Director of national Baptist advocacy group speaks at Campbell

     J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a national advocacy organization representing 14 Baptist bodies, delivered Campbell University’s annual Department of Religion lectures, Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the worship service in Turner Auditorium at 11 a.m. and later at Memorial Baptist Church at 7 p.m. The Baptist Joint Committee is a nonprofit organization providing a voice in Washington to promote religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

     Drawing from the Books of Matthew and Romans, Walker emphasized the importance of these principles.

     “…Render therefore to Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s (Matthew 22: 21),” he said. “Jesus didn’t tell us exactly what belonged to him, but the general principle is clear. We are citizens of two different realms, the country in which we live and God’s unique universe.”

     Even our founders and early leaders were not all born-again, Bible-believing evangelical Christians as many Americans believe, Walker said. George Washington, often held up as an Orthodox churchman, always spoke in terms of “Providence” instead of God, and Abraham Lincoln was never baptized nor an active church member.

     “Most of our Founders were religious folks of some ilk, but they did not intend to set up a Christian nation in a legal or constitutional sense, said Walker. “The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the establishment of a national religion.”

     Never have Americans grappled with the separation of church and state more ardently than since 9/11 when patriotism became a kind of secular religion, Walker added. “We should celebrate the goodness of America and thank God for our freedom, but remember America is only a country and not our religion.” he said.

     The separation of church and state does not mean a segregation of religion from politics, however. “Religious speech in public places is commonplace,” Walker said, “from bumper stickers, to billboards, to John 3:16 banners at football games, to post-game prayer huddles.”

     Walker, who has served as the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee since 1999, is both a member of the Supreme Court Bar and an ordained minister. A native of Charleston, W. Va., he earned both bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Florida and a law degree from Stetson University College of Law. Walker was a partner in the law firm of Carlton, Fields in Tampa, Fla. He left the firm in 1986 to enter Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where he earned a Master of Divinity and was named most outstanding graduate. He served as pastor of Richland Baptist Church in Falmouth, Ky., and has been an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University for a period of 10 years. Walker also serves as an adjunct professor at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond. He has published widely and provides commentary on church-state issues in the national media.


Photo Copy: J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., spoke at Campbell University recently. (Photo by Shannon Ryals)