This afternoon I visited with Brooks Douglass, former Oklahoma Senator and Special Assistant in the Oklahoma State Attorney General's office, about the hiring of his friend, Ken Starr, to be President of Baylor University. Brooks and I were across the hall dorm acquaintances at Baylor University in the early 1980's. Brooks spent his early years in Brazil with his International Mission Board missionary parents, Richard and Marilyn (Sue), and his younger sister, Leslie. Brook's father left the IMB to become pastor of the Putnam City Baptist Church, in suburban Oklahoma City. On October 15, 1979, two men, Glen Ake and Steven Hatch, entered the Douglass home, bound Brooks and his parents with rope, robbed the home of valuables, and then raped Brook's twelve year old sister. Finally, in order to leave no witnesses, the two men shot all four family members as they lay bound hogtied on the floor. Southern Baptist pastor Richard Douglass (43) and his wife Marilyn (42) were both killed. Brooks and Leslie were severely injured, but survived. The murders gripped the nation for weeks while law enforcement sought to capture the killers. Both Ake and Hatch were eventually captured. Hatch has been executed, and Ake has been denied parole four times.Brooks and I visited on the set of Heaven's Rain, a feature movie about the murders and the power of forgiveness, being filmed this month in Oklahoma City. Brooks wound up getting his law degree and working in politics and law enforcement out of a desire to protect the weak and defenseless victims of criminal activity as the perpetrators of those crimes made their way through the criminal court system. While in California pursuing some additional legal training, Brooks become well acquainted with Ken Starr and his wife Alice while Ken served as Dean of the Law School at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. I informed Brooks Douglass that his friend had been named President of Baylor University. There was a look of shock on Brooks face, and then a broad smile.
Brooks was thrilled--for his alma mater Baylor. Why? It seems that the Ken Starr is a down to earth, conservative evangelical Christian with a brilliant mind and some pretty powerful connections throughout the United States. Unlike the media's portray of Ken Starr during the Clinton era, Ken is no conservative ideologue. He has a legal mind second to none. He has demonstrated an ability to raise enormous amounts of money at Pepperdine, and the students and faculty love him. Brooks told me that two current United States Supreme Court justices had clerked for Starr, and if it had not been for the Lewinsky debacle, Ken Starr would be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court today. Brooks said Ken Starr's Christian values, established connections, and track record of superb leadership makes Ken Starr a five star hire by Baylor University. I was pleased to hear such a strong recommendation from a man I respect.
Then I begin to read the blogs of Southern Baptist religious ideologues about Ken Starr's hiring at Baylor. Most of them are not happy. Why?
Ken Starr is not Baptist enough. Though Ken and his wife are devoted followers of Jesus Christ, that is not enough. Though he and Alice were longtime members of McLean Bible Church, a conservative evangelical church in Washington, D.C.-- that still isn't enough. The fact that he has been baptized upon his profession of faith in Jesus Christ isn't enough, for he hasn't been "baptized in a Baptist church." The fact that he will be "joining" a Baptist church upon arrival in Waco doesn't quite cut the mustard either. That's just a "farce," according to Bart Barber, a trustee and employee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ken Starr is not a true, blue-blood Baptist. He shouldn't be President of Baylor University because being a Baptist is more important than being a Christian. {Edit: Bart Barber says that I have misunderstood the point of his blog. He writes in his post: "If you will no longer require that your presiding officers (at Baylor) actually BE Baptists, please stop coercing them into joining Baptist churches." I freely admit not always comprehending things correctly, and apologize to Bart if I have misunderstood he was inferring Ken Starr wasn't Baptist enough to be an approprate choice for the office of President of Baylor University.}
Listen to this quote from a Southern Baptist pastor named David Worley:
"Sooooooo, I wonder what (Baptist) Church might receive Starr and his wife without requiring them to be baptised first? Or, will they both willingly get baptised (sic) in this Baptist Church? Interesting, huh?"That kind of thinking reminds me of the trustees at the IMB who said they would rather pay thousands of dollars to fly a Southern Baptist pastor from the United States to China to baptize a convert than to allow a SBC missionary who was not "properly credentialed" to perform it.
I think that we Southern Baptists, unfortunately, are becoming more and more known for being Southern Baptists than devoted followers of Jesus Christ. When we are more concerned about the President of Baylor University being baptized in baptist waters than we are the spiritual condition and maturity of the man who takes the office, then we have sacrificed our "Christian" heritage on the alter of religious ideology. Soon, there will be little difference between the ritualism of us Southern Baptists and that of Mormons who must baptize in special places, wearing special underwear, at the hands of a special under... er, well, you get the idea.
Take it from a person with the same last name as the first President of Baylor University in Waco, Texas--Ken Starr is a great hire.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
