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?
Be wary of the man who wears his religion on his sleeve.
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.
It seems quite obvious to me.
Another twit who believes that the best way to insult a person is to assault that persons choice of words. Should I now reciprocate and point out that your chosen sentence construction is incorrect?
*Yawn*
Well stated. It seems that the taliban wing is doing what the democrats are doing to Obama...is he black, black enough, etc. but here it is...he is Christian, Christan enough, my type of Christian. I didn't know that Mitt, Rudy and Fred were running for High Priest of the US. Once the only question was, "does he believe" and that was good enough.
Thank you so much for posting this ... it's funny but so sad in that it really reflects the attitudes adopted by so many on this forum lately ... if you and your candidate are not with me 100% you are a (fill in the blank) ... reading the religious and presidential election threads has become painful.
You sure had a point last night. Did you follow my suggestion and beg the mod to pull the previous thread?
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?
Be wary of the man who wears his religion on his sleeve.
Post #55 well said.
Wow! I've never seen either of those graphics. Thanks!
I agree with you completely. However, what was of particular interest was Medved's sense that Fred is not willing to make the tremendous sacrifices it takes to run and raise money. If this is true, Fred 'aint in the race, although I hoped he would be.
BTW, I was not happy that Medved was so positive about McCain - just when he seemed stuck in the polls.
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.
Please add me to this ping list.
"It seems quite obvious to me."
The essence of communication is in making your understanding obvious (rather than opaque) to others. Your childish anger seems to interfere with that endeavor.
I hope my sentence construction was better this time. I might point out that your second sentence is actually a fragment, not a complete sentence. I might as well point out that you were twitting me, not the reverse. I was chastising and ridiculing you. It seems so richly deserved.
Fair Opinion, be honest. From which alternative reality do you come to FR? [That mistake is completely unbelievable.]
*ping*
It's back again...
Insufferable.
And you seem to be mistaking ridicule for anger/rageful/whatever. Get a life, please!
I agree with you that sense of Medved's comments on Thompson had to do with timing issues - if he runs, will he be able to accumulate sufficient resources to mount a campaign?
Medved (along with a raft of other pundits) recognizes that the race for '08 started too soon. But started it did, and now those who want to run had best get their shoes laced!
Rockrr sez, "Run Fred, run!"
Also Hariet Miers is a member of the Church of Christ
Celtjew Libertarian wrote: "Frankly, seeing Dobson attack Fred Thompson for not wearing his religion on his sleeve mkes me more likely to support Thompson."
Initially, I was angered at Dobson, but after some reflection, I began to realize that the good doctor may have actually done the Draft Fred Thompson grassroots movement a very big favor.
First of all, Dobson has guaranteed that any onus of being associated with the goofier examples of my christian brethern will never be a problem for Fred.
Secondly, although Dobson still wields considerable influence among evangelicals, they do not march in lockstep to his orders. Many are quite independent in their thought and beliefs, and they take Matthew 6:1 ("Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven) seriously. I believe any sway he may still hold over some of them is weakening, and by putting his foot in his mouth the other day, he has become his own worst enemy.
I suspect that you just cannot tolerate people pointing out your rather poor communication skills. You respond to questions by making more absurd attacks. That's the sign of a DU troll, in my book.
I am sick of people saying that Fred won't campaign.
He was losing his campaign in Tenn. in 1994 and from all accounts he turned it around in a three month period to win with 61% and the largest number of votes in Tennessee history.
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