Will the church participate?
At some of my events and interviews I have said that it is important for the city to cultivate a working relationship with the churches because they are the city’s natural allies in confronting homelessness and other societal ills. I recently said that, as Mayor, I would go to the churches to tell them that they are welcome and that their participation is needed to make Gainesville a better place. Although I have not yet been challenged on this, I will anticipate and answer two potential questions in this space.
- Will churches respond to such a call? First, I want to tell you that this is not a setup. I have not held any meetings with pastors to formulate how they would respond to my election. My presumption upon their good works potential comes from my own three decades of ministry work as a volunteer. There are many people in the church who are motivated to feed, clothe and shelter the homeless, visit the sick and incarcerated, and mentor the fatherless. Some of that is already getting done at the expense of those who do the work. It is hard to say how much worse things would be if they weren’t. But I know they could do a lot more if it were not for the ambivalence of both church and civic leaders. The evolving ethos of “church-state separation” has created a hostile environment for people of faith who are told that their faith is not welcome. My opponent, City Commissioner Craig Lowe, has been quoted as saying, “ Our community cannot afford to discard any talent or intellect due to discrimination.” Yet, we discard the talent and intellect of a vast number of Gainesville residents. This must be actively challenged.
- Is it appropriate to do so? It is unjust to tell people, “You cannot participate as fully as anyone else in civic life and discourse because of the beliefs you hold.” A part of the American experience throughout history has been the need to demand the rights that you possess only on paper. It took almost 200 years for African Americans to begin to possess the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, and it did not happen because they waited patiently to be called on. It had to be demanded. Likewise, the men and women in our churches, who have become timid under the disapproving glare of the Statists who have come to power, must make their demand to be included. It will be much easier for them, however. All they have to do is vote on March 16. Then they have to follow through by living up to the things they believe in.
Do not confuse my call to action with a desire to Christianize the local government. I am just trying to desegregate it. Anyone should be able to take his faith, whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan or Atheist, with him into the service of his community. It’s also a good opportunity for us all to interact and learn from one another instead of isolating and writing each other off.
Historically churches and charities have played a very important role in society.
1It is a tragedy that gov’t, at all levels, has created so many road blocks for them. Many of our social issues can be resolved if we would just remove those road blocks. The private sector can provide any good better and more efficiently than any gov’t ever could. Removing such road blocks would mean that gov’t would risk becoming irrelevant (competition) and we can’t have that. It reminds me of a sign Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tx) has on this desk, “Don’t steal, the government hates competition”.
Dear Don,
I cannot believe that you have gone unchallenged in the area of church involvement and partnership! Perhaps it is because this website, which claims to be a neutral discussion platform, is now campaign headquarters for your mayoral campaign. Therefore, only the VERY bold will step forward to challenge you on your own home turf. Such as it is, as a former member of the church you currently attend, allow me to “respectfully” ask the following questions as a “good opportunity” to interact with you in regard to your personal record in the area of civil rights and ministry engagement:
1) Your comment above on the abolishment of slavery makes it sound as if you are an advocate of civil liberties and rights, and yet the Bible, which you have historically interpreted very literally, condones slavery as an institution. I was wondering what your hermeneutic is on the issue of slavery. Do you see God as a human rights activist? If so, what is your personal record on human rights activism, including empowering women in the work place and marriage for all individuals regardless of sexual orientation?
2) Your church has not ordained women as pastors nor has it endorsed women as deacons. You have been a member of a church that has historically discouraged the advancement of women in ordained ministry, unless it is in the service of children’s ministry. The church currently has an all-male deacon board, and all male pastoral staff, which is supported by a mostly female administrative staff. Married women must submit all authority to their husbands, and single females must submit to male church authority. As mayor then, what would you do to empower women and advance women’s rights?
3) Your church has had a poor relationship with Fire of God ministries – the leading faith proponent and crusader for the homeless in the local area – and with other homeless ministries in the area. Since “cooperation with churches” is a major campaign platform of yours, how, as mayor, how do you propose to fix this?
4) When I was a member of your church, I ran the largest ministry for single parents and the fatherless. I don’t recall you were anywhere near our group’s activities in the years my husband and I ran it. I also recall that, when I sought support, the leadership of that church called us a “cancer” that needed to be “surgically removed.” On that note, what exactly is your record on assisting the “fatherless?”
5) You claim that federal grant monies (no doubt under Obama’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009) were a waste of taxpayer’s dollars and that those monies are “not sustainable” as a resource for funding a central intake center for the homeless in Gainesville. This flies in the face of well-respected agencies, such as the many national programs run by Housing and Urban Development (including faith communities which subsist on this federal money) and national laws that fund homeless programs, including those that help homeless children, such as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. My question then is: Do you see tithes and offerings as a “sustainable” alternative to federal tax dollars which are currently being used to fund homeless programs in faith communities, such as the Dream Center in Los Angeles? If so, how will churches then – specifically – assist the homeless without these federal tax dollars? Will the local church budget, in the midst of a major global recession, be enough to fund professional case management? Do churches have the expertise to fund professional mental health counselors? What about nurses and doctors on staff to assist with emergency care? Showers and shelter? Rapid re-housing programs? What experience do churches in Gainesville have in the adoption of “best practices” for the prevention of homelessness as outlined by national HUD experts in the area of homelessness prevention and discharge planning?
6) What is your position on Tent City? If churches are so adept at fixing homelessness, why is there a lack of church presence in Tent City, which has been around for a decade? What do you propose to do as mayor to tackle the problems of Tent City, which have attracted national attention to the city’s lack of a proper continuum of care?
Frances A. M. Newman
2Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena, CA
Masters in General Theology, ’10
Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, ’11
United Nations Association Member
Tireless Homeless and Civil Rights Activist
Christian, Mother, Wife to a UF Professor, Writer, Community Volunteer and Voter
Gainesville resident for 14 years
Dear Frances,
It’s good to have you come here and weigh in on my candidacy. It’s an excellent example of the diversity of opinions in the church. We obviously don’t all think alike! And this IS a neutral site. All I am doing is what I have invited EVERY candidate to do since 2004: use all the space I want to help advance my cause. My opponents all have had a username and password. Craig Lowe can come here and post every day, twice a day, all day long until his fingers fall off, but no incumbent has ever taken me up on that. So, I thank you for giving Alachua Voter Guide much more credit than any incumbent ever has,
1. I don’t know what to tell you about slavery, and I don’t think it is relevant to my campaign. And I don’t think of God as a human rights activist. I only see Him as God. He occupies a pretty unique place in the universe. Most of my human rights activism is not the stuff of resumes. Cindi and I did most of our conventional ministry during the 80s and 90s when we took in homeless people into our home, formed relationships with prison inmates and housed an ex-convict until he could get back on his feet. Since then I have spent several years working in the children’s ministry that is so despised by many Christians, but I was never driven by ambition, so I believed it was a privilege to do so. Since then I have been trying to get Christians to engage in their civic duty. In regard to women’s rights, I believe that most discrimination is not against the person because of his or her sex, but because they are timid. For years I have had to face people, in and out of the church, who think less of me because I don’t have educational credentials or because I do a menial job. Many of those people were women, so life is a mixed bag. I just make a point of hearing everyone out the way I want to be heard. It’s that Golden Rule thing.
2. I’ve belonged to a lot of churches, and no longer belong to the one we both belonged to. But I have good relationships with almost all of them. And that’s important. I just want things to work, and as Mayor I will have to overlook a lot of faults. You might have a hard time doing this job.
3. My goal will be to encourage a good relationship with THE CITY. I am not claiming that I can remove all barriers between feuding believers.
4. By the time I got to that church, I was consumed by different things. We were out of the children’s ministry and I was searching for my place in ministry at that time in my life. And it was a big church. I had no idea what relationship FOG had with them. I was not in leadership, and was very much a newcomer. You and I were not close, so I was not privy to your struggles.
5. I am not going to pretend to know more about this than you do, but I am confident that the churches can do more than they are doing, and that they would be willing to do more with some leadership from city hall that did not hold them at arms length. Churches do not just band together for the homeless, unfortunately. But there are many who would step up and help if they knew there was a coordinated effort and that they weren’t in this by themselves. We can do a lot more to cull out those who don’t need heroic measures, and to identify those who do and solicit the help of professionals that are in our very congregations. I am not promising any kind of Utopia. The poor really will be with us always, even in America.
6. Tent City is like Koppers: it’s a burning local issue that no one seems to be aware of. Frankly, Koppers is bigger. How do you feel about my opponent, who has served on the city commission for 7 years and done nothing about closing this Superfund polluter? That’s right. He’s throwing you a bone by advocating the One Stop Homeless Center, so he’s your guy…
3Dear Don,
I thank you for respecting the democratic process, and I sincerely congratulate you on taking a step in the right direction by leaving a church which has notoriously disrespected women in leadership. I assure you that this lack of respect was not due to timidity, as I — and your wife Cindi, who was a paid staff member there with many obvious talents — are hardly timid people. So if I may clarify further, let me ask again… women in this country are repeated victims of domestic violence, for example, and have not had equal pay for equal work (as another example) because they are too timid? Interesting….
I have moved on to a city that does empower women and takes every advantage of utilizing their God-given talents for the furthering of God’s kingdom. Some of the best sermons I have heard in this town have been by women. I have given some myself, and the experience has been very liberating. They have quite a ways to go on GLBT rights, but as far as women goes, they have been very empowering. I have been working hard to see social justice for ALL individuals regardless of sex (and that includes sexual orientation), race or ethnicity… because I believe Christ was color-blind, gender-neutral, and a member of the “human” race.
You are right that I would have a hard time doing your job, as it is hard to “overlook” a faith community which continues to treat women as second class citizens, especially a faith community as devisive as Gainesville’s. You claim to continue to have a good working relationship with “many churches” that you belonged to, and yet I still wonder why you have had to be a member of SO MANY churches? Nonetheless, as a male authority figure, you would have many more doors open to you by the male-dominated church community there, especially if they think they have a mayor in their back pocket.
I am still very concerned about your record on civil and human rights, especially in light of some of the conversations we have had on the internet, and I sincerely hope you will give these issues more due if you become mayor of Gainesville. You have mentioned that homosexuals are sinners and choose their lifestyle because they want to form a political base in this country. Again, your record on human rights is not only vague, but informed by your theology, and this is why I thought it important to ask you up front what your biblical hermeneutic is because if your theology is confusing or anti-human rights, then your politics will be equally confusing or anti-liberative.
Best wishes.
FN
4Dear Francis,
You’ve come down pretty hard on Don Marsh for something he had absolutely no control over or input into during your tenure at First Assembly. He also no longer attends that church. In the ten years I’ve known Don Marsh I have never heard him or witnessed him gossip, degrade or belittle anyone. He treats everyone with equal respect. You spent a great deal of time here on your personal issues with a church that have no point in this political forum.
However, since you brought it up, I was in authority as Deacon who served two terms while you and your husband attended First Assembly where you and he worked faithfully and tirelessly in your respective ministries. My son always enjoyed your husband’s leadership in Royal Rangers. I enjoyed spending time with Nemo also. During those four years as a Deacon I never once heard a negative word spoken about you or your husband in any deacons meeting or function I attended. I never once heard anyone in leadership gossip or make negative comments about either of you. You also never once asked to be placed on the agenda for any board meeting to discuss your frustrations with the lack of women leadership in the four years I served during the time you attended and ministered there. Whoever said “you were a cancer” should have been disciplined but that also never came up at a board meeting. Why did you not see that it did?
There are women in leadership. One is a women who is basically second in command as Business Manager. One is a women who is Facility Administrator and there is a women who Pastors the Break Through Ministry, which is one of the largest, most successful in the church. We do support Fire of God Ministries along with our own homeless ministry also.
Lastly, how does the anger you’ve retained all these years share space in your heart with your Christian Beliefs? How does that well contain both bitter and sweet water?
I’m not running for political office so you now can beat up on me.
Michael Santarsiero
5“You’ve come down pretty hard on Don Marsh for something he had absolutely no control over or input into during your tenure at First Assembly.”
First – I never mentioned a church. Second – Don Marsh is no stranger to harsh opinions himself. In the last few months, Marsh has come down pretty hard on me for my personal opinions and his opponents’ positions. Third – I was referring specifically to those issues that were relevant to his campaign promises (I think you need to read those over carefully, as I have, so you can see how my questions specifically addressed his platform and campaign promises). Fourth – with all due respect, what on earth are you talking about? My experiences outside of Gainesville have opened my eyes to the realities of women in ministry south of the Mason Dixon line. Gainesville is not unique in its conservative position of women in ministry. The fact that you were a deacon and glossed over the fact that women have never served as deacons in your church shows me just how blind you are to this reality – perhaps your discomfort with my questions has to do with your own guilt and biases. Sixth – Standing against injustice is NOT anger. The only one who appears angry here is YOU.
FN
6FYI – Mike, I think you would be pretty shocked if you attended a seminary like Fuller or GTU or Claremont today. I hang out with 650 pastors, or pastors in training, who cuss, go to happy hour, smoke cigars, dance to hard rock music, and claim atheists and agnostics as some of their best friends. Arguing is just like breathing to them. Rarely do any two of us agree on anything. This is how young people do church today because they want authenticity in relationships, not hypocrisy. The new Christians are tired of Baby Boomers telling them to live out these perfect lives, when in fact many of Baby Boomers (and many more Gen Xers) have divorced, are angry and bitter individuals themselves, and are quick to judge people who are different, much like you just judged me. I do sleep well at night, thank you very much. I have NEVER slept so well.
Bless you.
FN
7“Whoever said ‘you were a cancer’ should have been disciplined but that also never came up at a board meeting. Why did you not see that it did?”
Disciplined? Really? Well, guess what. I did, very confidentially, talk to a staff member about it. The staff person’s response was “You are not that important, and the sooner you realize it the better off you are” and “I feel so sorry you,” among many other things this person did and said in the name of Christ before my husband and I parted for California. SO… we were victims twice. First we were criticized for our service to Christ, then we were criticized for bringing up this injustice. As you know, we were not given the usual parting gifts or laying of hands or a prayerful sendoff. This is the ethos of the Christian community you attend today. Its give, send or disobey not “give, send, speakup about church abuse, or disobey.”
When I brought up the issue of women as deacons, this very same person told me “those aren’t the right questions. The fact that you ask them means your heart is in the wrong place.”
You assume too much, Mike. The fact is, I just learned that Marsh is no longer a member of that church, and I told him what I am telling you now, and that is, I think he made a move in the right direction in doing so. I still question his record on homeless and civil rights issues, and as a voting American, I have every constitutional right to do so. As for systemic, spiritual abuse… that is not something you jot down on a docket and bring up as a line item at a business meeting. This is the kind of thing that requires a huge 2X4 and a serious wakeup call. Looks like you are just waking up
.
Perhaps, as the faithful Christian that you are, you should be hurting for the injustices that you hear about, and praying for us specifically, not blaming us.
This is the last time I am going to comment about any of this, as I have said my peace (and I am not that important, so I hear).
8