By LAUREN D'AVOLIO
HIGHLAND PARK – Though Highland Park United Methodist Church sits at the doorstep of a debate, the Rev. Mark Craig's Sunday sermon belied all the attention.
Instead of speaking about the controversy over a President George Bush presidential library being built at nearby Southern Methodist University, Mr. Craig reassured his flock that God will carry the faithful through life's figurative valleys.
Mr. Craig is an SMU trustee and senior minister at the church to which Mr. Bush and wife, Laura, belong. Mr. Bush said last week that he's "leaning heavily" toward choosing SMU as the site for his library.
Critics worry about a public policy institute that would promote the Bush administration's goals. Some faculty members have said they have concerns about SMU being affiliated with an unpopular president who has led an unpopular war in Iraq. And Thursday, a small group of United Methodist bishops and ministers launched a national petition drive asking the school to withdraw from negotiations for the library.
Several Methodists who attended Sunday's services offered their opinions.
"He's going to have to put it somewhere, so why not here? I'm not a big Bush fan, but it would be another draw for people to come to the campus," said Larry Gebhardt, who sings in the church choir. "It needs to be something people are going to use. The value is in its use."
Gary Morris, a retired Marine Corps officer, said he's "very much for it."
"I'm a major George W. Bush fan. The man is an outstanding leader," Mr. Morris said as he walked to the 11 a.m. service. "Anywhere [the library goes] is wonderful for the community. It's good for the economy."
Is this guy insane, lying, or in his 80's?Eric Appel and his fiancee, Heather Johnson, said they disagree with the decision to house the library at SMU. They said it could have done bigger things for Baylor University in Waco, a finalist along with SMU, Texas Tech University and the University of Dallas.
"Dallas already has some great things," Ms. Johnson said. "It would have been nice to give a smaller place some of the limelight."
Elsewhere Sunday, five Methodist ministers contacted said they didn't mention the issue in their sermon. They said they were either in the middle of a series of sermons or found the matter irrelevant to their congregations.
Understandable since Most people in Church don't want to hear about politicians.
The Rev. David N. Mosser at First United Methodist Church of Arlington said he considered talking about it, but instead intends to cover it in a newsletter article.
It had better take up an entire page.
" It's a situation where people are mixing the church and politics in something that should be historical. I really think it would add a lot of value in the long run to an institution like SMU, which is in many ways Methodist in name only," he said.
Bush will be remembered by Methodists the way Nixon is remembered by Quakers.
Pastor Van Lazaroff of First United Methodist Church Cedar Hill said he talked about it in Sunday school.
"It's a class that wanted to talk about what Methodists believe. One of [those beliefs] is tolerance," he said. "We do have different opinions, but we can agree to disagree."
He said he doesn't expect to use the matter as a sermon point.
"It's not something I would get involved in," he said.
I feel sorry for that guy.
John Heatherly is a lay leader of First UMC in Commerce, Texas, and a delegate to the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.
He's for the library and thinks its opponents, especially those behind the online petition started last week, don't represent the church's mainstream.
"They represent a very far left, liberal agenda," he said.
And you sir represent Mars and not Jesus.
The Rev. Andrew Weaver is one of the organizers of the online petition at protectsmu.org Mr. Weaver called the war in Iraq "immoral and unjust" and referred to the documented torture of foreign prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as a policy that is "utterly unacceptable."
"We have found this man [President Bush] has brought great disgrace to this country and to the Methodism he says he holds," Mr. Weaver said. "There's passion about this. The passion has to do with the good name of Methodism."
Now that sounds like a man of God.
