Dallas News Blog

Photos by Kimberly Thorpe

A gathering of local religious leaders and Sojourners staffers kicked off last night's Justice Revival at Market Hall.

​It's not an uncommon scene: A Christian pop band plugs in and coos about Jesus's love to the faithful flock, which sways with arms raised to the heavens. Last night, that scene replayed itself in Dallas as Sojourners, the Washington D.C.-based social ministry, kicked off its Justice Revival event. The three-day gathering is the baby of Rev. Jim Wallis, a New York Times bestselling author, who started Sojourners and who, after publishing The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America last year, Wallis started the Justice Revival "movement."

Dallas Justice Revival will be headed up by Randy Skinner, from Strategic Justice Initiative, Inc. The movement brings together more than 200 parishes of different denominations who hope to create 700 new units of permanent housing to help end chronic homelessness; and forge 25 new partnerships between Dallas-area churches and public schools to help increase the college readiness of the students.

The first Justice Revival event was held last year in Columbus, Ohio, and attracted some 10,000 people. The turn-out for Dallas's opening night was much smaller: Only 883 folks sat in the audience at Dallas Market Hall.

Regardless, organizers and attendees kept the faith. Before walking on stage to begin the evening's program, some 50 pastors and Sojourners event staffers held hands in a large prayer circle. "We pray for some of that Kingdom in Heaven right here on Earth, in Dallas," said Aaron Graham, Sojourners's national field organizer. "Help us, God. Whatever happens in these next few days, we trust you."

​I spent the better part of this morning virtually touring the First Baptist Dallas Web site devoted to its proposed $130-million "worship center" that will "embrace the church's historic past while boldly asserting its place in the Dallas skyline." That's quite a site too -- more short films than a film fest, including a nice history of the 141-year-old church, which will have its original steeple resurrected as part of the project. In the press release sent out yesterday, Robert Jeffress explains the need for the new venue:

"As I look around downtown Dallas, I see spectacular temples of commerce, culture and government -- many new, some restored to former glory, and all intended to stand for generations, and the Kingdom of God needs a house equal to them. ... Fifteen miles from our campus, Jerry Jones recently unveiled a new $1.2 billion temple to sports. If he can do this during these tough economic times, I believe God's people can build a church that provides a spiritual haven and matches the splendor and majesty of the Arts District."

The plan is to start construction next summer and have it done by 2013 -- "debt-free." Holy water, Batman!

So, right. Like I said, Kirk Cameron was in town Sunday, and the Growing Pains star preached to three separate services at First Baptist Dallas -- which, frankly, just sounds exhausting. A video's just been posted from the third service, and as soon as I hit the part about some of the ladies in the audience suffering from "Seaver Fever" at around the 2:20 mark, well, I knew I had to spread The Word.

A Message of Hope from Actor Kirk Cameron from First Dallas on Vimeo.

​In case you missed it, Nightline last night scored a rare interview with Benny Hinn, who, of course, is HQ'd out of Irving. It'll be interesting for those wondering if he really resurrected the dead ("I had no proof he was dead, that's what they told me") or how Sen. Charles Grassley's investigation into televangelists is going (Hinn, unlike Fort Worth's Kenneth Copeland, is one of the few to cooperate).

Hinn, who insists he has "nothing to hide" but doesn't want his financials released to the media, tells ABC's Dan Harris, "Look, you know there's this idea supposedly that we preachers are supposed to walk about with sandals and ride bicycles. That's nonsense." But as Gawker points out, the best parts come when "Incompetent superflack Ronn [sic] Torossian" keeps interrupting the interview, much to Hinn's chagrin.

Justin Terveen

​Friend of the show Justin Terveen's doing some weekend work for Unfair Park; should have it ready to go Monday, fingers crossed. Till then, then, this inspirational triptych taken yesterday on the northbound Red Line near the Park Lane station.

Speaking of Kirk Cameron ...

First Baptist Dallas has posted the Growing Pains star's request for you to show up downtown on October 25. And you're invited to bring a friend, co-worker or family member who's going to hell. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Maybe he'll even sign your copy of Like Father Like Son.

See Kirk Cameron at First Dallas, October 25 from First Dallas on Vimeo.

​First off: Happy birthday, Kirk Cameron. Hope you got something nice for your birthday -- maybe a copy of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species? Or, perhaps, a video game based on a movie in which you appeared. How about ... let's see ... Left Behind: Tribulation Forces. I know where you can get a copy: Dallas-area Walmarts, in which Inspired Media Entertainment is test-marketing sales of video games to the God-fearing; says the California-based CEO about the move into Texas Walmarts, "The U.S. market for Christian video games could reach $648 million within the next five years based upon just three percent of video game sales being in the Christian segment." Kirk, if you didn't get anything cool, let us know -- we'll bring you something on October 25, when you pay a visit to Robert Jeffress's First Baptist Dallas downtown. ("Friend Day"?) Unless we're too spent from having spent a Saturday with Hayden Panettiere.

Flickr photo: goatopolis

​Maybe you recall the ruckus raised last May, when some folks up in Frisco got upset with the fact the school district allowed for the dissemination of Gideon bibles on campuses. And no doubt you recall what happened a year earlier, when some Jewish kids in Plano ISD were taunted with bibles and asked, like, won't you burn and stuff if you come in contact with the New Testament? (Silly -- it doesn't burn, but it does sting a little.) Which more or less brings us up to speed concerning the ACLU of Texas report released today: Distribution of Gideons Bibles in Texas Public Schools: Impact on Students' Religious Liberty, which actually takes a look at 10 Texas districts.

The report, in short, recounts the events leading to the distribution of the bibles ("The Gideons encouraged Frisco ISD's Director of Communications to keep their plan to distribute Bibles on 13 district campuses a secret from principals until the day before the distribution, resulting in increased disruption and negative media attention for the district") and reminds school districts to enforce their own policies. And it's full of anecdotes, such as this one:

Parents also complained that so many Bibles were distributed in Plano ISD that they eventually became a distraction for the students, which included using Bibles as projectiles and as props to harass Jewish classmates. One parent complained that her child, a Christian student at Vines High School, was upset when students began throwing the Bibles at one another, tearing them, and using pages from a Bible to roll a joint.

Darrel Rundus

​I'd forgotten all about Darrel Rundus till I took a peek at the agenda for tomorrow's Park and Recreation Board meeting, during which the board will go behind closed doors to discuss the 3-year-old federal lawsuit in which the preacher sued the city of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas for violating his First Amendment rights. For those needing a refresher course, we wrote all about this back in October of '06, but the short version is:

For years, Rundus -- who's apparently some kind of marketing genius? -- tried to pass out religious literature inside the fairgrounds during the Fair. But each time he was stopped by Dallas police officers and Fair officials, who said, sure, he could do his thing outside the Fair (like, on the public sidewalks), but not inside -- not unless he rented an exhibit space and stayed put. To which Rundus said: Federal lawsuit! And the thing worked its way through U.S. Magistrate Jeff Kaplan's court for three long years -- until September 16.

At that point, Kaplan had enough and ruled in the city and Fair's favor, as evidenced by the memorandum order and opinion you'll find below. (The brief judgment follows after the jump, as does the City Attorney's Office official position filed with the court last November.) As far as Kaplan's concerned, the city's got nothing to do with setting State Fair policy -- it is, after all, a private entity (since 1886!) that takes control of the fairgrounds for a few weeks each year -- and rules is rules.
Rundus Order and Opinion

Perhaps the most famous of all workplace chaplains ...

​Kim Nimon, assistant professor in the department of learning technologies at the University of North Texas, is emerging as a national voice on what's becoming an increasingly common and potentially controversial practice: companies hiring chaplains to minister to workers. In this month's Annals, the quarterly publication of the American Psychotherapy Association, Nimon addresses the blend of business and religion in pursuit of happier, more productive workers.

Using placement companies such as Dallas-based Marketplace Chaplains USA, such firms as Tyson, Pepsi and Walmart have begun hiring chaplains in an effort to boost employees' overall life satisfaction, and in the process up their on-the-job productivity. "In the past we wanted people to just bring their bodies to work and leave their minds at home, but this is part of a realization that in fact, everyone is bringing everything to work," Nimon told Unfair Park. "It's all connected."

Nimon says corporations are willing to invest in spiritual counselors because studies show that a sense of community and meaningful work that's aligned with personal values are linked to workers' job performance and length of tenure. And, in spite of potentially thorny questions of separation of church and state, Nimon says anecdotal evidence shows workplace chaplains are more effective than counselors.

"There's somewhat of a stigma attached to using a psychologist or counselor," Nimon says. "The chaplains are coming into lunchrooms, attending community functions, they're part of that community."

​Much thanks to the Friend of Unfair Park who sent word -- or is that The Word? -- of a confab being thrown by the Institute for Creation Research over on Royal Lane. Sounds like quite the shindiggity planned for mid-November at First Baptist: the "Demand the Evidence" conference, during which ICR CEO Henry Morris and others will ponder such questions as "Who has the last word on interpreting what God said and did--scientists or Scripture?," "Are Christians prepared to combat false doctrine and those who would compromise the Word of God?" and "Does this look infected to you?" ICR, of course, is currently embroiled in litigation with the Texas Higher Edu ... whoa, waitasecond. First Baptist? As in, Robert Jeffress? Somebody just dipped their peanut butter into my chocolate.

​Couldn't help myself -- just had to get on PACER for a status update on the Institute for Creation Research's lawsuit against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. No doubt you recall the reason for the litigation filed in April in Dallas federal court: The Royal Lane-based ICR claims the THECB violated its constitutional rights when it refused to grant the its request to dole out master's degrees in science, to which the THECB's responded with its own no-we-dint. Turns out, there's not only an update but a nifty summary for those just now catching up with the litigation.

It's after the jump, natch, but in short, it turns out ICR reps met with folks from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office last week down in Waco, where they hashed out a joint status report -- awful nice of 'em. (Hope they met at Kitok's. Or the Elite Circle Grill.) Amended pleadings are due by the end of this month; a four-day trial's been tentatively set for November 2010. Already wrote down both dates in the datebook. So, where we at, people?

​This morning, The Wall Street Journal goes to church -- Bent Tree Bible Fellowship Church, specifically, on International Parkway in Carrollton, where membership is high (4,000-plus pray at the arena-rock-sized megachurch) and shekels are low. Which has necessitated a few cuts superficial (lawn care, daily cleaning crew) and profoundly deep (wage freezes, layoffs -- the latter considered an "unusual step" at houses of worship). It's a common theme amongst all denominations' houses of worship, as evidenced by the titles of seminars held by Indiana University's The Lake Institute on Faith & Giving: "Congregations And The Economic Crisis" and "Religious Giving in Uncertain Times Conference."

And it's not just because folks have less to give -- they've also been asking for more during their time of need: "We are now seeing couples with $300,000 or $400,000 homes that need help with a big loan payment," says a member of the Bent Tree board. (But this is by far the most jarring revelation contained in the piece: "A coffee bar called the Crossing sold pastries and espresso.") On a very related note, this morning I also found this blog out of Fort Worth: Signs of Religion. Worth a look.

A Friend of Unfair Park wondered earlier this week what had become of the Institute for Creation Research's federal lawsuit filed in April against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in which the Dallas-based organization claimed the THECB violated its constitutional rights when it refused to grant the ICR's request to dole out master's degrees in science. Well, turns out, quite a bit's happened -- including the filing of a similar suit in Travis County, which has since been moved to federal court in Austin. And the whole shebang now has its own page on the National Center for Science Education's Web site, which has collected some of the more pertinent legal docs filed in recent weeks.

But not included are two docs you'll find after the jump, including the ICR's motion for summary judgment filed in Dallas federal court three weeks ago and the defendants' response, filed only yesterday. In short: The ICR claims that since it doesn't take government money, the government doesn't have the right to tell it what kind of degrees it can hand out. Meanwhile, the THECB members member say District Judge Jane Boyle can't rule on the case yet because, look, they haven't even responded to the original complaint yet, come on.

Hey, Don Hill, who just joined your legal defense team? You don't say.

Earlier this afternoon, Ken Carter at Focus Communications sent along an invite to a Sunday-night prayer vigil in front of the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse -- where, so happens, one week from today former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and his missus, Sheila Farrington, finally go to trial in the City Hall corruption case in which four folks have already pleaded guilty. Hill's got quite the all-star lineup ready to take their case to a higher power, among them: Frederick D. Haynes, the senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church and a good friend of Mayor Tom Leppert's; Bryan Carter, senior Pastor at Concord Church, which is where Hill attends services; and S.M. Wright, senior pastor at Peoples Baptist Church.

The vigil's scheduled to last from 6 to 8 p.m., and the press release bears this note of instruction for those considering attending: "Women attending are encouraged to wear white and bring candles."

Side note: Believe it or not, Don Hill's 2007 mayoral campaign Web site is still very much alive.

Still not sure who gets the copy of Holy Roller (though the Monty Python fan's a real player), but today is the official publication date of former Dallas Observer editor Julie Lyons's tome that bears the subtitle "Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church." That church is The Body of Christ Assembly in South Dallas, where Julie says that in April of 1990 she found crack addicts being healed through prayer -- "a news tip from God," as she describes it, since, back then, she was a crime reporter for the Dallas Times Herald looking for both a fresh angle on a worn-out news story and an honest-to-God miracle. Turned out to be quite the two-fer.

Friends of Unfair Park, of course, will take particular interest in Chapter 15 -- the one titled "Bible Girl," in which Julie writes about the genesis of her Unfair Park column. She writes of readers' reactions to the one dealing with her "struggle with same-sex attraction"; she says she "got a kick out of my critics' seemingly desperate need to discredit what God had done for me" as they wrote comments that took "digs at my church and family, and crude speculation regarding which sex toys I might've preferred in my supposed previous life as a lesbian."

Today, Rod Dreher has posted to his BeliefNet blog, Crunchy Con, an interview with our former leader in which they get religion. He also finds out what she's been up to since Bible Girl left Unfair Park to the heathens.

On Monday, we noted that the Royal Lane-based Institute for Creation Research filed a mammoth lawsuit in Dallas federal court in which it alleges that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board violated its constitutional rights when denying its application to offer master's degrees in science last year. Today, the ICR steps up its fight against the THECB with an essay titled "Censorship in Texas: Fighting Academic and Religious Discrimination," in which it reiterates the claims made in the lawsuit while portraying the privately funded institution as "a victim of academic (and religious) viewpoint discrimination in the Lone Star State." An excerpt:

As a result, college-level science education in Texas is now muzzled by Texas governmental censorship, a situation that interferes with both academic freedom, the right of a school to teach any subject from its own institutional viewpoint; and interstate commerce, the right of a school outside Texas to recruit and teach Texas residents. ...

Of course, the controversy is not unique to ICR's graduate school. Scientists and professors who are Christians, and even non-Christian academics, continue to face persecution from science censors. Ben Stein's Expelled documentary in 2008 clearly demonstrated that even highly-qualified scientists in secular institutions are facing various forms of expulsion simply because they question "recognized" Darwinian beliefs and the tenets of evolutionary science.

For those with a little free time this morning, the Institute for Creation Research filed an 80-page complaint in Dallas federal court at the end of last week claiming that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has done violated its constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religious exercise. For starters. Why come?

Says the suit, when the THECB -- of which Raymund Paredes, Ph.D. serves as commish -- decided last year not to let the Royal Lane-based joint hand out master's degrees in science, they "perpetrated viewpoint discrimination and censorship." The lawsuit reads kind of like stereo instructions, but here's one excerpt among many worth a look:

THECB's Commissioner Paredes' unquestioned faith in a "Big Bang" of "14 billion years ago" (which he may believe in by faith, but he has no eye-witness knowledge of such) should not be confused with the "great noise" mentioned in 2nd Peter 3:10. The evolution-only viewpoint discrimination is further illustrated in Commisioner Paredes' opinion (of 4-23-2008) that evolutionary thinking as "foundational" to "modern science."

Now, Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler doesn't necessarily identify himself as Jewish -- his dad is, his mom ain't, and the guy was never bar mitzvahed. Though, as he told ESPN.com last August, he knows he's beloved in the Jewish community: "If you have any kind of Jewish ancestry attached to your name, people are going to notice it. Whenever we're in New York, Boston or Chicago, I always get some kind of question about it."

Which is why last night, shortly after the Rangers pounded the Orioles 19-6 in Arlington and Kinsler went 6-for-6 while hitting for the cycle, Friend of Unfair Park and fellow MOT "The Big Guy" sent along this note: The last Jewish player to hit for the cycle was Harry "The Horse" Danning in 1940 -- "until Ian Kinsler tonight." And, yeah, looking at the full list and talking to some Rangers front-office folks this morning, that sounds about right -- though I seem to recall Oddibe McDowell could do a mean Torah portion.

Had totally intended to attend this weekend's Christian Book Expo at the Dallas Convention Center, if only for the cameo appearance by the godless Christopher Hitchens. Alas, my weekend got away from me, and, sadly, no expo for me. Or for most folks, as it turns out: Publishers Weekly today reports that only 1,500 consumer attendees showed up, which was way below organizers' prayed-for 20,000. And it wasn't for lack of advance (good) word: The show's been in the works for two years. Notes PW:

Stacks of unsold books and glum publishers stood for three days inside the cavernous Dallas Convention Center this past weekend at the Christian Book Expo, a first-of-its-kind event designed to connect publishers and authors directly with readers in the evangelical Christian market. Only problem was there were few readers to connect with, despite the show's location in Dallas, the buckle of the Bible Belt and a top market for Christian publishers. ... Off the record, exhibitor publishers rolled their eyes heavenward, but spoke with circumspection on the record. "Every new experience has a few nicks and bruises, but things can be worked out," said Greg Petree, v-p of marketing at Howard Books. A few were more blunt. "We can't afford these kinds of risks," said Dennis R. Hillman, publisher at Kregel Publications. "In a year like this the last thing we want to do is something that has no payoff."

I, of course, blame the lack of a proper convention center hotel. After the jump, Hitchens's introductory remarks.

That billboard pictured at right is currently hovering somewhere over a Philadelphia neighborhood; cities in Arizona and Colorado already have one too. Dallas is next, courtesy the fund-raising efforts of the Metroplex Atheists. Terry McDonald, chairman of the group, tells Unfair Park there are about 200 members of the Metroplex Atheists, a 20-year-old nonprofit whose point is "to let people know they're not alone." Says McDonald, "The idea is to present more of a united front for non-believer ideas."

They'll get the message in coming days: The Metroplex Atheists say they already have enough money to get themselves a billboard and are settling the final details; they're currently looking at a spot on Stemmons Freeway. One thing's for sure, says McDonald, "It'll be someplace very prominent." Maybe next to one of these billboards?

Intended to post this early, but got otherwise distracted -- was too busy answering the age-old question, WWJD? Alas, the delightful Adam McGill has reminded me of something I thought I only hallucinated last night during a midnight-thirty Comedy Central tune-in: Pastor Ed Young, Fellowship Church's "sexpert" (ewwww), appeared on The Colbert Report last night, and it was a religious sexperience for all involved. Sexcellent!

As mentioned last week, Dallas's T.D. Jakes did indeed deliver the pre-inaugural sermon from the St. John's Episcopal Church pulpit. The pool report contains the entirety of his sermon, delivered in front of 200 invited guests. Jakes, captured here by Patrick Michels at the Dallas premiere of Seven Pounds, quoted from Daniel 3:19 and delivered "four lessons" for President Barack Obama and his administration. Then he spoke directly to the president:

"The problems are mighty and the solutions are not simple, and everywhere you turn there will be a critic waiting to attack every decision that you make. But you are all fired up, Sir, and you are ready to go. And this nation goes with you. God goes with you. I say to you as my son who is here today, my 14-year-old son - he probably would not quote scripture. He probably would use Star Trek instead, and so I say, 'May the force be with you."

My 5-year-old son wishes to issue the correction himself: "That doesn't go with Star Trek. It goes with Star Wars. But that's fine. It's also really, really weird."

Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, the first full-time executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King's chief of staff, is in Dallas tonight to speak at the Belo Mansion as part of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture's Fourth Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium. Arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, during a Freedom Riders protest in May 1961, Walker was among the organizers of the March on Washington in '63 and a key figure behind the Birmingham Campaign that same year. Walker will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Diane McWhorter.

Promises the Institute of tonight's event, "Both speakers will reflect on the significance of Birmingham 1963 in relation to the progress of civil rights in the U.S. from then until the present moment of President-elect Obama's historic inauguration." Walker got a jump on his fellow panelist this afternoon, however, telling Forbes that he's none too happy with Barack Obama's decision to go with Rick Warren for tomorrow's invocation. Says Walker from Dallas today, "I thought he should have had someone from the civil rights movement. It's because of the civil rights movement that he's there today."

Two days before Christmas, while addressing the controversy surrounding President-elect Barack Obama's decision to have Rick Warren deliver the inaugural invocation, John McWhorter wrote in The New Republic, "Suppose Obama had invited black megastar preacher T.D. Jakes instead." Turns out, Obama has given Jakes a speaking slot on Inauguration Day -- kind of. The Associated Press is reporting as follows:

Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Dallas megachurch pastor, will preach at the private church service that President-elect Barack Obama will attend the morning of his inaugural, The Associated Press has learned.

Jakes will give the sermon Tuesday at St. John's Episcopal Church, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. St. John's, dubbed the "Church of the Presidents," sits across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

... figured we might as well show you, without further comment, this official First Baptist Dallas video, which was posted to Vimeo yesterday. It's otherwise known as the "First Baptist Dallas Brand Manifesto," and it kind of reminds me of this DSpot promo. Has Robert Jeffress found his?

First Baptist Dallas Brand Manifesto from First Dallas on Vimeo.

Oxford University Press has just published Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic, written by UT Southwestern Medical Center professor of cell biology Frederick Grinnell, pictured here. In the tome, Grinnell writes on his Web site, "I will suggest that science and religion represent distinct human attitudes towards experience based on different types of faith."

In conjunction with its publication, Grinnell has written a 1,755-word essay about that very subject for the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, which, alas, is subscription-only. Provocative title, though: "Intelligent Design or Intelligible Design?" And worthy of an excerpt, which you'll find after the jump. --Robert Wilonsky

Update: As a Friend of Unfair Park points out in the comments, the full essay can be found here.

Thanks to the Friend of Unfair Park who alerted me to Robert Jeffress's appearance FOX & Friends yesterday. The guy really gets around; hope he sent Rick Warren a nice Christmas card. --Robert Wilonsky

Conroe native Matt Lepsis, pictured at right, retired from pro football on New Year's Day 2008 after 11 seasons with the Denver Broncos. Noted The Denver Post of the 34-year-old's decision to hang it up: "He felt his play was slipping." Now we know why: The offensive lineman was playing while high -- shades of the late, great Doc Ellis. (Though, notes one nonbelieving Deadspinner, "Doc Ellis is not impressed.") At least Lepsis has something to talk about with his classmates at the Dallas Theological Seminary, where he's currently studying The Good Playbook. --Robert Wilonsky

My old friend Elvis Mitchell was in town on Friday, conducting an interview for a sequel to his 2008 star-studded documentary The Black List: Volume One, bought by HBO shortly before making its Sundance Film Festival in January. There will be two locals in the follow-up, which debuts on HBO in February, but only one of whom can be revealed: Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House, who makes a cameo this morning in The New Republic as well, where Manhattan Institute senior fellow John McWhorter writes that Jakes, who served as one of Obama's sort-of spiritual advisors during the campaign, is really no different than Rick Warren, Barack Obama's pick to offer the inaugural invocation. --Robert Wilonsky

Suppose Obama had invited black megastar preacher T.D. Jakes instead. Jakes heads a 30,000 member Dallas church, reaches millions more with the television show The Potter's Touch, and was designated "perhaps the most influential black leader in America" by The Atlantic. His church runs outreach programs as well as anti-poverty efforts in Africa. Yet like Warren, Jakes dissociates himself from those who "support abortion, homosexuality and other things I see as unscriptural." Still, I suspect that progressives' reaction to Jakes' inclusion would be vastly less indignant.