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Catholic World News News Feature

Clinton Spokesman Angers Baptists With "Hate Group" Remark December 23, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - Clinton administration press spokesman Joe Lockhart angered Southern Baptists last week when he called the denomination among groups that "perpetuate ancient religious hatred."

Lockhart was asked at a December 16 press briefing to comment on the Southern Baptist Convention's new campaign to pray for and share the Gospel with Hindus, Jews, and Muslims. Lockhart said President Clinton has said "dealing with ethnic and religious hatred" is great challenge of our time and that Clinton, a Southern Baptist, has "been very clear in his opposition to whatever organization, including the Southern Baptist, that perpetuate ancient religious hatred."

Paige Patterson, president of the 15-million member denomination -- the largest Protestant denomination in the US, said, in an article in The Baptist Press newspaper, the Clinton administration has again shown that "they have no regard" for the truth. Richard Land, president of the Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told the Press that Lockhart's comments were "outrageous, inflammatory, and erroneous."