Apparently, Justin Dean Apologizes for Using Mars Hill Church's Mailing List

Former Mars Hill Church’s public relations spokesperson Justin Dean has apparently apologized for selling Mars Hill Church’s mailing list. I say apparently, because he doesn’t say exactly what he did.

Because there has been much speculation about this online, and people I love have been hurt because of my actions, I wanted to provide some further clarity regarding my earlier blog post about the list of church leaders.

I want to be clear that what I did was wrong, and that I did not work in concert with or in cooperation with anyone else, including current or past employees of Mars Hill or Pastor Mark Driscoll. I operated on my own accord, without their knowledge, and without their authority. I exercised terrible judgment and I regret my decisions. I am hoping that by posting this the speculation around them will stop.

I neglected to think how my actions would affect the outstanding men and women who stayed behind at Mars Hill, some of them volunteers, who manage and protect the remaining assets as they wind down the organization. Nor did I realize how my actions would harm their families or their reputation. This was certainly not my intention, and I am deeply sorry for the trouble I have caused them.

Under no compulsion other than my conscience and the Holy Spirit, I have admitted in detail my wrong doing and repented to current Mars Hill leadership, and by God’s grace I have received their unconditional forgiveness. I am also very sorry to everyone on the email list and I please ask for your forgiveness as well. Please note that any further use of this list is forbidden and would be illegal without the permission of Mars Hill Church.

From the context, it appears that he is admitting selling the list. However, if this is not what he is admitting, I hope he will contact me with the details.

His twitter account is also back up.

For the background on this story, see this post and this post.

This apology doesn’t address who was actually selling the list or how they got it. According to the Church Leaders List website, the list was maintained by a group of unnamed Christian leaders.

This website is managed by a group of Christian leaders, however we are not able to provide support at this time. If you have questions you can contact us on Twitter @listchurch.

We still don’t know who they are. The owners of the churchleaderslist.com are hidden behind a domain privacy service and Dean doesn’t make it clear whether or not he is one of the leaders or if he just referred buyers (e.g., Craig Gross) to the leaders.

 

University of Arizona's University Religious Council Revokes Membership of Faith Christian Church and Related Groups

After investigative reports from the Arizona Daily Star in early March disclosed numerous complaints from former members of the Faith Christian Church (Tucson, AZ) about child rearing practices, mind control, and financial control over members, the University Religious Council of the University of Arizona revoked the membership of Faith Christian Church’s campus ministries. I just received the following statement from URC’s representative Michelle Blumenberg.

University Religious Council
University of Arizona
Effective immediately, the University Religious Council (URC) at the University of Arizona revokes from membership the organization known as Faith Christian Church and its affiliates Wildcats for Christ, Native Nations in Christ, and Providence Club.
Reason: The number, seriousness, and pattern of red flags raised compel URC members to no longer believe that Faith Christian Church and its affiliates operate at the highest level of integrity, transparency, safety for students, and respect for students, standards required for URC membership. This has come to light via numerous letters and testimonies recently sent to URC members which have brought to a head historic and current concerns related to the campus activities of Faith Christian Church and its affiliates.
Unanimous decision of greater quorum gathered—
March 30, 2015.

This action follows similar actions by two colleges in New Zealand regarding an affiliate of Faith Christian Church there.

Was the Germanwings Flight 9525 Pilot a Muslim Convert?

With very little help from me, one of our fantastic psychology majors at Grove City College, Megan Hurst, here examines how social psychology principles may shed some light on the persistence of rumors that the pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 was a recent Muslim convert.
Social Psychology in the News: Was the Germanwings Flight 9525 pilot a Muslim convert?
Last week, the world was gripped by the story of Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of the Germanwings Flight 9525, who intentionally crashed his plane into the French Alps instantaneously killing all passengers on the flight. This tragic event has left the world wondering why this young pilot deliberately activated a descent into the Alps.
Word associate the phrase “mysterious plane crash.” For many people, this phrase could produce thoughts like “9/11,” or “terrorism;” however for others, suspicion of Islam comes up. In the aftermath of the crash, advocacy websites, social networks, and blogs, such as The Gateway Pundit, capitalized on this availability heuristic and began writing posts about Lubitz’ alleged recent conversion to Islam, complete with a link to a Facebook page with an Arabic cover photo supposedly created by Lubitz.  The availability heuristic can be described as a mental shortcut that relies on the examples and information that quickly pop into one’s mind when basing judgments on a specific topic, concept, or event. However, in this case, the evidence does not support the initial attribution some made about Islam as a factor. For instance, the Facebook page used to suggest Lubitz was Muslim was obviously set up by someone besides Lubitz since status changes have been added after his death.
Because anti-Muslim internet sources have speculated about Lubitz’ religious orientation based on a discredited Facebook page, people may subsequently incorporate this misinformation into their memory of the event and believe that it was always “known” that Lubitz had been a Muslim. The misinformation effect can occur when misleading information is presented after an event and becomes incorporated into one’s memory of that event. One popular conservative pundit, National Review’s Andy McCarthy, tweeted out the Gateway Pundit’s “report” initially as credible evidence. He later backed away and said “we will need to wait and see.” Even if McCarthy later acknowledges that there is no evidence that Lubitz converted to Islam, the presentation of the conversion rumors may contaminate how his readers’ recall the event.
In fact, no other clues have been found which suggest he had converted to Islam. Of course this lack of evidence has not stopped speculation that Lubitz was a Muslim. Another social psychology concept, belief perseverance, may be at work. Belief perseverance is a tendency to persist with one’s held beliefs despite the fact that evidence disconfirms those beliefs. People may be unwilling to admit that the original belief may not be true. Even after it was revealed that the Facebook page was fake and put up post-crash, some readers may still hold onto the original belief that Lubitz was a recent Muslim convert.
Beliefs often persevere due to the operation of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, or recall information in a way that confirms one’s preconceived beliefs. Many people will seek out and read blogs, like the anti-Muslim German PI-News, which affirms their pre-existing beliefs. These sources have reported speculation about the Islamic faith being involved in the tragedy which their readers may be disposed to accept. Unfortunately, belief perseverance and confirmation bias work together to create a sense of certainty which is unwarranted by the evidence. People often stick to their original beliefs and choose to discard useful facts and opinions that don’t closely match their preconceptions. Some go so far as to actively discount evidence which disconfirms their previously held beliefs by denigrating mainstream sources as being biased or part of a cover up.
Most of the time reputable news outlets present their findings in ways that can be evaluated or cross-checked. For instance, media sources have addressed issue surrounding Lubitz’ health. The prosecutor in the case has been cited andspecifically indicated that no evidence has been found which point to “political or religious factors.” According to some reports, Lubitz suffered from mental and medical illnesses. One optometrist had seen Lubitz and considered him unfit to fly; Lubitz reportedly told another doctor that he was too stressed from work. A torn up medical leave slip and antidepressants were also found in the pilot’s apartment. Even with this evidence, it is not clear yet what points are relevant.
Hopefully, being aware of these cognitive factors can help us form judgments based in evidence and relatively free from bias.
-Megan Hurst & Warren Throckmorton

 

Update: Faith Christian Church, the ECFA and Continuing Backlash

A couple of events have occurred in the story of Faith Christian Church (Tucson, AZ). I want to provide the following updates:
ECFA Investigation
Last week, I reported that an executive from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability planned to interview a former member of Faith Christian Church.  According to Rachel Mullis this phone meeting took place. Mullis considered the meeting fruitful and she told me that Executive Vice President of ECFA, John C. Van Drunen planned to contact all former members who signed the former member’s letter to the ECFA.
According to Mullis, contacts have been made by email with an unknown number of former members providing information to the ECFA.
Victory Christian Church (New Zealand) Banned from Colleges
This from the Manawatu Standard (3/26/15):

Another Palmerston North education institute has issued trespass notices against religious leaders of a “cult-like” church from its campuses.
UCOL, a polytechnic with campuses in Palmerston North, Whanganui and Masterton, has confirmed it has trespass orders filed against a group of Manawatu-based church leaders connected with the Palmerston North Victory Christian Church.
The move follows the stance of Massey University, which on Monday issued trespass notices to nine church leaders from it campuses in Palmerston North, Wellington and Auckland.
Nearly a dozen people with connections to Victory Church have come forward following a series of stories highlighting concerns about the parish’s practices, including manipulating marriage pairings, public shaming of members and excessive control over the congregation’s strong student membership.

Most recently, North Victory’s pastor Joel Miller contested the claims of former members and offered to meet with them. To my knowledge, none of the U.S. pastors have spoken publicly.
 
 

Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris Claims to Hold a Doctorate of Literature

Robert Morris has built a megachurch in Southlake Texas which has been rated as the third largest church in America.  Given that significant accomplishment, it seems that self-inflation would be unnecessary. However, in his upcoming book published by the Thomas Nelson imprint of HarperCollins Christian, Morris includes a version of his bio which includes a description of a “doctorate of literature” he claims he holds.  See below from the upcoming book, Truly Free:
MorrisDoctorateLiterature
I wrote the church and Thomas Nelson to ask if this “doctorate of literature” was an earned doctorate. Repeated requests were not answered. This “doctorate” is most likely to be an honorary doctorate of letters given to Morris by the small Bible school housed in his church — The King’s University. Morris is currently the chair of the board of the school.
An earlier 2011 bio described Morris’ doctorate as a “doctor of letters” awarded by TKU. This would have been about a year after TKU’s board awarded it to him.
morrisdoctorateletters
This description of the doctor of letters is closer to the reasons why such honorary degrees are given. However, this bio is still misleading. According to Morris, his main work, The Blessed Life, was ghostwritten. He told his Gateway audience in January of this year that a member of Gateway (David Holland), wrote the book based on on recordings which Morris made in a hotel room.  He said the ghostwriter helped him with several books. As it turns out, Morris was given an honorary doctorate for writing books he didn’t actually write.
I understand that many celebrities don’t write their own books, but it is misleading to consider those celebrities to be accomplished writers. They may have good ideas and have enough money to afford to pay a good writer but those books aren’t representative of the author’s writing ability when the listed author didn’t write them.
So in his new book published by Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins Christian (as well as the bio on the church website), Morris claims to hold a doctorate of literature when in fact, he was given an honorary doctorate from his own school for books he didn’t write.
When it was discovered that Mark Driscoll’s book Real Marriage achieved New York Times best seller status via a marketing scheme, Driscoll stopped using “NYTs best selling author” as a description. That was a commendable move. Of course, the proper thing to do for both publisher and author is to present an accurate description to the public.
The ongoing story of Christian authors embellishing their reputations demonstrates the importance Christian leaders place on peripheral persuasion. Perceived expertise is one of several powerful factors operating via the peripheral route to persuasion. Persuasion theory posits two primary routes to persuasion — central and peripheral. In central route strategies, the persuader offers facts and figures with accuracy being important. An assumption is made that the audience is motivated to carefully consider arguments for and against a proposition.
However, in peripheral route strategies, the assumption is that the audience isn’t highly invested in the process but will nonetheless make a decision or render an opinion. Peripheral route tactics influence people to say yes or make a decision for reasons other than the merits of the case. In the situation above, the publisher and author have embellished credentials to communicate expertise in the service of selling books. There may be more personal motives but the effect is that audience members who are motivated by perceived expertise will attribute expertise to Morris due to the embellishments.
Unfortunately, it appears these kind of tactics are embedded features of evangelical and conservative expressions of Christianity.
UPDATE: Just found this article by Phil Cooke on honorary degrees. Bottom line: One should not refer to the degree as if it was earned, or use Dr. in reference to oneself unless one has an earned doctorate.