The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover by Lerone A. Martin

Author:Lerone A. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2022-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

Shepherding Pastors

Galvanized by the RSV controversy, pastors from across the country sought Hoover’s approval and guidance on a host of issues. They fashioned Hoover a pastor to pastors. Clergy wrote for guidance pertaining to the purity of their ministries and denominations, and the propriety of their personal piety. They looked to Hoover to police and purify the faith.

First and foremost among clergy seeking Hoover’s guidance was Hoover’s pastor. Reverend Elson admitted “on numerous occasions” that he went to Hoover “for counsel.” He made a habit of requesting Hoover’s clearance on books and religious material for the church. He asked if Hoover would investigate certain books and authors and report back to him “whether or not any of the books or authors are on the subversive list, or are in any way implicated in subversive activities.”24 The pastor did not trust his own judgment as much as he trusted Hoover’s adjudication of theological purity.

Reverend Elson even looked to Hoover, like a Bishop, to police church membership. Reverend Elson described the most “ticklish” occasion, involving Larry Motherwell, a young ordained elder in the congregation. The pastor’s suspicions were awakened when Motherwell, the leader of the Sunday Evening Club, began collecting money from the club’s twenty- to thirty-five-year-old parishioners for a trip abroad. The pastor asked Hoover for help. “For months,” the pastor proudly recalled, “FBI agents attended church dinners and services, sitting near Motherwell, without anyone in the church knowing what was going on.” When the taxpayer-funded investigation concluded, a disappointed Hoover stopped by the church office, a folder full of investigative memos in tow, and baldly asked his pastor, “How did this bird get into our church, let alone get elected an elder?” Motherwell’s real name was John Cavender, a carpenter who had served time in prison for impersonating a naval officer. Reverend Elson rendered the man’s ordination null and void and dismissed him from the church for impersonating a committed Christian.25 Hoover was well pleased.

Pastors across the country did likewise. They wrote Hoover for religious guidance, hoping he would help keep them and their flocks and denominations on the straight and narrow. Reverend Jospeh E. Humerickhouse, pastor of First Baptist Church, Fowler, Colorado, got straight to the point in his March 24, 1960, letter. He asked the FBI Boss to answer one simple but profound question: “Is the American Baptist Convention … in any way officially connected with the Communist Party … An official statement from you will be greatly appreciated.”26

Others asked about specific theological and ecclesiological issues. Reverend Karl E. Blake, pastor of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lebanon, Connecticut, requested Hoover’s theological position on church raffles. “As a Christian pastor for 40 years I am opposed to all forms of gambling including raffles, because the word of God states: ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ ” he told Hoover. He asked the FBI director for his position, “pro or con or both on raffles.”27 No issue was too small.

Pastor Tyler Terry of the Evangelical Free Church of Oroville, California, wrote

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.