Democracies and Denominations Die in Darkness

The Washington Post has placed a slogan at the top of its masthead - Democracy Dies in Darkness.

The paper, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is internationally acclaimed and widely known for taking down President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal after the President's men broke into an office complex at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. to steal some very important papers. What destroyed the Nixon Presidency was the cover-up of the crime, not so much the crime itself.

Bezos explained why he chose the new slogan for the paper in an interview with The Post's executive editor, Martin Baron.

"I think a lot of us believe this, that democracy dies in darkness, that certain institutions have a very important role in making sure that there is light."

According to Post reporter Paul Farhi, Bezos apparently heard the phrase from legendary investigative reporter Bob Woodward, a Post associate editor. Woodward told Farhi that he referenced the phrase during a presentation at a conference that Bezos attended in 2015 in which Woodward talked about “The Last of the President’s Men,” his most recent book about the Watergate scandal.

Woodward, who has used the phrase in reference to President Nixon for years, said he didn’t coin it; he read it some years earlier in a judicial opinion in a First Amendment case. He couldn’t recall the specifics of the case or the name of the judge who wrote the opinion, but "the judge who said it got it right."

I agree with Woodward. I would add that religious denominations die in darkness as well.

Dr. Albert McClellan, the former Executive Director of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, spoke to a writer for The Baptist Program on December 31, 1980, and said,

"In 43 years there have been fewer than six executive sessions (closed door, private meetings) . . . The Executive Committee (SBC) has an open ear for anyone one who wants to speak to it. For almost 25 years the gallery has been two to three times bigger than the size of the Committee, and the gallery has been permitted to ask any question, to give any information, to make any point and to offer any objection."

Since those words were spoken by Dr. McClellan, there has been an exponential increase in the number of secrets kept by Southern Baptist leaders behind closed doors, pulled curtains, or dark places sealed off to exclude listening ears. Almost two-thirds of the meetings I attended as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board were executive sessions behind closed doors.

Someone has rightly said, "You are as sick as the secrets you keep."

Why are secrets kept among leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention? Why do leaders wish to keep people in the dark, and by all means keep records sealed or closed from public eyes? What is the purpose of leaders hiding behind veils?

I would be interested in your opinions, but allow me to offer a couple of possible reasons through the form of two memorable quotes on transparency.

"One man's transparency is another's humiliation." Gerry Adams

"What I'm thinking about more and more these days is simply the importance of transparency, and Jefferson's saying that he'd rather have a free press without a government than a government without a free press." Esther Dyson

Leaders who like secrets are leaders who like control. Oh sure, they may act as if they are interested in helping you, but if you allow things to be kept behind closed doors, then the agenda, the message, and the future will play out the way they those who've run over people to obtain and sustain power want it to play out. Whatever you think of the #MeToo movement, whether good or bad, one cannot deny that leaders who attempted to cover-up and control the agenda and message created the movement.

You never create a stained glass window in your image unless you can protect it from shattering. Secret meetings are like acrylic lucite for stained glass.

My message to the trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is really a message from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:

"For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open" (Luke 8:17).

It's an important enough principle, Jesus repeated it to His disciples again:

"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known" (Luke 12:2).

When those doors swing open, you must be prepared for what awaits. Will you do the right thing in secret? I trust you shall. If not, the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas will make the 1985 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas look like a kindergarten picnic.

And rightly so.

Denominations die in darkness.