Bob Jones University Weblog

Will Bob Jones University Emulate the Roger Clemens Non-Apology Model?

My [unsolicited] advice to those who are petitioning BJU to apologize for the University's racial bigotry and interracial dating/marriage ban is this:

First, one must proceed with caution when dealing with the Joneses/BJU. They are crafty people.

Secondly, never let the Joneses/BJU frame an issue or allow them to "flank" you in your efforts to pressure them to issue a meaningful apology.

The Roger Clemens Non Apology

Baseball Hall of Famer Roger Clemens filed a defamation suit alleging that his reputation was hurt by allegations of steroids.

In an effort to appear to apologize without admitting wrongdoing, Roger Clemens issued a non apology of sorts Monday for unspecified "mistakes" in his personal life.

Clemens apparently had a decade long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was 15 and an aspiring singer. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was also linked to former Manhattan bartender Angela Moyer and Paulette Dean Daly, a former wife of champion golfer John Daly.

Clemens denied having an affair with a 15-year-old but didn't specifically address whether he had a romance with McCready.

"Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said in a statement issued by spokesman Patrick Dorton. "I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans. Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right."

Everybody makes "mistakes" and most people regularly admit when they do. But, note how Clemens links articles that contain many unspecified "false accusations and mistakes" with the admission (that all people have to make regarding innocent mistakes) that he has made "mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry...I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans..." What are these "mistakes" for which he feels the need to apologize? Did he make a wrong turn in the car? Did he throw the baseball to the wrong base?

In my view, Clemens did not issue an apology in any way, shape, or form. Genuine apologies always include an admission of the specific wrong[s] done, repentance for deliberately violating a moral or social standard, and include a plea for forgiveness from the one[s] wronged. A genuine apology doesn't dance around personal guilt and responsibility by merely admitting to have made a "mistake". A married man having sexual relations with other women and/or with an underaged girl isn't merely a "mistake," it is a sin AND a crime.

"I think what it says without saying it is that he apparently admits he cheated on his wife and family. And if he cheated on them, I think it's reasonable to assume that he cheated his fans and baseball," Richard Emery, one of the lawyers defending against Clemens' defamation suit, said in a telephone interview.

"I think this is all very probative of his behavior and his penchant for denying the truth, and it certainly will come into play in the defamation lawsuit. He certainly doesn't deserve to be compensated for loss of reputation when his reputation, to the extent he ever had it, of being a family man, was totally false and built on a house a cards, a tissue of lies, if you will."

"I believe my personal life has nothing to do with the accusations of steroid and HGH use," Clemens said. "I have already made clear that I did not use them. Now, I have been accused of having an improper relationship with a 15-year old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth. This relationship has been twisted and distorted far beyond reality. It is just one of many, many accusations that are utterly false.

"I realize that many people want me to simply confess and apologize for the conduct that I have been accused of, but I cannot confess to, nor apologize for, things I did not do. I have apologized to my family for my mistakes, and having offered this apology to the public, I would ask that you let me and my family deal with these matters in private."

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said last week he will talk with his client about whether to proceed with the defamation suit following the wave of unpleasant publicity.

"He's getting pummeled," Hardin said. "I've never seen somebody get beat up like this. In some ways, I think we're on uncharted ground."

"That's always a decision the client has to make," Hardin said. "That's not the lawyer's decision."

(Source: The Deseret News)

Unlike Roger Clemens, the Joneses have never admitted to even "a mistake" regarding the interracial dating/marriage ban. Up to March, 2000, Bob Jones III adamantly declared the Rule was based upon "Bible policy" and that BJU would stick to the Rule. Bob Jones III changed his tune in the face of political pressure and lied about the essence of the Rule on Larry King Live. The Joneses have never come to terms with the truth regarding their interracial dating/marriage ban: It was sinful, it was not "Bible policy," it harmed people, and they must beg forgiveness and seek to make restitution to those they have wronged with the Rule.

Based upon the past behavior of the Joneses, no one should trust them to craft an apology that will amount to anything more meaningful than that which Clemens has crafted. Both Clemens and the Joneses/BJU are interested in just two things: image management and damage control.

Support and encourage those who have taken the lead on the BJU Petition drive at Pleasereconcile.blogspot.com/.

And, hope that the leaders of the BJU Petition drive will keep the pressure on the Joneses/BJU to issue a genuine, meaningful apology that will include an unqualified admission of wrongdoing and an acknowledgment of the deception they used to mitigate the damage done to their reputations. The Joneses/BJU also need to admit the fraud they used to perpetuate the Rule. They also need to name those they have wronged, beg forgiveness from each person and/or group they have defrauded, and seek to make restitution.

The Joneses/BJU have never taken such a step. Let's hope this time they react differently than they have in the past.

BJU Petitioners Take a No-Nonsense Look At Bob Jones III's Interracial Duplicity

Quote of the Day: "What a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive." D. Dafoe

Definition of the Day: "Bigot: One obstinately and irrationally, often intolerantly, devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion." (Webster's Third New International Dictionary)

One of the things that always amazes me about many of my fellow BJU alums, including current BJU president Stephen Jones, is the unqualified praise they heaped upon Bob Jones III for dropping the interracial dating/marriage ban on the Larry King Live show in 2000.

Another thing that amazes me is that even BJU grads who oppose the bigotry practiced and propagated by the Joneses/BJU, are quick to label as "bigots" those who point out the interracial dating Rule deception practiced by Bob Jones III.

I recently engaged a BJU grad on a forum. Although he was seemingly for the Petition to BJU to publicly apologize for the interracial dating bigotry, he accused me of "bigotry" for citing well-established facts, supporting Scripture, and logical, rational conclusions regarding Bob Jones III's interracial dating ban deception. He apparently thinks that to confront Bob Jones III's sin and heresy would undermine the Gospel. I asked him several pointed questions about Bob Jones III's LKL interview including these three:

"Are the Drs. Bob Jones, [Bob Sr., Jr., III] in your mind, suitable examples of "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" on par with men like Stephen in Acts 6?"

"Are you saying that the Bob Joneses [Bob Sr., Jr., III] meet your idea of those who have demonstrated competency, trustworthiness, judiciousness, wisdom, and submission to biblical authority on behalf of God's Word and [on behalf of] those who have followed their spiritual leadership?"

"Have you considered the scope and breadth of the damage Bob Jones III did to the Gospel and [to the credibility of] those who preach it from BJU with his Rule, his Supreme Court case, his public statements, and in his interview on LKL?"

He refused to answer the questions and accused me of "bigotry". Defensible views that are based on facts, sound logic, and scriptural rationale are not evidence of bigotry, else every Christian who believed in the authority of the Bible would be a bigot.

Yes, it is important to pressure the Joneses/BJU to apologize and make restitution to those they have wronged with their interracial dating ban nonsense. But, propagating unbiblical division within the Body of Christ by banning interracial marriage, and doing it deceitfully the way Bob Jones III has done, is sin. Thus, it is equally important that Bob Jones III publicly repent for his sin of bearing false witness just as other religious leaders have publicly repented for their breaches of the Ten Commandments.

Bob Jones III violated the trust the University family placed in him in saying the Bible taught that interracial marriage violated "Bible policy". I just talked to a BJU grad whose parents were both BJU faculty lifers. She said, 'If Bob Jones III was so adamantly wrong about the interracial marriage ban being "Bible policy," what else has he taught us that is wrong.'

Clearly, Bob Jones III violated and betrayed a sacred trust that an ordained minister of the Gospel - and educator - would not handle the Word of God deceitfully or craftily. We all make "mistakes". However mistaken, with Bob Jones III's continued dissembling on this issue, he reveals that his 'mistake' was deliberate and that he is bent upon dodging responsibility for his actions.

Bob Jones III has never begged forgiveness from the University family for deceiving us and abusing those within our number. And, Bob Jones III continued the deception by deliberately issuing false statements to the American people regarding the Rules. Again, any apology needs to include public repentance and a plea for forgiveness from Larry King and the American people.

When I watched Bob Jones III being interviewed by Larry King, I was appalled; much of what Bob Jones III was saying was simply untrue! When I pointed out this to other BJU grads, they simply dismissed the facts and started talking about how good it was that the ban had been dropped.

Not all BJU Grads are Bigots

But, not everyone who graduated from BJU is "obstinately and irrationally, often intolerantly, devoted" to the Joneses and Bob Jones University.

The authors of the Petition at Please Reconcile, Ignore, Defend, Forget, or Apologize? have done an excellent job of concisely exposing the deception Bob Jones III employed on LKL to deceive Larry King and the American people about the true nature and history of BJU's interracial dating and marriage ban.

In a post titled "We have never tried to do that," the Pleasereconcile authors quote Jones' response to Larry King's question about not being able to back up the interracial dating ban with a verse from the Bible. Bob Jones III responded to this question with a startling answer:

"No, we can't back it up with a verse from the Bible. We never have tried to, we have never tried to do that. But we have said there is a principle here, an overriding principle of the one world government. But let me tell you how insignificant this is. Students never hear it preached. There have been four, five, six generations of students that graduated from there have never heard this preached in our chapel or taught in our school..."

Bob Jones University's 1986 Race Relations Pamphlet

The post includes copies of an eight-page pamphlet published in 1986 by BJU Press titled "Race Relations" by Marshall Neal, Ph.D. of the School of Religion, Bob Jones University. The pamphlet cites specific passages of supporting Scripture on nearly every page.

Take a look at the Pleasereconcile blog. They have a very informative, narrowly focused website dedicated to motivating people - not just BJU graduates, I understand - to apply pressure to the Joneses/BJU to repent and to apologize to those they have wronged. They are doing a good thing. I pray that they may be successful in their efforts.

Mark Fitzhenry