Posted on 03/31/2007 6:03:17 AM PDT by 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.
Your holier than thou attitude is laughable. Can you not see the delicious irony of the hypocrisy your post delivers?
Some of the week kneed posters around here, such as yourself, seem to forget that our republic was founded by people who were boisterous and not at all 'polite' when it came to political 'discussion'.
I came to speak my mind, and I will continue to do so until the mods decide I no longer possess the right to do so, regardless of your feelings upon the subject, so get over yourself.
Ah, but two what?
Other notable current and former members of the Church of Christ (Stone-Campbell)
Senator John Cornyn (Texas)
Byron Nelson (Pro Golfer)
Randy Travis (Country music singer)
Pat Boone (Singer)
Kenneth Starr (Lawyer, judge, Chief Independent Counsel)
The Dobson idiocy continues. Can't they come up with a vaccine for Foot-in-Mouth disease?
Nope, he endorsed the creepy Gingrich because he laughably "repented" on Dobson's radio show. Thompson has more character in his pinky than all of Newt. But this is the Church of Dobson, and Fred hasn't prostrated himself there.
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.
Oh yeah! We need to look on the bright side. If elected, he will be the only President who can dress up like Marilyn Monroe and sing "Happy Birthday Mr. Pesident" to himself
You make an excellent point.
Because he wore his religiosity so flamboyantly on his sleeve, and because he could parrot a few choice verses, Slick Willie enjoys the public impression of being a very pious Christian.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Who can deny that Jimmy Carter is/was a deeply religious man, yet who can deny that his presidential judgment was arguably the most defective?
So what can be more pathetic than to judge a mans religiosity by his frequency of church participation? I'll continue to watch as we continue our presidential bloodbath...
BWAHAHA!
I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.
You were post number two, which was the first post after the originator. Post number three, the second post after the originator, mentioned Rick Warren. Therefore, the first two posts mentioned Rudy and Rick. That's as accurate as it gets, Clara.
campaigning for someone who isn't running has political effects that might be completely contrary to those you intend.
Like Dobson's campaigning for Newt, who hasn't declared yet?
You are correct about Arnold. Unfortunately he has developed Post-Partisan depression and started doing lots of dangerous and destructive things.
#1 is a posted comment. It's not blank, and it's not part of the article. Neither #1 nor #2 mentions Warren.
Here, let me help.
In his thumbnail "state of the race" assessment of the players Michael chose to take the high road (as he usually does) and was very complementary of all the players - even the Dhimmi ones.
I thought he was especially supportive of John McCain, who he acknowledges will not survive the primary.
It is true that he asked the "fire in the belly" question, but he also said that should Thompson run, he would be the most formidable threat to the Dhimmicrats. He didn't say "Run Fred, run!" - he didn't say "Don't run Fred!"
He just said that if he runs, he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Thank you.
It only took two posts replies for the herd to get in shots at Rudy and Rick Warren
There. Fixed it for you.
What was ironic and hypocritical about my response? Please look those words up before you respond. I find it difficult to discuss issues with rageful people who use words that sound good, but don't really know what they mean.
Dobson may not be a "Rudybot", but he is a jerk.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.