Re: “NAMB staffers decline to sign belief statement, leave
agency” (Aug. 16)
The three staffers who refused to compromise their own convictions
by signing the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message and lost their jobs at (the Southern
Baptist North American Mission Board) are to be commended.
Re: “NAMB staffers decline to sign belief statement, leave
agency” (Aug. 16)
The three staffers who refused to compromise their own convictions
by signing the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message and lost their jobs at (the Southern
Baptist North American Mission Board) are to be commended.
I was disturbed by the report that one of the former employees
declined to comment and that another said that he could not comment because
he had been asked to promise not to discuss the matter publicly as a part of
the agreement allowing him to take early retirement.
Ironically, in the same edition of your paper, Lacy Thompson
reported that in order to receive their severance packages, the 148 employees
terminated by the New Orleans casino were required to sign an agreement that
they would not discuss the terms of their leaving (page 7).
Control and manipulation are to be expected in the gaming industry,
but they are not a part of the Baptist way. Freedom of expression and trust
are the order of the day among Baptist Christians, I thought.
Ferris Jordan
Baton Rouge