Eight past presidents of the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC) endorsed Gov. Bob Riley’s tax plan during a meeting Aug. 5 in Birmingham. The move follows a call to prayer by state convention officers, who on July 25 encouraged “Alabama Baptists to observe a time of prayer for our state on Sunday, Sept. 7.”
The past presidents, who hail from various parts of the state, not only affirmed the tax plan with an official statement but also urged Alabamians to join them in voting yes for the plan Sept. 9.
“This is a historic opportunity for each of us to make a significant and positive difference in Alabama,” the statement reads.
Supporting this system also allows Alabama Baptists to follow through with a stand they made almost three years ago, the presidents contend. During the 2000 state convention, messengers passed a resolution calling for the governor and the state Legislature to “bring relief and justice to the poor who are our neighbors.”
“As former presidents (of the convention), we are giving our approval of what our convention wanted to do,” said Dan Ireland, a member of Green Valley Baptist Church, Hoover, and executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program.
‘Stand against immorality’
Ireland, who served as convention president in 1976 and 1977, also explained that “taking a stand against immorality does not require you to come up with an alternative plan.
“The Alabama constitution requires the Legislature to devise a tax plan,” he said.
While acknowledging that the tax plan “is not perfect,” the presidents said tax reform in Alabama is a morality issue and “to our knowledge no alternative plan to address true tax reform has been presented, especially as applied to the less fortunate.”
Walter Nunn, pastor of Lakewood Baptist Church in Huntsville, said, “The present system is … grossly unfair.
“Obviously that’s a moral issue, because the Bible teaches us we ought to be concerned for the less fortunate people,” said Nunn, who served as president of the ABSC in 1972 and 1973.
Mike McLemore, pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, agreed.
“A fair and honest tax structure whether on the federal level, the state level or the local level, in my opinion from a Christian perspective and from biblical teaching, should be an equitable, fair system,” he said. “It ought to be fair across the board for all citizens and never be unproportionate.
“The present tax structure, in my opinion, is unfair,” said McLemore, who served as ABSC president in 2001 and 2002.
Supporting a serious reformation of Alabama’s tax system, McLemore said, “I think from a Christian perspective we all have to be Christian enough and hopefully statesmen enough to where we are able to put our personal issues aside. All of us have to be concerned for the entire state. The tax structure needs to be fair to all people.”
Steve Tondera, a member of First Baptist Church, Huntsville, and the only past president who is not or has not been a pastor, related similar sentiments. “We have to be fair and do our part,” said Tondera, a cattleman and landowner in the state.
Tondera, who served as convention president in 1987 and 1988, explained that many landowners in Alabama live in other states. “I’m not talking about a rinky–dink four or five acres. I’m talking about thousands of acres,” he said, alluding to the debate of increasing property taxes for landowners of 2,000 acres or more.
“I also support it for the school system,” Tondera added. “We are last on everything. I get tired of being harassed that all we know how to do is catch a football.”
McLemore, a self-proclaimed football fanatic himself, said, “In this state there’s not a football fan, there’s not a trustee on any board in Alabama that will sit by and let their school and their recreation be last, year after year after year, without taking some action to correct it.
“Yet we in this state consistently are at the bottom of every list published nationally, and I’m tired of it,” he said. “It is time for us, the people of this state, to do something about it.”
Deeming Riley’s tax plan as a step toward that end, McLemore said, “If we are going to do it for our football teams, we ought to do it for education and our children and this state.”
Harrell Cushing of Montgomery, who served as convention president in 1982 and 1983, added, “[The tax plan] has the promise of doing some great things for this state … positive growth and provision for the needs of the school system especially.”
Other past presidents affirming the plan are Jerry Gunnells, retired pastor of Spring Hill Church, Mobile; Fred Lackey, pastor of Westside Church, Jasper; and Harper Shannon of Montgomery, former state evangelism director.
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