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Issue 002 <previous< Issue 003 October 1995
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Letters to the
Editor
MASTON COLLOQUIUM STATEMENT (This is a statement made by participants in the Maston Colloquium. Their names are affixed, together with those of others who have identified with it. Convened by the Center for Christian Ethics on September 12, 1995, in Dallas, Texas, the Colloquium name honors Dr. T.B. Maston for his pioneering work in Christian ethics as a teacher, writer and prophet.) The crisis in public education may well be the most important issue of our time. Although American public education today is more successful than it ever has been in its history, the frenzied bashing of the public schools has obscured the facts of the case. Fact The
dropout rate last year was only 11%, the lowest in the history of public
education. This was the eleventh consecutive year that the dropout rate has
declined. Ethics and Morals: A Small Lesson Good and sincere souls have sought in recent years to make a distinction between ethics and morals. A short visit to the Oxford English Dictionary, the most definitive and authoritative dictionary in the English language, should be profitable. Ethics, we are told, is from the Greek word ethikos which itself is derived from the
Greek word ethos, meaning character.
Ethics is defined as “manners.... Relating to morals.... Treating of moral
questions.... The science of morals.... Concerned with the principles of human
duty.... The moral principles by which a person is guided.... The rules of
conduct recognized in certain associations or departments of human life.... The
whole field of moral science (p. 900). Public Education and the Recovery of Ethics
Dr. Charles McCullough has been pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church in Los Alamos, New Mexico for ten years. A native of Oklahoma and a graduate of John Brown University, he worked in the Los Alamos Laboratories before earning a Ph.D. degree in Christian Ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The first article printed here is a substantive one, which he has copyrighted and which is used here with his permission; and the second, with a comparable thrust but in a different genre, reflects his threefold calling as father, pastor, and public citizen. Our culture is in the throes of ethical crisis: we insist not only upon the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness but also the freedom to choose our own avenues of vocation, education, and personal development. Yet, as a society, we are losing sight of the very thing which endows those freedoms with cohesiveness and meaning. We are losing ethical vision, the ability to recognize and act upon what ought to be done in times of confusion and conflict.... Pastor’s Perspective on Public Schools The not-quite-grown-up little girls with the long legs and dancing blue eyes put on their new back-packs, stuffed with pencils, paper, ruler and glue bottle, and headed out the door to greet their friends. Together, laughing, full of anticipation, they set off for the first day of school. Funny, they seem so much more grown up than last
year at this time.. .and yet still so vulnerable. I experience a slight
queasiness; misgivings sneak into my mind: “What am I doing? How can I send
these precious, impressionable little people to that school, and surrender
control of their learning to adults I don’t even know?” LEGITIMATION NO ONE REALLY FIRED A SHOT A Conversation with Charles Wade Dr. Charles Wade is Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Arlington, Texas where he has served for 19 years. As the pastor of a big church with a big staff in a big city in the heart of the big metropolitan area of Dallas and Fort Worth, Dr. Wade consistently finds time to deal with the Christian social concerns and to do the Christian social action which Christian Ethics Today seeks to support. His acceptance of the invitation to be interviewed for this issue is particularly appreciated because the pastor’s voice and the pastor’s actions are the most important single element in furthering the cause of Christian ethics. Dr. Wade is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he graduated with a Doctor of Theology degree having written a doctoral dissertation related to Black theologians who were involved in social concerns and Christian social action. In the middle 1980s he served two terms as Chairman of the Christian Life Commission. For years he has been active in Baptist life on many fronts. Q. Where did you get your
social conscience?
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Wallbuilders or Mythbuilders
Historical Revisionism and With charts, books, graphs, and videos, David Barton is out to remake America. For years he has been indefatigably crisscrossing the United States, hawking to millions of Americans a simple yet dangerous message, that “separation of church and state is a ‘myth’.” And, unfortunately, people are buying his product. “No single Religious Right figure has done more to undermine church support for church-state separation than David Barton,” said Joe Conn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “He has done untold damage to the separationist idea. From his headquarters in Aledo, Texas, Barton has become the guru of Religious Right antiseparationism. He has turned his little home business into a full-scale antiseparationist industry, with 25 employees helping him spread his material.” A careful look at that material, however, shows that “Mythbuilders” would describe it more accurately than “Wallbuilders,” for the essence of his message rests on eight historical fallacies regarding the Constitution. This article examines them all. 1. The Myth of the Explicit Constitution.
Sounding the Alarm: Media Violence in America
INTRODUCTION
BIBLICAL INSIGHTS
THE CHURCH’S OPPORTUNITY: MEDIA LITERACY CONCLUSION Lest We
Forget: Back to the Other Buchanan
One thing you will have to grant Newt Gingrich: he is—as he says—a “revolutionary.” His political base is populist. His contract on America is radical. He is not, except by the typical slovenliness of the journalists, a “conservative.” A conservative believes in incremental change, to
avoid the ripping and tearing that accompanies passion-inspired and sweeping
measures. He knows that change is the nature of the universe, but he wants it to be orderly and rational. A Statement of Social Principles for Christian Social Concern and Christian Social Action Numerous statements of faith by many Christian bodies have sought to set out what Christians generally believe. This statement of social principles, in a more specific way, seeks to relate basic matters of Christian faith to social issues that confront us in everyday living. Iris made in the conviction that conversion to Christ through personal repentance and personal faith is the starting place for the Christian pilgrimage in which “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:11). There is no attempt to list all the scriptures related either to the first section on Basic Concepts or to the last section on Contemporary Issues. In most cases, only one or two representative references are given. I. Basic Biblical Concepts Related to Social Principles
II. Contemporary
Conclusion
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