Herald Staffl
Miami Herald
September 8, 1999

Southern Baptists have produced a prayer guide urging members to pray for the conversion of Jews to Christianity during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur beginning Friday night.

Some Jewish leaders called the action arrogant and offensive.

'It is insulting because it implies a superiority of one religious tradition over another, that somehow Jews, and I guess Muslims, are following an inferior or less fulfilled religious tradition,'' said Rabbi Allan Tuffs of Temple Beth El in Hollywood.

"I wonder how they would feel if others apply to them the same kind of insulting public pronouncements,'' Tuffs said. "I feel my tradition draws me closer to God. I don't believe that God is Jewish, or Christian or Muslim.''

The prayer effort was announced by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board in Richmond, Va. The board has published a similar guide on praying for Muslims during Ramadan; guides are planned focusing on Hindus and Buddhists, the announcement said.

"On Rosh Hashana, when observant Jews around the world begin 10 days of seeking God, Southern Baptists will be praying they find his Son,'' the release begins. The 10 days are called "Days of Awe.''

The Baptist prayer strategy will begin at sundown Friday, the beginning of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and will continue through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Sept. 20.

The Baptist "Days of Awe'' prayer guide explains the way that Jews celebrate the High Holy Days, gives sketches of Jewish people in different parts of the world and offers suggestions on how to pray for Jewish people.

The guide urges Baptists "to pray for Jewish individuals you know by name'' throughout the period.

"As Jewish people attempt to purge themselves of spiritually crippling attitudes, pray that they will find the spiritual wholeness available through the Messiah [Jesus],'' the guide says.

Largest Protestant group

The Southern Baptist Convention, with about 15.7 million members, is the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Its congregations are autonomous and are not bound to use the prayer guides.

The Rev. William "Bill'' White, senior pastor of University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, said, "We thank God that within our denomination there is no hierarchy of control that forces churches to adhere to the decision that might be made at any given convention at any given time.

"I haven't asked our congregation to participate in the [prayer] program. We pray regularly for all our friends, family and neighbors, regardless of religious background, race or creed.''

Other Southern Baptists anticipated criticism of the prayer effort.

"Many Jewish leaders reject such efforts as being wrong-headed, arrogant or even contributing to the spiritual and cultural equivalent of the Holocaust,'' said Don Kammerdiener, executive vice president of the International Mission Board, "but the Bible is clear regarding the necessity of sharing the Gospel with Jews.''

Jim Sibley of Dallas, who was named coordinator of the Baptist North American Mission Board's mission efforts among Jews in 1996, said last week that the prayers are an attempt to show love for the Jewish people.

Don't mean to offend

"We don't intend to be offensive or provocative,'' Sibley said. "It is simply a matter of exercising our freedom of religion and convictions. I wouldn't mind if the Jewish community prayed for me.''

Rabbi Tuffs of Hollywood said, however, that he believes that the Southern Baptist initiative is more typical of fundamentalist Christianity than most Protestant and Catholic denominations.

"I find among my mainstream colleagues an implicit understanding that Judaism is a godly religion,'' he said. "Even the Pope in his recent pronouncements has indicated that the Catholic Church has done damage -- even sinful damage -- in forced conversions of Jews [over the centuries].

"But the fundamentalist Christians, especially the Southern Baptist Convention, have said some very problematic things.''

He said he remembered when the Rev. Bailey Smith, then Southern Baptist president, said in 1980 that "God does not hear the prayer of a Jew'' in a speech in Dallas before religious conservatives, including presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.

"It is like saying that you [Jews] are somewhat less than human, so that if something happens to you it is self-inflicted,'' Tuffs said.

Public uproar

After a public uproar, Smith apologized and led efforts to improve Baptist-Jewish relations.

Smith's comments came early in the conservatives' drive for control of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the years since, conservatives have consolidated power, taking over all convention offices and seminaries.

Baptists who are more moderate formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and slowly distanced themselves from the denomination.

Rabbi Barry Konovitch, spiritual leader at Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center-Beth Jacob, said Tuesday, "I would think [Southern Baptists] would have their hands full trying to attract people of their own faith who are only minimally involved. Thank God we are very well taken care of.''