wfn.org | Four governors discuss their faith at Montreat

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Note #6143 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

9-August-2000
00280

Four governors discuss their faith at Montreat

Prayer more important than political savvy, Presbyterian leaders say

by Dale Neal
Asheville Citizen-Times
Reprinted with permission

MONTREAT, N.C. -- Prayer, more than political savvy, helped North Carolina
governors make the toughest decisions of the public life they felt called to
by their private faith, according to four men who have held the office.
	"Prayer has always led me in a way I've found looking back was right at the
time, even when I didn't know it," said former Gov. Jim Holshouser.
	"I ran for governor because of what I believed and had learned in the
church and from the life of Jesus," said the current Gov. Jim Hunt.
	Holshouser and Hunt joined former governors Bob Scott and Jim Martin Aug. 4
at the Montreat Conference Center for a forum "Call to Leadership: Four
Living North Carolina Governors Reflect on Faith and Vocation."
	Besides the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh, the four public officials share
a common Presbyterian faith. All four are ordained elders active in their
congregations. They shared how their religious upbringing had influenced
their public careers before an audience of Montreat residents and young
people attending the Montreat Conference Center, one of three national
retreats run by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
	The son of a Presbyterian minister, Martin had courted his wife-to-be,
Dottie, while working as a lifeguard at Montreat's Lake Susan. His religious
training saw him through politically unpopular stands when he supported open
housing for all races during the 1960s as a Mecklenburg County commissioner.
After several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican
Martin served as governor from 1985-1993.
	Growing up in rural Alamance County, former Gov. Bob Scott joked, "I was
almost a teen-ager before I realized there was anything other than a
Presbyterian or a Democrat."
Governor from 1969-73, Scott later headed the state's community college
system. He suggested that the governors' shared Presbyterian heritage was
more than a coincidence.
	"The Presbyterian Church has the structure where you can cultivate the
brightest and best young people ... and it enables the country to call on
them for leadership," Scott said. "I don't know of any other church that
gives more emphasis to that."
	The Rev. Haywood Holderness, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in
Durham, helped arrange the forum when he heard the governors mention how the
church had influenced their leadership. Holder realized that all four
Presbyterian politicians could serve as role models for young people. "We
need more high-profile people to affirm the ministry and the church," said
Holderness.
	Heather Booker, 16, of Decatur, Ga., was impressed that Presbyterians could
be actively involved in politics and stay true to their beliefs. "You hear
about politicians lying all the time, and I imagine it's hard. Your faith is
tested."
	But Booker, who wants to major in education and child development when she
goes to college, said she might seek a public office after hearing the
governors speak. "That's something I might want to do."
	Hunt admitted the biggest temptation facing public officials comes from
campaign financing. "I had to raise $10 million to run for governor the last
time. You have to raise all this money to have any chance of winning. I tell
you with all the lobbyists and the pressure, there is the great temptation
not to do what you know is good and what God wants you to do."
	Hunt specifically cited improvements for education and equal opportunities
for the poor, which can be opposed by special interests. "Jesus would be
here doing unpopular things -- a lot of which these lobbyists would not want
him to do."
	Unlike his three fellow governors, Hunt was christened a Methodist and grew
up in a Free Will Baptist church, but later chose to join the Presbyterian
Church. He said he was proud of his church for the congregation's support of
racial equality and children's education. Hunt said he relies heavily on his
participation in a Sunday School class to guide him in public life. "We need
to regularly reflect on what our religion requires us to do in this world."

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