The latest conservative, pro-family, anti-diversity advocacy group affirmed by the James Dobson Family Institute has distinctive Southern Baptist ties and takes its name from a historic Baptist legacy traditionalists might be surprised to see on such an enterprise.
In an email to supporters this week headlined, “New Christian Group Enters the Arena!” Gary Bauer, vice president of public policy for the Dobson Institute, said he welcomes The Danbury Institute for joining “the battle raging in our country to preserve faith, family and freedom. The future of America will be bleak indeed if we are ripped out of the rich soil of Judeo-Christian civilization, which is rooted in the Bible.”
Richard Land
Bauer cited involvement of James Dobson’s “longtime friend” Richard Land, who serves as chairman of the group’s Advisory Council. Land is a prominent figure in the SBC, having served as the founding president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
“I am both honored and humbled to endorse and recommend The Danbury Institute,” Bauer quotes Land as saying. “Never has our beloved country more needed to be reminded of her founding values of soul freedom and religious liberty so bravely defended by our 18th century Danbury Baptist ancestors. I pray God’s manifold blessings on their noble efforts to protect and restore our sacred liberties.”
Ties to Patterson and CBN
The staff of The Danbury Institute have direct ties to Paige Patterson, co-architect of the SBC’s “conservative resurgence” and former president of two SBC seminaries. Key staff members also have roles with the Conservative Baptist Network, which seeks to turn the SBC in an even more conservative direction.
The group’s executive director is Scott Colter, former chief of staff to Patterson at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and current professor at Mid-America Baptist Seminary in Memphis. He previously was director of the Sandy Creek Foundation, which is run by Patterson and his wife, Dorothy. Colter also serves on the steering council of the Conservative Baptist Network.
The group’s chief communications officer is Sharayah Colter, who is married to Scott Colter. She is the founder of a communications consulting group, Colter & Co., and is a founding steering council member of the Conservative Baptist Network, editor of Conservative Baptist Network Press and consultant for Citizens for America.
The group’s chief operations officer is Collin Hain, who is director of communications at Birchman Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and is chief of staff and director of operations for the Conservative Baptist Network.
The group’s chief financial officer is Kimberly Hobbs, an Alabama pastor’s wife who also is associated with the Conservative Baptist Network.
The group’s chief legal counsel is C.J. Cavin, who serves as the full-time parliamentarian for the Oklahoma House of Representatives and is affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Network.
What’s in a name?
Most notable, however, is the chosen name for this new advocacy group. It references correspondence between the Danbury Baptist Association and President Thomas Jefferson in 1801. The Baptists in Connecticut wrote to Jefferson to commend his stand in favor of religious liberty and to express dissatisfaction with the church-state situation in Connecticut. Jefferson replied in what has become one of the most important documents in American history, using the metaphor of a “wall of separation” between church and state.
That traditionally has been interpreted as a two-way separation, meaning the church cannot control the state and the state cannot control the church — as outlined in the two religion clauses of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
More recently, evangelicals and groups like Focus on the Family have advocated for more of a one-way protection, that the state may not control the church — such as with mandatory COVID lockdowns — but the church is free to attempt to control the state. This is the essence of what has come to be called Christian nationalism.
Thus Dobson in his email warned: “In spite of all the efforts to demonize and discourage Christians from being active citizens, evidence is growing that churches are waking up to the dangers facing an America without God.”
And he lauded this statement by Collin Hain, who described the new organization as “an association of churches, Christians and organizations aligned to affirm and preserve God-given rights to life and liberty by influencing culture and public policy, upholding the free exercise of religion, inspiring the vigorous involvement of an informed citizenry, and promoting Judeo-Christian values as the proper foundation for a free and prosperous republic.”
“God has been pushed out of our schools and our public squares, and in his place has arrived all manner of anti-American rhetoric and chaos.”
That is the organization’s mission statement as posted on its website.
Call to patriots to ‘stand’
In its explanation of “why must we stand,” the website declares: “God has been pushed out of our schools and our public squares, and in his place has arrived all manner of anti-American rhetoric and chaos.”
The appeal continues: “We now have politicians paying to bail rioters out of jail. We have doctors performing sex change surgeries on minors and hospitals and pharmaceutical companies profiting from it. Men dressed as women are invading spaces once regarded as safe for women and children — places like public libraries and female locker rooms — and there, they are exposing them to indecency and incredible amounts of confusion. Socialism is seeping into our nation’s fiscal policies, freedom of religion finds itself under constant threat, and 63 million babies have died on our nation’s altar to ‘women’s rights.’ Not even the helpless plight of a born-alive infant can stir the hearts that have grown cold through apathy or evil.”
It concludes: “The heart of an honorable patriot and heavenly citizen does not choose battles based on what victory is most easily achieved but what victory is most worthy of the fight. In defending life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, guided by the very Christian values that inspired our forefathers, we find a virtuous battle worthy of engagement, and engage we must. From Concord to Normandy to Gettysburg, some have given all to defend freedom and democratic ideals. Now, we must give something.”
“We stand for law and order and fiscal responsibility. We stand with Israel — our nation’s greatest ally. We stand for truth.”
The page describing the group’s values discusses religious liberty only in the context of free expression, not in the context of anti-establishment: “Our conscience is not for sale. We stand for religious liberty — for the freedom of autonomous churches to practice their religion according to Scripture and their faith without interference.”
The document affirms capitalism, limited government, business entrepreneurship and support for law enforcement as part of the “Judeo-Christian principles” on which America was founded.
And the group laments that what America needs today is “convictional statesmanship.”
“Often, we hear laments that ‘it feels as if the adults have left the room.’ Filling that vacuum of respectable leadership has been an influx of juvenile, unserious, unprepared people, full of passion but shallow in understanding and class. We are committed to raising up men and women of courage, conviction, resolve and dignified strength.”
Then this: “We stand for law and order and fiscal responsibility. We stand with Israel — our nation’s greatest ally. We stand for truth.”
In sum, the website explains: “We are not leftists. We are not progressives. We are not globalists. And we are not ashamed. If this resonates with you, please join us on the battlefield of truth and virtue for the sake of our children, our churches, and our country.”
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