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Jerry Johnston Interviews William J. Murray on the Efficacy of the Pulpit in America
Despite his mother’s atheist and Marxist indoctrination, Bill Murray became a Christian. Once used by his mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, to have compulsory Bible reading banned from school, William J. Murray is now a staunch defender of Christian freedoms around the world through the Religious Freedoms Coalition based in Washington, DC. I asked Bill if the disintegration of American culture is linked to the lack of vitality in pulpits. He replied,
“Congressman Frank Wolf said something very interesting to me before he was retired and he was the number one guy on international religious freedom which is one of the primary areas that I work. And you know somebody in the room, it wasn’t me, somebody else in the room said Congressman Wolf why can’t something be done? Why can’t Congress do something? And he said well we have to hear from people. And he said well we’re here you’re hearing from me. He said yeah but we don’t hear from the preachers. We don’t hear from the pastors. He said if one constituent calls me it’s one person. If a pastor calls me it’s hundreds or thousands and that’s a difference. And he wasn’t talking about himself of course. He was talking about all the congressmen and all the Senators other than him that don’t get the calls from the preachers, don’t get the calls from the pastors. They are simply disengaged from public life. Their interest is in the church, in small groups, in feel good messages, confetti canons, motorcycles in the sanctuary, patriotic days with flags waving and, you know, major Christmas and Easter presentations that sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with the gospel, but there’s plenty of good stuff including live camels, you know. It doesn’t have anything to do with dealing with the problems of the nation or Christianity or the world or the public outside of their church.”
The lack of pastoral interaction with real world problems directly affects the efficacy of the American church in society. Cristie Jo and I recognize this deficiency in the church. Our goal is to assist in the repairing of these tenuous ties through our upcoming documentary, trilogy, and various resources for all ages.