Carter Presidency: "Paradox and Contradiction"

[Stephen Fox]

Randall Balmer is delivering three lectures to the Samford Community last night and today. The Holley Hull Lectures in honor of the Holley money who funded the series and their appreciation for William E Hull.

Balmer has voiced the controversial tactics of Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer, Adrian Rogers in collusion with Paul Weyrich to undo Carter's hoped for 2nd term. Here at Samford where Timothy George is a Schaeffer devotee, the alma mater of Al Mohler, reverberations are certain.

Check the website www.randallbalmer.com

Balmer's final lecture this afternoon is public and a special invitation has been made to Samford Faculty.

Greg Garrison of the Bham News, al.com, was present this morning so he should have something up this afternoon online or in the next few days.

[Stephen Fox]

Schaefer called Weygrich after Weyrich's success in mobilizing the evangeligical right around the tax exempt status of Bob Jones. Balmer said it was a case of mendacity for Weyrich and Bob Billings to advance the notion the threat to BJU was Carter's concoction as it began with the Ford Administration.

Billy Graham was an enabler in the whole mess, and played a key role with Paul Laxalt organizing a Dallas Air port meeting in late 1980 to advance Reagan and weaken Carter.

Graham played his cards eleven days before the election of JFK in an effort to elect Nixon in 60; and 17 days before the 1980 election to play a key role in Reagan's courtship of evangelicals.

What started as the politics of race and tax exemption for schools like BJU and a white flight academy in Mississippi in 69 metastasized into the politics of abortion by 78. Balmer joins Christine Stansell of Roe article in New Republic of april 2011 calling the whole refinement process chock full of "mendacity".

In Q and A in final lecture this afternoon at Samford, allusions were made to Mike Hubbard, speaker of the House in Alabama as keeping the tradition alive. The question was asked if Samford as a Baptist Institution in the tradition of George W. Truett had any moral responsibility to uphold the authentic Truett prophetic voice against the likes of Hubbard.

Balmer spoke to that obliquely, saying as early as 1980 he made a personal pledge to not let his academic pursuits ("recondite"") never abuse his responsibility as a Christin to speak against injustice or evil designs in the public square.

He also had a tantalizing report about a "celebratory" event he was invited to in 1990 where the likes of Richard Land recalled the success to date with Reagan and Bush 41 and the SBC funday takeover. At that meeting Balmer had at least one straightforward conversation with Weyrich about BJU and the origins of the 70's religious right.

He makes a convicing case, but any revisions pre publication I hope he acknowledges some of the nuances Joe Crespino in particular brings to the table with his reports about the ground Strom Thurmond, Roger Millkien and Charles Daniel began harrowing in 1956, as well as refinement of some of Darren Dochuks assertions

[Stephen Fox]

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/10/jim ... dit_-.html

Former Fl Bap Witness editor was at all three Balmer lectures at Samford, taking copious notes.

I hope he does something for www.abpnews.com

40 comments follow the Bham news story. I hope some of you read them.

[KeithE]

[Stephen Fox]

A friend attended President Carter's SS Class yesterday and called this evening to give me a report. In rare Q and A sessions Carter addressed several matters from the audience; And in oblique endorsements made a case wise Christians in Georgia who understand the Gospel would be voting for Jill Nunn and his grandson Nov 4.

The Nunn race in particular has been qutie interesting. Without involking bonhoeffer's "politics of stupidity" my friend viscerally got the point that working class and poor whites who don't vote for Nunn in this race are "stupid".

Nunn works in Bush 41's non-profit Thousand Points of Light. Her Democrat Father US enator Sam was in the noble tradition of wide folks of the south who would include Alabama Republican Judge Frank Johnson, and South Carolina's Governor Dick Riley.

See H Brandt Ayers book In Love with Defeat, also the Summer 2013 Oxford American Mag Hal Crowther review of same plus Tracy Thompson's The New Mind of the South.

[William Thornton]

M. Nunn is doing well mostly because of her name recognition and the business background of her opponent. No one can identify anything much that she brings to the conversation, though she has been a credible candidate with few mistakes. I'll trek down to the polling place and vote for the republican after while.

[Haruo]

I miss polling places.

[Stephen Fox]

http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews ... rice-peace