Foy Valentine 1923-2006

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:34:58 -0600

A hero of mine died last week. I wept openly when I read about it, though I only met him in person a couple of times. His name was Foy Valentine. And yes, that is where I got the name of my fictional character, Foy Davis, though my character bears no resemblance to Foy Valentine in personality. No, it's only a name that they share. I intended it to be a private tribute to someone whose life has meant much to me. I had planned to write a story about how Foy got his name. I'm sure I'll eventually get around to that, but since the real Foy has died, it seems right to tell you about him now.

Foy Valentine was a Christian first, and a Baptist kind of Christian only second. A lot of people have a hard time keeping that sort of thing in its proper order. Foy did not. He was a Christian ethicist who worked for the Southern Baptist Convention years ago. Foy's job was to speak the truth to those in power. And that he did. He received a lot of hate mail over the years from Baptists whose world was not large enough to hold truth. And he was labeled many things: A liberal, a radical, a nigger lover, a troublemaker.

As a young seminarian, I "met" Foy Valentine while researching Southern Baptist responses to the bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham in 1963. Four Baptist children were killed in that blast. Four children whose skin was a dark color. I was shocked and dismayed to find that Southern Baptist newspapers throughout the South had nothing whatever to say about it. Not a mention.

But in my research I found the voice of one crying in the wilderness of the sins of my own people. It was a notation in the official record of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting of 1968. The record indicates that a man named Foy Valentine stood up on the convention floor and pleaded for his brothers and sisters in Christ to confess the sin of our racism and embrace people of all colors. He was the same age then that I am now. He was in his 40s and employed by those very Baptists to whom he spoke on that day. He had a wife and children and a lot to lose.

Apparently, truth meant more to Foy than comfort and security.

His remarks were not well received, to say the least. It would be another twenty years before the Southern Baptist Convention would confess that particular sin.

When I first read about Foy Valentine's courageous stance, I made a personal commitment that was so brash and bold that I am a little embarrassed to write about it here. I vowed that if I ever found myself in a similar situation, where being faithful to Christ would cost me dearly, I would follow in Foy's footsteps.

I fear that I will not be able to live up to Foy's strong example, and that fear haunts me always. What will it profit me if I gain the whole world, but lose my soul? But I hope that I am strong enough, because I would like my grandchildren to think about me in the same way that I think about him.

Thank you for the witness of your life and words, Foy. History has shown that you were on the right side of your generation's most important issue. May God grant us the courage to stand on the side of righteousness in our time as well.

rlp

Tribute to Foy Valentine by the editor of Christian Ethics Today, the journal that Foy Founded.

A very nice obituary and summary of Foy's life.

Target is Not a Temple

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 11:12:18 -0600

I like the cut of this guy's jib

Civil Religion

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 16:29:25 -0600

San Antonio, Texas - June 2005

Architecture is the body language of the church

So many questions.

First, you don't just chance upon a flag like that at Walmart. Someone at this church had to decide to get the really, REALLY big flag from wherever it is that people buy real big flags. So this was an intentional move, not some accident or some misunderstanding on the part of some committee. This is the message they want to send.

Second, don't you wonder if there is a cross, or some stained glass, or some kind of sacred symbol behind that flag?

Third, is it possible that no one in leadership at this congregation had any second thoughts about this? What if a Christian from another country, say Iraq, happened by and wanted to attend worship. Would they feel welcome in this place? Would they feel a kinship with their brothers and sisters in Christ?

Finally, whatever happened to the first commandment - Thou shalt have no other gods before Me? Covering your church with a flag creates a very frightening symbol. When the state and the church become enmeshed, it is bad for both of them.

rlp

Civil Religion

Real Live Preacher - Church and State

Foy Valentine 1923-2006

Target is Not a Temple

Civil Religion