The Parson Is a Politician

Congressman John Buchanan, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, is doubling as interim pastor of the 250-member Riverside (Southern) Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. A member of the congregation, he made the move from pew to pulpit after Pastor and Mrs. Frank Foster were killed in a plane crash en route to the American Baptist Convention in Denver last May. Buchanan, 43, a Republican from Democratic territory in Alabama, will commence his fifth term in Congress next month. He was pastor of an Alabama church before entering politics.

From Politics To Editing

James M. Wall, who ran for Congress as a Democrat in suburban Chicago unsuccessfully, wasn’t worried about finding a job. The editor’s chair at the ailing Christian Century, down to 30,000 paid subscribers, was being held for him. It had been vacant since last May, when Alan Geyer resigned.

Wall is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, having grown up in Southern Methodist circles. He served as editor of the UMC’s Christian Advocate from 1963 until June of this year. He has worked in the fields of film (Eerdmans published his Church and Cinema), sportswriting (with the Atlanta Journal), and politics (he chaired the Illinois McGovern caucus at the Democratic convention).

Wall insists on a “dialogical relation with culture” and intends, he says, to keep the Century abreast of the latest developments in film, politics, and the arts in particular. “We also intend to cover Key 73. We have several articles scheduled. We consider it an important event and will deal seriously with it.”

Wall’s other concerns are, naturally, to increase circulation (“a concern any editor has”) and “generally increase the quality of the magazine.” Wall added, “We would like the Christian Century to evolve into a more effective magazine.” He cited the updating and improving of the news section as a major goal. “I have, however, no specific changes in mind. The staff will stay the same, as will the basic theological outlook. Naturally the magazine will begin to reflect my concerns and interests.” One change has been made, however: the magazine severed its relation with England’s New Christian, whose editor will now serve as the Century’s European correspondent.

CHERYL FORBES

Vote Against ‘Civil Religion’

A colloquium on “Civil Religion in America” co-sponsored last month by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Southeastern (Southern) Baptist Seminary adopted a statement calling for continuous judgment of “civil religion.” It also deplored “tendencies of certain proselytizing movements which do not adequately respect the integrity of diverse religious and cultural groups and which manifest inadequate respect for personhood.”

Suggesting that civil religion has frequently “masked or sanctioned racism, anti-Semitism, and prejudice,” the paper called for “personal and collective repentance for the diverse ways in which we have abused the dignity of persons through our personal and institutional bigotries.”

The resolution, according to the AJC, “marks the first time that a Southern Baptist group joined in a resolution repudiating proselytism of other groups, including Jews.” An AJC leader told reporters he had Key 73 in mind.

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