Richard Land Announces his Retirement

Sounds like you ain't "Gee-Hawin'" right now with Dr. Land!!!

:type::type::type:

 

This is good I think, he was getting a little too close to Glenn Beck for my likin.

 

Well he just wants to enjoy retirement but has a year left. So let him enjoy his last year. Just my two cents.

 

I don't have a problem with what he said. I think the SBC is a little full of bull right now. We are really going overboard trying to convince the world that we are not at all prejudiced anymore.

We aren't by the way. I don't think we have been, as a whole, racist in a long time.

But all this stuff that's happening right now concerning racial restitution is not the result of us seeking the center of real justice- it is the result of this message we are trying to send to the world.

It's like refs in an NBA game calling the technical foul when it is really not a technical foul. The situation is that they just want to send a message to two heated teams that chaos will not be tolerated in this game.

I don't like that kind of thing. The only time you should EVER call a technical foul is WHEN YOU ARE SURE IT ACTUALLY IS A TECHNICAL FOUL.

The same thing with Richard Land. The way he is being thrown under the bus for his comments is the SBC just trying to send a message that says something like "Hey, look at us! We're really very open minded now and not racist at all! We love black people!!"

Having said all of that- I'm not crazy about Land either.

But it's not because he is insensitive toward blacks. That's just bull,imo.

It's because he is, like you noted, confusing Christianity with political conservatism. He blurs the lines between being a Christian and being a Republican. He and many like him are more interested, it seems to me, in the affairs of the government than they are the affairs of the Gospel.

 

Woohoo! Goodbye blowhard, October 2013 can't come soon enough! Should have fired his plagiarizing, race baiting, separation of church and state destroying rear end years ago.

 

I'm a little confused. Are you a fan of his or not?

 

A bit harsh on my part I will admit that, should be more thoughtful and considerate. Obviously I'm not a fan.

I feel the need to say, he is not the only one. Though he comes from a far right perspective, it should be said that there are plenty that fit the same profile but from a far left perspective. I would be just as elated to see them resign should that moment arrive.

Speaking truth to power is not easy. Often you are the only one and in most cases you are ignored by the vast majority. There is a place for Baptists to speak to issues of ethics and religious liberty, just not, in my opinion, the way Land was doing it.

When it comes to ethics, the ends don't justify the means. This, again in my opinion, is where Land fell short.

 

I think I've posted this story here before, but, given the circumstances and some of the responses to Land's retirement, I think it bears repeating.

Several years ago we had a radio program here in Nashville where usually 3 guests and the 2 hosts discussed political, social, cultural, economic, and religious issues. The guests represented different sides of the issues, and the discussions were kept polite and civil. You couldn't call in, but you could send e-mails some of which would be read on the air.

I didn't get to listen to it every day, but one day I tuned in to find them talking about the previous day's program where Richard Land had been one of the guests along the head of the local chapter of the ACLU. Several e-mails were read raking Land over the coals for his rudeness toward the woman from the ACLU. There were several complaints that he had repeatedly interrupted her, refusing to let her finish what she had to say. Others accused him of talking down to her as if she did not know what she was talking about. Some people complained that the hosts did not do anything to stop Land's behavior. Several said that Land should never be invited back again. In the time that I listened to the show until it went off the air, Land never appeared again. When they had finished reading the e-mails, one of the current day's guests commented that Land was the only guest he had seen show up for the program with an entourage.

On another show that I did hear where Land was a guest, he responded to a question about some military situation (that I don't remember) by saying that he could provide more information about the situation, but it would violate his National Security Clearance. Since I had heard that getting this kind of clearance was very expensive, that raised a question for me as to who had paid for Land's clearance. Did he pay personally? Were Cooperative Program funds used? Did his board know about it?

I remember the days of the SBC Christian Life Commission under the late Foy Valentine. While he was a controversial figure in his own right, he was never identified with the kind of partisan politics the way that Land been. Land's leaving will not return us to those "good old days", but I hope that the ERLC board will change the focus to eliminate the political involvement that Land fostered.

Tim Reynolds
Nashville, Tennessee

 

I would guess that the October 2013 date is so he can get full benifits.