Former Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR), who died at 89 years of age, was a hero to many of us who consider ourselves "New Evangelicals."
My first occasion to hear him speak was in 1970, the graduation ceremony at Fuller Theological Seminary. It was a contentious political era in the height of the Vietnam War, and the hard feelings were felt deep in the nation's psyche and exemplified by the black armbands being worn that day. As an opponent of the War, one of the few in the United States Senate, Hatfield was invited to address the graduates. Upon completion of his message, which presaged thoughts from his 1971 book "Between a Rock and a Hardplace," a banner was unfurled entitled "We Love You Mark." It represents how so many of us felt then, and always have since, about this principled man.
A few years later in 1980, upon completion of my own seminary degree from Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, which was Hatfield's denomination, I was invited to join the staff of the National Association of Evangelicals governmental affairs office in Washington, D.C. Among those evangelical leaders whom I would come to know personally, including Carl F.H. Henry, Frank Gaebelein, Richard Halverson (who would become U.S. Senate Chaplain), was the unforgettable Mark Hatfield.
Senator Hatfield was a pacifist, which I am not. He was also an opponent of the defense build-up of President Ronald Reagan, which I supported. But Mark Hatfield above all else, personified a kind of evangelicalism that knew how to build alliances across party lines and respect those with whom you disagree, and to do so amiably. It was rooted in a born-again faith that realized an essential truth as C.S. Lewis put it: "To make politics not just something but everything, is the devil's lie."
Hatfield was a leader whom many Evangelicals outside of the pacifist tradition opposed, and treated most unkindly, but he never returned that unkindness. Hatfield was always gracious, thoughtful, and kind to even those who despised him for his votes against the war, and every defense appropriation bill. In the 1980's and early 90's under the directorship of Robert P. Dugan, also a Conservative Baptist, NAE's Office in Washington invited Hatfield to address its many Washington Insight Briefings, and College Student Seminars, and Hatfield would always accept, even if it meant leaving a Senate hearing. Such was his concern for the Church and the witness of the Gospel in the nation's capital.
At the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 12th streets in Washington stands the statue of Edmund Burke. Inscribed at the base is an inscription which I have over the years asked every intern to personally read: "Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom." Mark Hatfield personified that magnanimous spirit. His witness lives on in many other ways.
While in the Senate, Hatfield helped pass a ban on underground nuclear tests. He campaigned for rules to prohibit the sale of arms to undemocratic countries and countries that do not respect human rights. As he left office, he spoke bluntly about the regrets he felt about the work he left unfinished. "We're still the largest arms peddler in the world," he said in 1997, "and we infect the rest of the world with our lust for weapons." After all, Hatfield had seen the effect of nuclear warfare for himself: as a young officer in the U.S. Navy he personally witnessed the devastation wrought in Hiroshima.
Hatfield's concerns are shared by those world leaders who attended a Summit of world leaders in London's Savoy Hotel this Summer for Global Zero, a movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons. It was my privilege to be there, and to speak on a panel with, among others, former British Defense Secretary Lord Des Brown, Dr. Hans Blix, Christine Beerli, and Ricken Patel, on the threats posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Economist explains that, "There was a time when the sort of people who campaigned to rid the world of nuclear weapons wore anoraks and thick jumpers and camped out in yurts." It goes on to say that Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, both secretaries of state in Republican administrations, did not belong among them. But those men have been joined by President Barack Obama, and were history to rewind itself, by even former President Ronald Reagan, who stated his goal of the elimination of all nuclear weapons in his famous "Evil Empire" speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983 at the Orlando Florida Twin Towers Hotel.
Mark Hatfield and Ronald Reagan opposed each other on the defense buildup during the 1980s, but they both would probably agree that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is fast approaching a "tipping point" beyond which it will be impossible to check their spread. I suspect Reagan would join Hatfield and condemn the one trillion dollars the nine nuclear-armed powers are set to spend in the next decade on the procurement and modernization of atomic weapons programs, a figure calculated by Global Zero founder Bruce Blair. (His testimony in the Participant Media documentary "Countdown To Zero," released last year and available for dvd rental, is nothing short of scary.)
Today, the leaders of the "New Evangelicals" and millions of others in the wider evangelical family, remember and laud Hatfield's bi-partisan style, generosity of spirit, and the public-policy values he endorsed, from the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction to the unborn and a sanctity of life ethic. We all owe him a great debt of gratitude. For those of us who experienced or observed all of these attributes up close, we join with his family and others in mourning a truly great and humble man, who did his best to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
No wonder you love this guy. He slacked off on his job so he could help NAE.
It's a pity he didn't have more concern for his constituents -- who paid his salary and relied on his representation -- than for "the Church" (by which you obviously mean, *your* church).
Overall, Hatfield seems like a pretty decent guy. It's a shame you had to tarnish his reputation by pointing out his dereliction of duties -- and tarnish your own sense of ethics by admitting you admired him for it.
Hatfield understood the intent of the Founding Fathers regarding a "wall of separation between church and state," as Thomas Jefferson put it.
Hatfield also understood that government can only operate properly by the full consent of the governed, and that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
I wish certain politicians understood that today.
http://cjcmp.org
On June 10, 1940, when he was 17 years old, Hatfield was involved in a traffic accident that turned deadly. While driving his mother's car, Hatfield struck and killed Alice Marie Lane south of Salem as she crossed the street. He was not held criminally liable for the crash, but was found civilly liable to the family.The case made its way to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1943, with the court affirming the trial court's decision.
And:
During the years of being governor in Oregon signs were posted and enforced throughout Oregon stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.
And:
the first outing by an activist in America occurred in February 1989. Michael Petrelis, along with a few others, decided to out Mark Hatfield, a Republican Senator from Oregon, because he supported legislation initiated by Jesse Helms. At a fundraiser in a small town outside of Portland, the group stood up and outed him in front of the crowd.
Mr. Hatfield, a humble and dedicated follower of Jesus; surely, would want any public work that bears his name be dedicated to the long forgotten names, like Alice Marie Lane, and members of the minorities within Oregon who fought tooth and nail to be allowed reside within the state realizing that Jesus would want Mr. Hatfield's own alms left in secret.
B) Anyone can go to any town within Southern Oregon, in particular, and talk to the elders and have them reflect on Sundown Town Signs posted and enforced at the borders of each city. Sundown Town signs were still in place at the borders of many Southern Oregon towns and communities---as late as 1965---in Grants Pass, OR, which was frequently visited on the campaign trails by Senator Hatfield who surely had to drive into Grants Pass, OR:
http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntownsshow.php?id=844
Continued....
----
U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield, Republican from Oregon, as being gay is described in the book by the famous gay activist Michelangelo Signorile, " Queer in America: sex, the media, and the closets of power," Random House first edition 1993, Doubleday anniversary editon 2004, p. 86, 340-341.
and
"AIDS changed the attitude of the queer community towards outing. In 1989, ACT UP in Portland, Oregon carried out the first pro-queer outing. Its members exposed the sexuality of Mark Hatfield, the powerful conservative Republican U. S. Senator from Oregon. Hatfield had supported various homophobic initiatives, including the Helms Amendment, which aimed to prevent the federal government from paying for any AIDS education or prevention materials that would "promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual sexual activities."
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/outing,2.html
It is completely unacceptable if one parent or sibling were infected or, worse, deceased because of a lack of education. Education of all things!!! If someone's family member died needlessly over a lack of educational material because legislators thought it might provoke homosexuality that is truly a shame of our nation!