Guest Post by Morbo
I’m not a fan of legal thrillers, so I’ve never read John Grisham’s fiction. Last year, I did read his non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, which scared me half to death. I recommend it.
Because I never followed Grisham’s career, I didn’t know that he’s a pretty cool guy. Recently, he addressed a national gathering of moderate Baptists in Atlanta. Here are some things he said:
* “Evangelical politics has become a big business, and the results are disastrous. When the church gets involved in politics, it alienates many people it is supposed to serve.”
* “As a church, our mission is to serve God through teaching, preaching and serving others. Our business should be that of the church and not the state.”
* “God made all of us, loves us equally and expects us to love each other equally, without respect to gender, race, sexual orientation or other religions.”
* “Jesus preached more and taught more about helping the poor and the sick and the hungry than he did about heaven and hell. Shouldn’t that tell us something?”
What’s not to like?
Grisham also urged his fellow Baptists to reject biblical literalism. He ridiculed the idea of wives being submissive to husbands and essentially urged Baptists to lighten up. The fundamentalists, he said, are making all Baptists look bad.
Good stuff. It turns out Grisham, who once served as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives, is no fan of George W. Bush. Although Grisham is being a little more politically active these days – he backed Sen. James Webb in 2006 and has endorsed Hillary Clinton – he tends to keep to himself and rarely gives public speeches.
He should reconsider. Grisham has some interesting things to say, and more people need to hear him.