Ministers Take Issue with Secret Recording

I haven't written anything with regard to the Sen. Dean Johnson drama that has unfolded over the past month, because, frankly, covering every aspect of the anti-gay shenanigans would be a full time job, and I already have on of those...and a courseload... to worry about. Eva at Lloydletta has done a marvelous job of catching a lot of the details, and here's one that is really powerful. A letter in the West Central Tribune from ministers chastizing the pastor who secretly recorded Sen. Johnson at a pastors meeting, and held on to the tapes for partisan purposes

"Letter: A letter from ministers
Rev. Simon G. Fensom, Rev. Kathy R. Hartley, Rev. Matthew T. Peterson, West Central Tribune
Published Tuesday, March 28, 2006
As members of the (now infamous) New London Spicer Ministerium, we would like to communicate the following:

To Senator Dean Johnson: Thank you for your apology in the Senate regarding statements that were made at our January meeting. It is appreciated.

To all the politicians in St. Paul: Please know that we often pray for your work at our regular ministerium meetings and in our worship services. However, please, please hear us as we ask you to move on from the legislation of human sexuality to the more pressing issues of poverty, health care, education, gambling (and our ever-increasing reliance on its profits), to name but a few. You have very important work to do. Please get on with it!

To Brent Waldemarsen of Harvest Community Church in Willmar: Given your statements to the media over the past 10 days, we would like you to know, without any confusion, how disappointed we are in your behavior, and more so, in your arrogance at “not having done anything to apologize for”. Make no mistake, you have much to apologize for, including: the deceitful pre-meditation of your actions; the secret taping of our conversations — and if it were not secret, why did you not place the recorder in plain view or inform us of what you were doing; the removal of trust from our ministerium; and ultimately your own obfuscation of the truth.

It is disingenuous at best to claim that this is a moral issue and not a political issue. If it were a moral issue, why did you choose to expose Senator Johnson’s comments through a political organization? Why did you, or they, choose to hold on to the tape for two months before sharing the “selected” snippets? Are you, or they, not culpable in furthering immorality for yet eight more weeks?

And finally, why do you limit yourself to this single issue? If morality is your bailiwick, one would expect to see similar passion around the more pressing issues of poverty, affordable health care, the effects of gambling, and racism — subtle and not so subtle, all of which exist in Kandiyohi County.

We wait with bated breath for your apology as we attempt to rebuild trust in our community and among our colleagues, and as we wait, please know that the sins of pride, anger and self-justification that cause us to write this letter and enter the fray will be forgiven in and through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ — the same grace that is afforded to all hypocrites.

Rev. Simon G. Fensom

Rev. Kathy R. Hartley

Rev. Matthew T. Peterson"