompson also has two grown sons and five grandchildren.

All the discussion about Thompson’s possible Church of Christ ties prompted a humorous challenge on the blog of Mark Elrod, a Harding University political scientist, at http://www.markaelrod.net.

In a post titled “The ‘I Saw Fred Thompson at a Church of Christ’ Challenge,” Elrod offered Web immortality to the first person to provide him “with a somewhat believable Fred Thompson sighting at an assembly of the Church of Christ (Stone-Campbell) in the last 20 years.”

Elrod asked specifically for any information on Thompson teaching a Bible class, presiding at the Lord’s table or leading singing.

“If it was 728b and you can prove it,” Elrod said of Thompson leading singing, “I’ll give you $100.”

Meanwhile, a few readers have contacted the Chronicle asking if Democratic president candidate Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, is a Church of Christ member.

The answer on that question is a bit clearer: Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, a liberal denomination that ordains women and gays and supports same-gender marriage equality. The mainline Protestant demonination was formed in 1957 when the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reform Church merged.

[Spyder]

Nonetheless, if he wins and runs against Hillary will you vote for him? I'd even hold my nose and vote for McCain against Hillary. At least with Rudy you have a chance at more conservative judges. Hillary will get you more Ruth Bader Ginsbergs or worse, guaranteed. Fight your fight as hard as you want now, but once the party has decided on their candidate and you refuse to support that candidate, you might as well go switch your affiliation to Democrat. Same thing.

[Spyder]

Aren't his leadership qualities, his Middle East views, his ability to give it back to Schumer as hard as it's thrown important? Or are the only things that matter to you abortion and homophobia?

[gpapa]

I grant you that some of the bambast around here about Rg and others is not helpful, and I plead guilty to some of that, but most Freepers, myself included are opposed to Rudy, not because of who he is, but due to his stands on the issues. BTW, you have Freepmail.

[papasmurf]

Well said.

I define a Christian as...

1) One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ and follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2) One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.

Rudy does not fit within either number one or two of that definition.

It doesn't matter, I wouldn't vote for him to be my President, unless the choice was between him and the devil himself.

I could vote for an atheist, provided she/he had a demonstrated record of fitting definition number two, above. This IS America, after all and, I've known plenty of non Christians that did follow number two above-better-in fact, than many so called "Christians".

Removing religion entirely from the equation, I don't see how any conservative could vote for Rudy.

There are a few who DO navigate from Fred-post to Fred-post, just to stir it up, and attempt to drive the flock away with bs scare mongering tactics, and grade school logic. What you fail to realize is, that IF Fred decided not to run, we wouldn't side with your candidate for all the drag queen costumes in the Village! And all of your posts only make that decision easier.

As to the article itself, I respect Dr. Dobson, and I give him the benefit of doubt-that he did not intend to malign Fred. Even of he did, it would not sway my opinion of Fred.

:O)

P

[lesser_satan]

Well said. I'd like to add that Rudy is also too much of a nanny-stater for more libertarian-minded Republicans to support. Thompson is somebody both the religious-right types and libertarian-types can like, and he won't scare away moderates or swing-voters. He's eloquent and charismatic and has far less baggage than anybody else in the race.

[Politicalmom]

Nope. I will not vote for Giuliani. And I am in good company. Jim Robinson has stated he won't vote for him either.

I don't trust him at all. I don't trust him to pick judges that are any different from who the Hildebeast will choose.

And at least Republicans will be working hard to thwart her agenda, but will roll over and give Giuliani any liberal thing he wants.

I find it totally hypocritical that many of you were so down on Clinton about his sluts, but think Giuliani's are fine.

The spectacle of him running around with his mistresses in the White House will be appalling. A jerk who sends not only his wife but two mistresses to the same public even shouldn't be allowed to be a dogcatcher.

And now even those few things I supposedly agree on him about are being proven false, since he doesn't appear to be anti-tax....unless switching positions on the flat tax gets him Steve Forbes' endorsement, of course.

[txroadkill]

It doesn't...however, Reagan attended a "church of Christ" in Tampico, IL with his mother. I had the incredible honor of meeting him in the late 80's through a mutual family friend who owned a ranch next his. The friend was a member of the church where my father was the minister (church of Christ), when I was introduced to him and she told him how she knew me, he told me that he was raised in the c o c. It was the most memorable moment of my life.

[Spyder]

I find it totally hypocritical that many of you were so down on Clinton about his sluts, but think Giuliani's are fine.

Rudy hasn't lied under oath. And no, I don't think the "sluts" are fine, and I feel it's a true weakness. Nonetheless, the more I see of anybody in Washington DC, the more I realize no one has a perfect record. You want to get to the top? You're going to slip somewhere.

Speaking of hypocritical, what about the ones who hate Rudy so much but support Newt?

[Politicalmom]

They are hypocrites, too. I wouldn't support Gingrich for dogcatcher, either.

[neocon1984]

"Certain people are working overtime to make Fred look like a big, lazy sloth."

I don't recall a single post asserting that he was lazy.

"Having read some of his writings, he is also brilliant".

I would like to judge that for myself. Do you have any references?

[montag813]

I heard about Gingrich's apology, but I didn't pick up on the fact that Dobson had endorsed him. Gingrich is an intelligent fellow in a lot of areas. He's just not presidential stuff. I can't believe that Dobson bought it.

Some DobBots have told me that the mere act of Gingrich's repentance is enough to forgive him, because all was forgiven on the Cross, etc. I say it is not my job to forgive, but to evaluate character. It is God's job to judge. All I see is a deeply flawed man, who handed the Clinton's victory out of the jaws of defeat time and again. I don't want him anywhere near the Oval office.

[BlackElk]

In fairness, Dobson couched his comments with many substantive qualifiers which were not reported by the MSM which wants to encourage intramural fights among conservatives. Dobson said flat out that he did not know Thompson and did not know the details of Thompson's faith but was merely not persuaded that Thompson is what Dobson regards as a Christian.

Just as there is a difference between agnosticism (the ism of those who don't KNOW whether there is a God but reject neither possibility) and atheism (the ism of those who THINK they KNOW that there is no God), so too there is a difference between KNOWING that a man is NOT a Christian and NOT KNOWING enough about the man to decide. Let us take Dr. Dobson's own careful remarks as representing Dr. Dobson's actual opinion rather than taking the MSM's distortion of Dr. Dobson's remarks as though those distortions were accurate.

The following will be a first for me: defending the UCC (to some extent). As one client who is a UCC member and another who is a UCC minister have explained it to me (neither having ever lied to me that I know of), the UCC is a CONGREGATIONAL church whose CONGREGATION's call ministers according to the religious views of the CONGREGATION, inter alia. The minister/client was born into a family belonging to an evangelical Protestant church of German ancestry that was much more evangelical than most here might suspect. His UCC church (in New England, no less) helped raise funds for Operation Rescue-style activities and defense. His church is also a very old one of several hundred years standing. He wishes that the evangelical church into which he was born had not merged with UCC. The lay client/UCC member belongs to a congregation which is socially liberal in the sense of favoring legal toleration but private disapproval of various forms of bad behavior including abortion and, perhaps, homosexual misbehavior but otherwise inclined to fiscal and military and regulatory conservatism. Most UCC congregations in their part of New England are dying remnants committed to leftist ideology generally, including more than one with homosexual or lesbian couples residing in their parsonages. Bottom line: Whatever the general reutation of a congregationalist (small or large C) denomination, one ought not to make assumptions just on the basis of the brand name. In my own Catholic Church, there is a BIG difference between an Archbishop Weakland (thank God he is retired) and a Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. Likewise, what kind of Christian Fred Thompson may be is determined by, well, the qualities of Fred Thompson. My betting is that he is near infinitely better than Weakland but not quite at the level of Bruskewitz. If he is anywhere near the level of the aforementioned UCC pro-life pro-family evangelical minister/client, that is certainly good enough for me.

Fair Opinion: Please note that this post is NOT Rudy Bashing but seeks to set the record straight. I don't support Rudy other than for Attorney General but nothing here addresses him, dissents from him or detracts from him. I do support Thompson at this point and for the foreseeable future but that is positive and not negative.

[Palladin]

What poor choices we Repubbies have this time around.

Two guys divorced twice and married thrice (Newt and Rudy).

Thompson, divorced a mere once, and remarried to a gal half his age. A guy who's definitely "in" with the Hollywood and NYC network sets.

Then there's Mitt....married once and still with the same wife.

I believe that committment is an admirable quality in any man, especially a presidential candidate.

Which of the aforementioned men shows the most commitment?

[Clara Lou]

I agree with you. I have no doubt that he's forgiven if he's truly repentant. That repentance doesn't alleviate him of the consequences of his actions.

[Clara Lou]

I have a question for you: Do you know whether Thompson divorced his wife, or was it she that divorced him? What was the reason for the divorce?
I divorced my husband because he began using drugs and wouldn't stop. After a while, I determined that my children weren't going to grow up with a druggie dad. I divorced him 16 years ago. I'd do the same thing again, and I'll face Judgement knowing that I did the right thing for my children, 3 of whom are productive, tax-paying Americans and the 4th off to USMC boot camp this summer. I defy you to tell me that I was not committed--committed to the children we brought into the world.

[ClancyJ]

The Church of Christ churches are stand-alone individual congregations who find direction from the Bible for all beliefs.

Each congregation is directed by the leadership of the elders - men chosen to make the decisions of the church, hire the ministers, handle the direction and beliefs of the church. They are chosen based on the Bible instructions of what kind of men these should be......having only one wife, having raised their own children to be Christians, being soundly based on the Bible teachings. If any in the congregation can show reason a man is not so qualified, they can speak to the existing elders with their doubts.

They believe salvation is from Jesus Christ who died for the sins of man, they follow the direction of "repent and be baptised for the remission of sins and you will receive eternal life". They are Christians no doubt because they are following the same instructions given to the first century Christians.

They are not a cult, not the International Church of Christ (which is indeed a cult) and not part of a United Church of Christ group - as I have been a member all my life and have not become familiar with the United Church of Christ.

They are the Church of Christ and are really non-denominational although society tends to group people into denominations according to their beliefs. But, we get our beliefs from the directions given to the first century christians - not a man evolved creed.

Now, there are many different levels of Churches of Christ. Very conservative, more progressive, more progressive and liberal. But each is a stand-alone church under the direction of the designated elders. The young often want change, want instrumental music, want this - want that which over time causes varying degrees of conservatism, traditionalism, etc.

[ClancyJ]

Finally a man who understands.

Yes, and you understand the reason also. Congratulations!

Instrumental music is a point of contention in the church of today as are other items - same as all churches I guess.

Since it was not definitely specified in the Bible, I have been borderline on it. Although I do find that it leads to more and more use of God's time as a stage for some to show off their talents while others come to see the show rather than worshipping God.

I also feel it leads to members assuming the role of spectator rather than worshipper equal to all others there to worship.

[jellybean]

You obviously missed the thread last night where FO falsely claimed that the Church of Christ was an offshoot of the Mormons. Mods finally had to pull it.

You're right, I did miss the thread last night, but I don't see anything derogatory about Thompson in this article.

My interest is in promoting Fred for President, not fighting with other FReepers who don't support him (unless they're spreading outright lies.) I figure the more exposure Fred gets, the more people will see what an outstanding candidate he will be. Therefore whenever FO posts an article about Fred it keeps his name alive on the forum. I usually pick up 2 or 3 more Fred supporters with each thread. :)

[gpapa]

This link at UCC.org provides a history of the United Church of Christ and their origins. BTW, I am a Christian, but not of any of the Churches you mentioned. I am a Catholic. I am also an amateur genealogist, and have always had an interest in American and European history, including religion which has been prominent for good or ill in both places.

[jellybean]

Please add me to this ping list.

It's my pleasure to add you to the FRed List. :)