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Pittsburgh station fires talk host for caller's questioning papacy
Just how crazy in love with John Paul II are evangelical Protestants? They're punishing people for questioning the papacy.

Pittsburgh's WORD, an affiliate of Salem Broadcasting, has announced the firing of afternoon drive talk show host Marty Minto. His offense? He "entertained a caller's question about whether the late Pope John Paul II would go to heaven."

"WORD-FM needs to function in this city in support of the entire church — that means everybody — and not focus on denominational issues," general manager Chuck Gratner explained to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Minto told the paper, "I made it clear that the discussion was not an attack on the character of the pope but, rather, a look at the teachings — not only of John Paul, but the Catholic Church in general." Shows last week had discussions on Marian devotion, purgatory, and other Catholic doctrines. It was the kind of stuff that pretty much everyone was talking about.

But WORD was apparently distressed mostly about that heaven question.

"I said the question of whether a person is born again is something personal, something between an individual and the Creator," said Minto, who also pastors a small storefront church. "I believe it was a legitimate topic to discuss. … As far as I'm concerned, I was doing what I've always done on the radio — look at events around the world from a biblical perspective. I've always been willing to talk about controversial subjects."

His bosses disagreed. "I was called into the office after my show Friday and told that I was being let go because I was alienating the listeners."

The Tribune-Review notes that the archdiocese didn't complain, but that WORD did call to let them know that Minto had been fired.

Baptist sign offends many, including Southern Baptists
So far, there's no talk of pastor Cline Franklin losing his weekly radio slot on WLIK-AM in Newport, Tennessee. But Knoxville media, including The Knoxville News-Sentinel, report that some folks aren't too pleased with the sign on his Hilltop Baptist Church, which read: "No truth, No hope Following a hell-bound pope!" and "False hope in a fake pope."

Jesus is the real pope, Franklin says. "What does 'pope' mean? It means father. We have a heavenly father, and the Bible says we shall call no man a father."

A leader at the local Methodist church, however, calls the sign "very degrading. … It's tragic that any church group would stoop to this posture."

Even the town's mayor was distressed. "It doesn't behoove any of us to determine who is going to heaven or hell," Roland Dykes Jr. told the paper. "I think the pope is a highly, highly respected person."

Yesterday, the sign changed. It now says, "Censured. Thanks TV 6." (WATE, Knoxville's ABC affiliate, has covered the sign daily.)

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the Hilltop story is that, according to WATE, the Southern Baptist Convention went on record saying the Independent Baptist church's sign should have been taken down. "It's highly presumptuous for any person or church to assume they know for certain the eternal destination of any person," an unnamed spokesman told the station.

Mark Noll: Why evangelicals love the pope
With the Southern Baptist Convention and Salem Communications rushing to the pope's defense, evangelical public intellectual Mark Noll's comment seems vastly understated: "The deep suspicion that in 1960 characterized evangelical attitudes toward Catholics — and Catholic attitudes toward evangelicals — has moderated considerably." His Boston Globe analysis of his this happened is a must-read for many reasons, but especially for his debunking of the claim that it's all about political alliances.

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April (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49