Saturday, May 16, 1998
Pastor recalls new Interfaith Alliance director's
integrity
By LORETTA FULTON / Abilene Reporter-News
The new executive director of The Interfaith Alliance used
to say that "you should read the Bible in one hand and the
newspaper in the other."
That was one of the Rev. Welton Gaddy's favorite comments,
said Dr. Phil Christopher, pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene.
Christopher served as youth minister at Broadway Baptist Church
in Fort Worth in 1978-81 when Gaddy was the church's pastor.
Gaddy is former director of Christian citizenship development
for the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Life Commission.
He became a vocal dissenter to the denomination's conservative
resurgence that began in 1979.
Christopher said he remembered Gaddy as being a "person
of real integrity and very biblically based." Gaddy tried
to relate the Christian life to moral concerns, Christopher said.
The Interfaith Alliance is a national grassroots organization
that has worked to counter religious right groups.
As he begins his new role, Gaddy is helping The Interfaith
Alliance launch a "Call to a Faithful Decision" campaign
to encourage people of a variety of faith traditions to become
involved in public issues.
"The time has come for the tolerant majority to be heard
and to let the American people know that religious political extremists
do not speak for all people of faith," Gaddy said.
Founded in 1994, The Interfaith Alliance claims a membership
of 75,000 from more than 50 denominations and traditions.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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