Confessions of a Whistle-Blower
Confessions of a Whistle-Blower
By Richard D. Kahoe, Woodward, OK
Virtually my entire adult life I have known and tacitly supported the ministry of the Gideons. Churches (with a significant range of theological perspectives) to which I have belonged have welcomed speakers on Gideon Sunday to present their ministry of placing the Bible in hotel rooms, hospitals, prisons, and schools, and in the hands of U.S. servicemen and others who may welcome access to God`s written word. Gideon Bibles in motel rooms and other places have often been helpful, if I failed to bring a Bible with me. Several friends and relatives have been active Gideons, and on occasion I have been guest at Gideon dinners. I was fairly generous in making periodic financial contributions to this worthy ministry.
So, when I returned to my home county some fifteen years ago I accepted an invitation to a meeting to explore the possibility of active membership in the Gideons. Though, as a lay minister, I had other opportunities of ministry, the Gideons seemed to deserve some fraction of my pending retirement time. Each guest who expressed willingness to become a Gideon was given a brief personal "spiritual" questionnaire. I don`t recall the questions that tapped into what I would call my "spiritual life," but I stalled on several questions at the end that blatantly expressed fundamentalistic theology. When I turned in my questionnaire with some of those questions left blank, and tried to explain myself, the Gideon who was taking them shuffled my questionnaire to one side and made clear that I did not meet the Gideon standard of "spirituality."
Surely I was not the first mainstream, moderate Christian to discover that the Gideons is a "closet fundamentalist" organization. Never had any of their presentations expressed such extreme theology, and they never asked my theological positions when I gave them my offerings. I had taken at face value that they gave out only King James Bibles, because those could be printed with less expense-with no current copyright. Now I wonder if this practice is a concession to those fundamentalists who believe God ordained only the KJV, and "If it was good enough for Peter and Paul, it`s good enough for me." I pondered becoming a "whistleblower" to other moderate Christians who had not learned this dirty little Gideon secret.
While I was surprised, almost shocked, at the revelation of underlying Gideon theology, I withheld my hand from any letters to editors or other media. I found other ministry opportunities. For several years I wrote a religion column for the local newspaper, without ever mentioning the Gideons-one way or the other. And now I minister to a Mennonite and a Baptist congregation.
Recently, though, I talked with a denominational college professor friend (a PhD .in Zoology)-after an inexcusably-long lapse of time. I knew he had been under attack by fundamentalists in his university and its sponsoring denomination. He started bringing me up-to-date with his Gideon experience. He had been an active Gideon for almost fifteen years. A new pastor came to town and learned that Dr. H., as an academic biologist, did not concur with Bishop Ussher`s dating of creation at 4004 B.C. When the pastor discovered that Dr. H. also was a Gideon, he informed the organization that one of their members did not believe that the earth is flat. Well maybe not quite like that, but at least that he held to the scientific truth common to virtually all educated biologists, that "the beginning" occurred billions of years ago, and that life on earth had been evolving for more than a million years. To Dr. H.`s shock, the Gideons unceremoniously informed him that he could no longer be a member of their organization-and no thanks for his fifteen years of faithful service.
The earlier minor disrespect to me I could handle. The gross insult to my friend after his years of service-with no reservations about theology-demanded some response, I thought. Presumably many moderate, mainline Christians do not know that the Gideon organization demands their stewards hold to an extreme rightist religious dogma. Now that I "out them" to some who may be closer to my theology than to their fundamentalism, how do we respond?
I am not a professional ethicist, never even had a course in Christian ethics. My own professional ethical standards (as a psychologist) offer little help. Many of us mainstream Christians have come through more conservative dogma-just as the apostle Paul moved from Phariseeism to freedom of Christ as espoused in his letter to the churches in Galatia. Yet we read in Acts that, even after moving to freedom in Christ for the Gentiles, Paul still practiced some of the old Jewish rituals.
Long after my denomination left me in terms of theological orientation, I tried to be part of the loyal opposition. At one point when I could no longer, in conscience, support Southern Baptists` flagrant meddling in national politics, I designated my church tithe to be used for "local ministries only." After several more years I felt such discomfort with my local congregation that I could no longer be a part of it. I moved my membership to an SBC church where the pastor held to what I believe to be orthodox Baptist principle. Only when the pastor moved from that church did I finally burn my bridges and join another branch of our faith, where I was serving as an interim pastor.
My brief biography may serve as a cautionary tale, speaking to this ethical dilemma: How I might relate to a valued ministry like the Gideons, which nonetheless adheres to dogmas that I cannot endorse nor explicitly support. I recognize that many Southern Baptists "jumped ship" long before I did, and I have friends who-while not buying the whole conservative/fundamentalist package-somehow still feel they can leaven the loaf positively from within.
Here`s one way I would feel comfortable in dealing with the Gideons. If they invited themselves to present their message in one of my churches, I would inform them that their conservative doctrines are far afield from those of my congregation, but we affirm their ministry of Bible distribution. So, as long as they understand our theology and they limit themselves to their ministry and the power of the written word (and do not push any theological position) they are welcome to our church. At the same time I would inform my congregation of the current Gideon theology, and let each person decide how they can and will support the Gideon ministry financially and in their prayers.
After a Gideon visit I would also be inclined to write Gideon headquarters-local, state, and national-and tell them that we have welcomed their ministry, even though we do not subscribe to their fundamentalist theology. I could add that we pray the Gideons will someday soon come to the position that one does not have to subscribe to a narrow sector of Christian belief to be an active steward in their organization.
Further, without regard to our support of the Gideons, we as mainstream Christians might be continually reminded of the work of the American Bible Society and the International Bible Society. We can support their works-which, among other things, make the Bible available in modern translations. Part of my ministry is to visit the jail in the county where I serve two churches. Frequently inmates will ask for copies of the Bible-and virtually never do they specifically request the King James Version. Without interfering with the Gideon ministry, we as ministers, laypersons, and congregations may develop ministries of distributing the Bible in any of the more readable (but still faithful) versions that are available.
We can fill niches the Gideons do not. They can inspire us to make God`s written word available for millions at home and around the world who thirst for it. And, who knows, maybe our prayers will be answered and God will influence the Gideons to divorce ministry from dogma.
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