An Occasional Word

Dear Friends:

Bishop Charles N. Crutchfield

I have recently received a number of inquiries regarding the possible placement of the Bush Presidential Library on or near the campus of Southern Methodist University.  There has been some controversy about SMU providing a place for the Bush Library

and the accompanying Bush Institute.  I understand, though I did not see it, that a retired United Methodist clergyman was interviewed on television.  Letters have been written and petitions offered.  In the best tradition of the United Methodist Church there is vigorous debate and passionate inquiry.  But let us be very clear.  The United Methodist Church has not taken an official position on the library issue.  Only the General Conference could do that.

At the recent meeting of the College of Bishops of the South Central Jurisdiction, we spent a significant amount of time discussing the library.  We had an opportunity to hear from Dr. Gerald Turner, President of SMU, members of his staff, and trustees of the university.  At the conclusion of the meeting the active bishops of the jurisdiction passed a resolution affirming the Board of Trustees of SMU, and the manner in which they have proceeded with this dialogue and discussion.  We also expressed appreciation for the manner in which they have continued to affirm the historic relationship of SMU to the United Methodist Church.  As a matter of “full disclosure,” I offered the resolution, though it grew out of discussions with several others at the meeting. 

The resolution takes no specific position on the Bush Library itself.  It focuses on the integrity of the Board of Trustees and the process in which they have engaged.  But, I do have a personal position.  I hope the Bush Presidential Library is established on the SMU campus.  

A presidential library is a gift to the general public as well as to scholars.  But more significantly, the Bush Presidential Library will become a magnet for discussion and debate and analysis of the eight years of his presidency –  surely some of the most tumultuous and challenging years in American history.  The ethical and moral implications of preemptive war, the psychological and emotional impact of the war in Iraq on the public and the military, questions surrounding treatment of POWs and much, much more will occupy scholars for decades to come.  This is precisely the kind of moral/ethical debate that ought to be associated with a church-related university.  Why not house just such a library at an institution whose motto is Veritas Liberabit Vos – The Truth Shall Set You Free.

Great educational institutions are founded on the need to discuss and explore and question and debate.  The placement of the Bush Library at SMU will encourage and challenge and enhance the search for truth.

In another day I would have wanted to have the Truman Library at SMU in spite of the morally debatable use of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.  I would have welcomed the Roosevelt papers at SMU even though what Roosevelt approved of doing to Japanese-Americans in WWII was clearly immoral and illegal.  I would take the Lincoln Papers even though Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War.  I would have welcomed all of Thomas Jefferson’s books and papers, though I would not forget he was a slave holder, fathered a family by at least one slave, and edited the New Testament to his own likes.  All presidencies have their controversies.

Approving of George W. Bush’s politics is not the main issue.  History and the study of ideas and the search for truth illumined by faith and moral values – that is the point.  I strongly believe that SMU has the strength of faculty, the intellectual integrity, and the commitment to true academic freedom to benefit from the presence of the Bush Presidential Library.  I do not see the faculty at SMU as being so weak and compliant that they will be exploited by the presence of the library and its research institute.  There will be on the SMU campus a continuing dialogue as moral values and faith encounter the history we have lived.  I believe there are important truths to be learned.  I would welcome that dialogue at SMU.

It is in the best tradition of the United Methodist Church.

Faithfully,
Charles N. Crutchfield