The FP Interview: Dr. Bruce Prescott of Mainstream Baptist

FP: Who is Dr. Bruce Prescott?

BP: I am a husband. My wife, Kylene, and I have been married for more than thirty years. I am a father. My son, Bill, is a graduate student in professional writing at the University of Oklahoma. My daughter, Candice, will soon graduate from OU with a degree in Spanish education.

I am a Baptist minister. I have an M-Div. (1978) and a Ph.D. (1986) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have pastored two churches in Texas. My last pastorate was at Easthaven Baptist in Houston, TX (1987-1998).

I am an educator. I taught philosophy and religion classes at Tarrant County Junior College (1983-1986) and, at times, for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I consider my current employment as related to the field of education. Most of what I do as Executive Director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptist is educate people about historic Baptist beliefs and convictions and point out how the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention has changed Baptist beliefs and practices.

FP: When and why did you start your Blog, Mainstream Baptist?

BP: When I first started my blog (in June 2004), I was just doing it to learn why it was so popular among young people. In a very short time I began to realize that blogging made social networking more proactive and was much easier and more effective than the work I was doing to keep fresh material on the Mainstream Baptists website.

FP: What is a Mainstream Baptist? Are you really a Mainstream Baptist in the context of fellow Baptists in your state?

BP: First, I need to emphasize that on the Mainstream Baptist blog I represent no one but myself. On the Mainstream Baptists website I speak as a member of a large group of Baptists, with organizations in several states, who identify themselves as moderate, Mainstream Baptists. Mainstream Baptists are Baptists who are standing up and facing the fundamentalism that has taken over the Southern Baptist Convention. We educate people about historic Baptist beliefs and convictions and we raise a dissenting voice whenever Southern Baptist leaders fire professors or missionaries and persecute people and churches that refuse to submit to their control. At times, we pass an offering plate and help find other places of service for those who we feel have been unjustly terminated for holding fast to their historic Baptist convictions.

Most of the Baptists in the state of Oklahoma are either fundamentalists or people cowed by fundamentalism. Most Baptists in Texas and Virginia are Mainstream Baptists.

FP: You have been President of the Oklahoma Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Please tell us about your work with that group and what sparked your efforts in that regard. How does it relate to your deep religious convictions?

BP: A number of informed and respected historians say that separation of church and state is the Baptist legacy to the history of Western Civilization. There is no doubt that Baptists were some of the earliest and most articulate spokespersons for religious liberty for people of all religions. Baptists were instrumental in assuring that the First Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution. Until the Fundamentalists took over the Southern Baptist Convention, Baptists in America were united in supporting the work of the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, D.C. The Baptist Joint Committee is a watchdog agency with the mission to protect and preserve the First Amendment. Nearly sixty years ago, Baptists decided they needed some help in watching over First Amendment liberties. We were instrumental in starting an organization called “Protestant Ministers for Separation of Church and State.” Later, the name was changed from “Protestant Ministers” to “Americans United.”

I have been involved with Americans United for more than a decade. While I was a pastor in Houston, I became active in the Houston chapter when there was a strong push for private school vouchers at the state legislature. I pastored a church with a private, religious school and the voucher money would have helped us financially, but I was also a Baptist and, like Baptists historically, I am firmly convicted that using public money for religious schools is wrong.

I was President of the Houston Chapter of AU for two years 1997-98. I also served on the National Advisory Board of AU from 1997-2002. I am currently serving my second year as President of the Oklahoma Chapter of AU. Since 2002 I have been on the Executive Board of the National AU organization.

FP: You live in a very Red State-- how could moderates and progressives appeal to the voters there that you know so well? What issues would have the most appeal to sensible but more conservative voters in your state?

BP: I don’t hear a lot of support for privatizing Social Security in Oklahoma – even on the right. I think moderates and progressives need to stand firm in their support of Social Security and work to strengthen it.

Most Oklahomans, including most moderates, have not yet learned to separate support for the men and women in the military from support for the war in Iraq. I think progressives need to find ways to demonstrate support for the men and women in the military while challenging the administration’s handling of the war.

I think there is concern from both the left and the right that the Patriot Act has gone too far and threatens our civil liberties.

I think moderates and progressives need to stand with Sister Dianna Ortiz and her “No tolerance for torture” campaign.

FP: Who are your favorite thinkers and writers in the areas of theology and politics?

BP: Other than, Jesus, my favorite thinker is Paul Ricoeur. I discussed his hermeneutic method and adopted it in my doctoral dissertation. He is the most profound modern thinker that I have read. A close second to Ricoeur is Martin Buber and after him is Emmanuel Levinas. All three of them have written extensively on both theology and politics. Another thinker I greatly appreciate is Shadia B. Drury.

FP: Tell us about Philosophical Hermeneutics, which you list as one of your passions?

BP: Philosophical hermeneutics wrestles with some of the most fundamental questions of life. There is a sense in which everything we do involves interpreting something – sense data, sounds, images, signs, symbols, metaphors, thoughts, dreams, texts, etc. It makes sense to examine the phenomena and practice of interpreting in a systematic and thoughtful way.

FP: Many people feel frustrated by both the perception of religious people and the Bush Administration--what can they do to change things?

BP: I am among those who feel frustrated by the perception that all religious people fit the mold of what passes today for being conservative. Baptists came out of a religious tradition that has been called the “radical reformation.” We were radical because we contended for the “progressive” or “liberal” idea that each person should have the freedom to worship as they please – without help or hindrance from the state. The early Baptists did not use the words “separation of church and state” to describe their beliefs as much as they spoke of “liberty of conscience.” What they were asking for was spelled out and made explicit in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is true that the specific words “separation of church and state” were not used in our constitution. Neither were the words “separation of powers.” Both ideas were spelled out in the Constitution.

The radical idea that church and state should be separate was written in the First Amendment and now it is more than 200 years old. After 200 years, people who want to preserve the First Amendment ought to be considered “conservative.” What passes today for being “conservative” is really theocratic. They want to repeal the First Amendment and return to the established state-churches of pre-revolutionary America.

The most important thing that moderate and progressive religious people can do to change things is to start standing up and speaking out on behalf of separation of church and state. Religious liberty for everyone – not just Christians – is our first freedom. It’s the first freedom because it is the bedrock foundation upon which every other form of freedom rests. It secures our right to a free conscience and protects the rights of minorities. If you can strip away the right of any minority to worship as they please, to be free from indoctrination into someone else’s religion, and to be exempt from paying taxes to support someone else’s faith, then you can undermine any other right that minorities enjoy in our society.

FP: Are there one or two posts you are most proud of?
(NOTE: subject sends 2, FP picks 1)

BP: Here is one of my favorite posts:
America's First Prophetic Voice