Quotes From The Film
What if the religious right staged a backroom takeover of one of the largest democratic institutions in the United States . . . and won? What if they turned the agencies and institutions of that democracy into a propaganda machine to indoctrinate the masses? What if it already happened?
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS is a remarkable story of religion, repression, and perseverance, as we witness the takeover of a sleeping democracy. We watch as it is transformed into an instrument of indoctrination and oppression, and we watch as the targets of that oppression – women – find a way to move on, in their lives and in their faith. Every frame resonates far beyond the images on screen to the heart of a struggle being waged around the world -- the rise of tyranny over the voices of free thought.
The film is particularly resonant at a time when Republican candidates seem compelled to line up and swearing allegiance to the morality of the religious right and when school boards and other institutions are being targeted for a democratic "takeover". BATTLE FOR THE MINDS is a microcosm of the surge in right-wing, fundamentalist movements across the country and around the world.
"These people believe in thought control. And, if you don’t conform with them and believe what they believe, you are out, O-U-T out."Dr. Henlee Barnett – Senior Professor of Ethics, Southern Seminary
THE TAKEOVER
The Southern Baptist Convention is the single largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It numbers nearly 40,000 churches across the country and counts nearly 15 million members. In 1979, two fundamentalists, Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler, developed a strategy to take over the Convention by means of . . . democracy.
"What is an ideal democratic process worked against the health and well-being of Southern Baptists. The very thing that made us what we were, historically, turned out to be our downfall."R. Gene Puckett – Editor, Biblical Recorder.
In BATTLE FOR THE MINDS, Paige Patterson, describes in candid detail how he and the fundamentalist minority politicized the Convention. They ignited the countryside with bible-thumping rhetoric and shipped in busload after busload of Baptists to the Convention on election day – in essence, stuffing the ballot box.
Once they gained control, the fundamentalists began using the 2.2 billion dollars in Convention assets to promote the radical right agenda. By 1995, central to that agenda was the wholesale exclusion of women from leadership roles -- in the church, in the home and in the society at large.
"The bible is crystal clear that women are not to have the position of ruling and teaching over men."Paige Patterson – Co-architect of Takeover
A WOMAN
Dr. Molly Marshall has been described as the most intelligent and best-educated Baptist woman of the twentieth century. A tenured professor of theology at Southern Baptists’ flagship seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Marshall received a prestigious interdenominational teaching excellence award in 1994. That Spring, the fundamentalists solidified control of the Seminary.
Southern Seminary was the last Southern Baptist institution to fall into the hands of the fundamentalists. In BATTLE FOR THE MINDS we watch the fundamentalists take control.
A gag order is immediately placed on the faculty and administration, forbidding public dissent over new institutional policies. At the same time, faculty members are forced to swear their allegiance to fundamentalist dogma. They must profess in writing that they believe that abortion, in every case, is a sin, that homosexuality is a sin, and that women cannot be called to leadership roles in the church.
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS will introduce you to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the new president of Southern Seminary. At one time, Dr. Mohler led the charge in favor of women in leadership roles, but as power shifted in the denomination, so did Dr. Mohler’s views. The perfect minion for the fundamentalist leadership, one of Dr. Mohler’s first acts as president of Southern was to force Dr. Molly Marshall out of her teaching position – because she is a woman.
"An institution has to decide, and it’s not just an option, it’s a responsibility, how much diversity can be tolerated."Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. – President, Southern Seminary
Despite the gag order and despite the heavy atmosphere of repression, we watch as students call a candlelight vigil to support those who have been silenced. This vigil and its undaunted message of determination serve as a visual narrative to guide us through BATTLE FOR THE MINDS.
Inevitably, the film builds to an unforgettable image – Dr. Mohler and the trustees are forced to exit a press conference through a crowd of Seminary students singing the hymn "We’ve a Story to Tell To The Nation." The panic on their faces and in their body language tells the story again and again. All that is left is to share in the heartbreak and tears of Molly Marshall’s farewell to students and faculty at graduation.
A RELIGION
The events depicted in BATTLE FOR THE MINDS are particularly shocking given the history of the Baptists in America. Baptist tradition dates back to Roger Williams who fled religious persecution in England under King George only to find more persecution at the hands of the Puritans in the new world. He was protected by the Indians during a cold winter and emerged to set up Rhode Island, which was the first experiment in true religious liberty in America.
Williams’ belief that religion should be inclusive, and that the interpretation of religious thought should not be imposed from without, but should be placed in the hands of the individual, formed the core of the Baptist belief system. It is this belief system that gave rise to the First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom and separation of church and state in the United States Constitution. That was a Baptist contribution.
Until 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrored the spirit of American democracy and was home to a cacophony of divergent voices. Baptists were encouraged to explore and share their own personal understanding of the faith. The Convention listened to the voices of all Baptists, without imposing hierarchical dictates over Baptist institutions or autonomous local churches. And women played a much larger role than they enjoyed in more patriarchal religious systems, even making significant inroads into leadership roles such as deacon and pastor.
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS takes us to a much different Southern Baptist Convention -- the post-takeover, 1995 Convention in Atlanta, Georgia -- where debate is stifled and edicts are offered from select committees for ratification by the Convention. The battle may be over, but for some, the war has just begun.
"We are in a battle for the minds of Southern Baptists. Right now, the fundamentalist, conservative, new right, political type Baptists are in control of the offices, agencies, and commissions of the Southern Baptist Convention. They likely will never give that up. That does not mean they’ll be able to control the consciences and minds of all Southern Baptists. And, that’s our hope – that Baptists will genuinely be Baptists, and will not accept the tyranny of the mind and spirit that fundamentalist political types are attempting to impose upon them."Dr. Paul Simmons – Professor of Christian Ethics, Southern Seminary
What if the religious right staged a backroom takeover of one of the largest democratic institutions in the United States . . . and won? What if they turned the agencies and institutions of that democracy into a propaganda machine to indoctrinate the masses? What if it already happened?
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS is a remarkable story of religion, repression, and perseverance, as we witness the takeover of a sleeping democracy. We watch as it is transformed into an instrument of indoctrination and oppression, and we watch as the targets of that oppression – women – find a way to move on, in their lives and in their faith. Every frame resonates far beyond the images on screen to the heart of a struggle being waged around the world -- the rise of tyranny over the voices of free thought.
The film is particularly resonant at a time when Republican candidates seem compelled to line up and swearing allegiance to the morality of the religious right and when school boards and other institutions are being targeted for a democratic "takeover". BATTLE FOR THE MINDS is a microcosm of the surge in right-wing, fundamentalist movements across the country and around the world.
"These people believe in thought control. And, if you don’t conform with them and believe what they believe, you are out, O-U-T out."Dr. Henlee Barnett – Senior Professor of Ethics, Southern Seminary
THE TAKEOVER
The Southern Baptist Convention is the single largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It numbers nearly 40,000 churches across the country and counts nearly 15 million members. In 1979, two fundamentalists, Paige Patterson and Paul Pressler, developed a strategy to take over the Convention by means of . . . democracy.
"What is an ideal democratic process worked against the health and well-being of Southern Baptists. The very thing that made us what we were, historically, turned out to be our downfall."R. Gene Puckett – Editor, Biblical Recorder.
In BATTLE FOR THE MINDS, Paige Patterson, describes in candid detail how he and the fundamentalist minority politicized the Convention. They ignited the countryside with bible-thumping rhetoric and shipped in busload after busload of Baptists to the Convention on election day – in essence, stuffing the ballot box.
Once they gained control, the fundamentalists began using the 2.2 billion dollars in Convention assets to promote the radical right agenda. By 1995, central to that agenda was the wholesale exclusion of women from leadership roles -- in the church, in the home and in the society at large.
"The bible is crystal clear that women are not to have the position of ruling and teaching over men."Paige Patterson – Co-architect of Takeover
A WOMAN
Dr. Molly Marshall has been described as the most intelligent and best-educated Baptist woman of the twentieth century. A tenured professor of theology at Southern Baptists’ flagship seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Marshall received a prestigious interdenominational teaching excellence award in 1994. That Spring, the fundamentalists solidified control of the Seminary.
Southern Seminary was the last Southern Baptist institution to fall into the hands of the fundamentalists. In BATTLE FOR THE MINDS we watch the fundamentalists take control.
A gag order is immediately placed on the faculty and administration, forbidding public dissent over new institutional policies. At the same time, faculty members are forced to swear their allegiance to fundamentalist dogma. They must profess in writing that they believe that abortion, in every case, is a sin, that homosexuality is a sin, and that women cannot be called to leadership roles in the church.
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS will introduce you to R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the new president of Southern Seminary. At one time, Dr. Mohler led the charge in favor of women in leadership roles, but as power shifted in the denomination, so did Dr. Mohler’s views. The perfect minion for the fundamentalist leadership, one of Dr. Mohler’s first acts as president of Southern was to force Dr. Molly Marshall out of her teaching position – because she is a woman.
"An institution has to decide, and it’s not just an option, it’s a responsibility, how much diversity can be tolerated."Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. – President, Southern Seminary
Despite the gag order and despite the heavy atmosphere of repression, we watch as students call a candlelight vigil to support those who have been silenced. This vigil and its undaunted message of determination serve as a visual narrative to guide us through BATTLE FOR THE MINDS.
Inevitably, the film builds to an unforgettable image – Dr. Mohler and the trustees are forced to exit a press conference through a crowd of Seminary students singing the hymn "We’ve a Story to Tell To The Nation." The panic on their faces and in their body language tells the story again and again. All that is left is to share in the heartbreak and tears of Molly Marshall’s farewell to students and faculty at graduation.
A RELIGION
The events depicted in BATTLE FOR THE MINDS are particularly shocking given the history of the Baptists in America. Baptist tradition dates back to Roger Williams who fled religious persecution in England under King George only to find more persecution at the hands of the Puritans in the new world. He was protected by the Indians during a cold winter and emerged to set up Rhode Island, which was the first experiment in true religious liberty in America.
Williams’ belief that religion should be inclusive, and that the interpretation of religious thought should not be imposed from without, but should be placed in the hands of the individual, formed the core of the Baptist belief system. It is this belief system that gave rise to the First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom and separation of church and state in the United States Constitution. That was a Baptist contribution.
Until 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrored the spirit of American democracy and was home to a cacophony of divergent voices. Baptists were encouraged to explore and share their own personal understanding of the faith. The Convention listened to the voices of all Baptists, without imposing hierarchical dictates over Baptist institutions or autonomous local churches. And women played a much larger role than they enjoyed in more patriarchal religious systems, even making significant inroads into leadership roles such as deacon and pastor.
BATTLE FOR THE MINDS takes us to a much different Southern Baptist Convention -- the post-takeover, 1995 Convention in Atlanta, Georgia -- where debate is stifled and edicts are offered from select committees for ratification by the Convention. The battle may be over, but for some, the war has just begun.
"We are in a battle for the minds of Southern Baptists. Right now, the fundamentalist, conservative, new right, political type Baptists are in control of the offices, agencies, and commissions of the Southern Baptist Convention. They likely will never give that up. That does not mean they’ll be able to control the consciences and minds of all Southern Baptists. And, that’s our hope – that Baptists will genuinely be Baptists, and will not accept the tyranny of the mind and spirit that fundamentalist political types are attempting to impose upon them."Dr. Paul Simmons – Professor of Christian Ethics, Southern Seminary