Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Libery Council, offers this reply to David Kuo's recent posts Huckabee and the evangelical mullahs and the Mullah's problem:
Such unchristian, harsh and hostile language from David Kuo! In describing “Dobson, Land, Perkins, Bauer, etc.” in such demeaning and unflattering terms as “increasingly old, tottering, out of touch, self-appointed evangelical mullahs,” Kuo may reveal more about his own unresolved hostilities and conflicts than he does about the status of the modern Evangelical movement.First, in the interest of accuracy, Jim Dobson (born in 1936), Tony Perkins (born in 1963), and Gary Bauer and myself (both born in 1946, the same year as Presidents Clinton and Bush), regularly appear in public “without Geritol” and give every appearance of being actively involved both in the Evangelical movement and public policy for years to come (no doubt to the consternation and disappointment of Mr. Kuo).
As for these Evangelical leaders being out of touch and with decreasing influence, who does Mr. Kuo think hosted the Values Voters Summit which prompted nearly 3,000 evangelical activists from across the nation to come to Washington – Tony Perkins and his organization? It appears to me that David Kuo’s comment that a “new generation of evangelicals” have never heard of these leaders is the profound wish becoming the father of the inaccurate thought. If these leaders have no influence, then why attack them?
And, by the way, isn’t this the same David Kuo who called on Evangelicals to take a hiatus or sabbatical from political involvement? Why, yes it is! Make up your mind, David. Are you in the process or out this election cycle? Why are you so concerned about Mike Huckabee and whether or not Evangelical leaders support him?
I know of no comment from any of the Evangelical leaders Kuo mentions that could be taken as a criticism of Governor Huckabee, whom I have known for more than 20 years, consider a personal friend, and think would be a perfectly acceptable candidate for ANY public office. My advice to David Kuo would be if you really like Mike Huckabee, quit saying nice things about him because your endorsement would harm him more than it would help. If I were running for office, heaven forbid, and you endorsed me, David, I would be terribly depressed.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Diana Butler Bass is a religion scholar and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. She blogs at 
Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus at Eastern University and author of The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, with Mary Darling. He blogs at 
Rod Dreher is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. He blogs at 
Bruce Feiler is the author of seven books, including Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. He blogs at 
Dan Gilgoff is Politics Editor at Beliefnet and author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War. He blogs at 
David Kuo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and is the author of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He blogs at 
Dr. Richard Land is president of The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and author of The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!
Michele McGinty is a mom and a student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She blogs at 
Brian McLaren is a pastor, musician, and author of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He blogs at 
Steven Waldman is co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. His book Founding Faith will be published in March, and he can be reached through 
Jim Wallis is executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. He blogs at
Mr. Kuo seemed "right on" to me. Googled a bit about Mr. Land and found that he is exactly what he was described as being. One quote. ' Baptists are very strong believers that the civil magistrate is ordained by God to punish those who do evil."
Richard Land
Just waiting for the religious police to be formed. To be fair, Mr. Land is very much against a religious government, but then believes that government is to punish those that they think are evil. That would be all of us.
"self-appointed evangelical mullahs"
Land just proved Kuo's point so succinctly, by this response. Narcissistic anger cannot be restrained, can it Mr Land, when confronted by truth about oneself! Nathan's words to David ring so true of Mr Land in regard to Mr Kuo's assertion, "You are the Man!" Unlike David, Mr Land is still in denial.
I honestly don't see how David Kuo's description is "demeaning and unflattering". Contemptuous perhaps, but flattery and honor are hardly due the egotistical chauvinism evident in this response.
I note that Mr. Land doesn't actually dispute, let alone refute, the assertions in the phrase “increasingly old, tottering, out of touch, self-appointed evangelical mullahs”. All he does is attack Mr. Kuo as unreliable, beat the pulp out of a variety of strawmen, and endorse Mr. Huckabee.
I believe the post above perfectly confirms Mr. Kuo's view that politics and power and ego outrank integrity and Christian humility for people like Mr. Land.
Donny,
You left out a mention of Nero, and your one Marx quote! You're slipping, dude! But I do like the new "cyber crickets" thing. Very cute!
Still waiting to hear what your political program is...Can we hope for scarlet letters and whippings at the cart's tale?
Mr. Land decries "Such unchristian, harsh and hostile language".
Mr. Land is no stranger to spouting "unchristian, harsh and hostile language" against God's gay and lesbian children, not to mention the repeated bearing of false witness about us, describing us in equally "demeaning and unflattering terms".
Dobson, Land, Perkins and Bauer ARE "increasingly old, tottering, out of touch, self-appointed evangelical mullahs", imnsho, as is Mr. Hucklebee, but Mr. Hucklebee publicly sateted he wanted to chnge the Constitution to make it more in line with his religious beliefs. Now THAT is frightening.
And Mr. Land DARES to boast that they are "being actively involved both in the Evangelical movement and public policy". Didn't Christ Himself tell you to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's? Maybe it's PAST time you butted out of puplic policy. You haven't helped it in the least, and you trying to run public policy according to the tenets of YOUR beliefs takes away the promised freedom of religion (which America used to be so proud of) from those who are not of your faith.
"who does Mr. Kuo think hosted the Values Voters Summit"
The DOGMA Voters Summit, shurely!
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.