Gardner Calvin Taylor

Gardner Calvin Taylor

Senior Pastor Emeritus, Concord Baptist Church of Christ

The Reverend Gardner Calvin Taylor is senior pastor emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y. The “On Faith” panelist led the congregation from 1948 to 1990, as church membership grew by 9,000 and through a 1952 fire that necessitated a $1.7 million rebuilding effort. His role as pastor included oversight of the Concord Baptist Church Elementary School, Concord Nursing Home, Concord Clothing exchange, Concord Federal Credit Union, Concord Seniors Residence and Concord Baptist Christfund. Beyond Brooklyn, Taylor has taken the pulpit from London’s Westminster Hall to China to Copenhagen to Zambia. His publications include How Shall They Preach, The Scarlet Thread, Chariots Aflame and Wisdom. Among his awards and honorary degrees are doctorates from Oberlin College, Leland College, Wake Forest University and Howard University; a Star of Africa, conferred by Liberian President William Tubman; and the rank of Knight Commander, Order of African Redemption, conferred by President William Tolbert of Liberia. President Clinton awarded Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. Born in Baton Rouge, La., he now resides in North Carolina. Close.

Gardner Calvin Taylor

Senior Pastor Emeritus, Concord Baptist Church of Christ

The Reverend Gardner Calvin Taylor is senior pastor emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y. The “On Faith” panelist led the congregation from 1948 to 1990, as church membership grew by 9,000 and through a 1952 fire that necessitated a $1.7 million rebuilding effort. more »

Main Page | Gardner Calvin Taylor Archives | On Faith Archives


The Mass Media and Religion

Preachers and politicians have so wantonly exploited religion for personal gain that what ought to be the most precious aspect of life becomes a shame and a stench in society.

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All Comments (26)

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ı think about thıs subject sometimes media use religion on itself but sometimes don not use religion forexample media do not show about religion programmes this ınvent realy bad.media must ınerested people belief..

Garyd:

Pastor Taylor you skirt around the edges of a great Truth.

However a small bones of contention first. One can only come to the Father if the Son draws him and the Son will only drw him if the spirit has changed his heart, therefore no unbeliever will ever of his own free will ever turn to the one true and living God who is was and will be forever and Whose only BEGOTTEN son was Jesus, the Christ, HIm who did for each of us what no one of us could do for the other.

The great truth however lies in this.

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

In other words the problem here isn't the atheist the ACLU, the KKK or the Black Panthers or any other left or right wing group it is in fact we Christians. And what are our wicked ways? We have, left and right, chosen to worship at the altar of Government rather than the altar of God.

On the left we have decided that someone somewhere wasn't doing his fair share and established a Welfare state that spends 52k a year per poor family on various social programs and manages only to make everyone's existance meaner and nastier and created multigenerational poverty this country never before experienced.

On the right we have opted to try to beat transgressors over the head with the Bible with the full backing of Federal law and created a disdain for authority the like of which the world has only previously seen at the end of great Empires.

todd :

The media is absent on the discussion of Love, the
most perfect thing on earth. The cult of the non believer is void of love in the way it is not a
public discussion point for them and the media is
simply catering to them to be politically correct.
I don't know everything and will be the first to
admit it, but some people have the illusion of thinking they know it all, " or the most important things" which somehow makes them feel the need to belittle anyone who has a different opinion.

todd :

Boy, it seems there are soooooo many perfect people
responding to this that its hard to believe
there is anything wrong with our world ever! And
WHAT I'm saying is WOW PERFECTION!

Mark Sage:

Simply put, the main problem with those who claim to be people of faith, whether they be politicians or atheletes, etc, is that there is not a life that matches the faith they claim, there is not conviction to their claims, or clarity to what they believe (usually they believe in God in general).

Maybe the media has picked up on the half-heartedness of these self-proclaimed "believers"
(I'm sure that is not even a main reason though). What we need are people who really stand up for what they believe in.

I'm against the Christian Science movement, I believe it is a cult. But at least Tom Cruise says what he believes and stands up for it, unlike most professing "Christians."

1in7Billions:

I agree with Pastor Taylor.

By presenting faith, specially christianity, as irrelevant, the media are sending a precise message : God is an illusion, faith is a ...sin!

A sin, as in our society, believing in the Gospel is seen as a demonstration of inability to "cope with reality".

As for me, I was a pure agnostic for a significant period as an adult. What I saw as "reality", "rationality" and "truth" was in fact ... a self-constructed illusion, motivated by my search for comfort and ease. I was among those who were shouting at believers of any kind that they were "weak" and were hanging to some delusion. They were insane, I was so right!

You guess that I changed my mind. For one thing, I finally admitted that reality was not mine to build, that I happened to live in a world I did not created. So what is the game? Where are we? Is there something to understand at all?

From there, the ride was swift and efficient. No one in his "right mind" can pretend that it is sure thing there is no God!! It can be... really!

So who is he...? What is he?

And facing reality brings a clear picture fairly fast : Jesus is one of a kind! You have to decide : He was a fool or He was what he said He was!

Having tried what He teached, for a couple decades, after having tried a lot, a lot of other stuff, I now say He is what He pretends to be.

This kind of stuff is just not acceptable in the media perspective. There cannot be A TRUTH. There cannot be an absolute.

But what could be the utility of media if truth does not exist, if there is no right or wrong... So THEY are the truth, in their own eye, or they became so. And they don't accept the judgement of any other value system...

So, they don't support religion, specially any religion that pretend to bring a higher standard than the Pullitzer...

chuck:

Muddy, I think you might want to reread the section on athletes. The pastor was actualy making the same point you do. In essence, he's saying (and I agree) that whatever the true state of America's religious views, the facade of religious piety so often held up by public figures has become so nauseatingly false that there is no longer room for honest expression of faith. Accordingly, I propose a new etiquette for the religious. Don't trumpet the importance of your hateful and malicious god at every opportunity, and I won't try to expose your ignorance and bigotry when you do.

Muddy:

You really think that political figures or athletes are shy about mentioning religion. It seems to me, that well over 1/2 of those interviewed mention God, several times. Since they certainly fail to mention anything else outside the immeadiate topic of discussion that often, its pretty clear religion is pretty much far out front. I betting, nothing else other than maybe family is even close to 1/2 as often mentioned in off topic comments.

By off topic, I mean things like thanking GOd or your family for the Super Bowl Win or to make a political point when no one asked you about your family or religion.

Roy:

The Reverends quotation *this people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me* reminds me of how some so called Christians honor their brothers.

4'th watch:

Rev.
Your first and last paragraphs cut right.
Why would a nonbeliever ever desire to believe
after observing some of these caricatures proclaim their Christianity.
There is such a thing as righteous anger.Could it be that our Father would have us call these double dealers bluff?

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