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Alabama Supreme Court Justice Glenn Murdock delivers the keynote speech at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Photo by Layton Dudley
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Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato introduces guests at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann welcomes guests to the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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An honor guard from theHoover police and fire departments presents the U.S. and Alabama flags at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann introduces guests at the head table at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Shelby County Commissioner Mike Vest sings the national anthem at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Father Gerald Holloway, associate pastor at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, says the breakfast blessing at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Alabama Supreme Court Justice Glenn Murdock delivers the keynote address at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Photo by Layton Dudley
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ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann introduces guests at the head table at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Photo by Layton Dudley
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Guests at the head table at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017, included, from left, Cross Creek Church Pastor Chris Peters, Hoover Beautification Board Chairwoman Ann McAdams and Shelby County Commissioner Mike Vest.
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Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato introduces guests at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Photo by Layton Dudley
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The Rev. Phil Reddick, the director of young business leaders for Briarwood Presbyterian Church, shares some Scripture and a prayer at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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The Rev. Phil Riddick, director of young business leaders at Briarwood Presbyterian Church, shares some Scripture and a prayer at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato introduces guests at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Alabama Supreme Court Justice Glenn Murdock delivers the keynote address at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Photo by Layton Dudley
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Cross Creek Church Pastor Chris Peters leads the benediction at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Cross Creek Church Pastor Chris Peters leads in a benediction at the close of the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
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Alabama Supreme Court Justice Glenn Murdock delivers the keynote address at the 2017 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
Alabama Supreme Court Justice Glenn Murdock today called on attendees at the Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast to not retreat from a society that has turned its back on God, but instead to engage in civic life and fight for the Christian beliefs on which America was founded.
Murdock told the crowd of more than 500 people in the banquet room at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel that America is in a somber situation and faces a grave threat to religious liberty.
“Despite unparalleled blessings of liberty and prosperity for this country, we have turned our back on God in so many ways,” Murdock said.
America has quit valuing the preciousness of life, the fundamental institutions of marriage and family and even the objective truth of our creation as men and women, he said.
“Now those who speak against the modern orthodoxy and adhere to their traditional beliefs are labeled bigots and intolerant and sent to tolerance classes in corporate America or suffer the risk of fines, in some states, that might put them out of business,” Murdock said.
Hollywood glamorizes sex and violence more than ever, and churches substitute popular psychology for Scripture, he said.
Murdock cited the Catholic theologian Robert George, who said most people grew up in the “Palm Sunday” days of America when Jesus was cheered and welcomed into the city and when being a Catholic or evangelical Christian was comfortable.
“Comfortable Christianity is no more,” Murdock said. “There is a price to be paid. It’s not Palm Sunday anymore. It’s Friday. The crowds in America today yell ‘Crucify Him. Give us Barabbas.’”
Christians today face a choice, Murdock said. They can withdraw from society and try to protect themselves and their families from the corrosive effects of modern culture, or they can get engaged and try to impact society for the better, he said. He believes the latter is the better choice, he said.
Jesus faced opposition, but he engaged the political and religious leaders of His day and implored His followers to be salt and light in the community, Murdock said.
Modern-day Christian leader Franklin Graham saw polling data that showed 20 to 30 milion Christians did not vote in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and spent the year before the 2016 election traveling to every state capital, Murdock said. Graham shared about the free gift of God’s grace and and compelled Christians not only to vote, but to volunteer for good candidates, make campaign donations and run for public office themselves, he said.
“Franklin Graham knows that if we abandon the playing field to those who reject our beliefs, then it is those who reject our beliefs who will make the laws by which our children and grandchildren must live,” Murdock said.
America’s founders believed in absolute truths regarding the nature of man, morality and the physical world around us, he said. Each man is not to decide his own personal truth by searching his personal feelings, Murdock said. Rather, there are universal truths that come from an external source — men are “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,” he said, quoting the beginning of the Declaration of Independence.
Murdock cited George Washington, who said that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” for political prosperity. “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle,” Washington said.
Murdock also quoted the second U.S. president, John Adams, who said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Murdock noted that God didn’t build the ark for Noah to escape the flood; He had Noah build it. God also had Esther, a former queen of Persia, to use her voice to influence the king of Persia to save the Hebrew people from destruction, he said.
“I pray we would have the strength and courage to be on our knees, crying out to our Father in Heaven, how should we use our voices to engage the society around us? How should each of us use our hands and feet to be your hands and feet in this physical world to build a nation that would honor you, to build a city that would honor you,” Murdock said.
Before Murdock spoke, the Rev. Phil Reddick, the director of young business leaders for Briarwood Presbyterian Church, told today’s prayer breakfast crowd that maybe Christians are asking their leaders to do too much instead of working with them to make changes in the world.
Reddick asked God to give wisdom and discernment to community leaders so they can make right decisions and to give them courage and integrity to follow through on those decisions and the will to persevere against difficulty and opposition.
He also asked God to use the people in attendance to be instruments of grace to the community.
“We’ve abandoned your word. We’ve abandoned your principles. We’ve abandoned your values. We’ve abandoned you,” Reddick said. “We need to come back to you and ask you to bless us, to give us good favor, to protect us.”
Other ministers who led prayers at the breakfast this morning included Father Gerald Holloway, associate pastor at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, and Chris Peters, pastor at Cross Creek Church.
Matt Mims, an engineer with the Garver engineering, planning and environmental services firm who attended the breakfast, said Murdock’s speech was inspiring and made him think about ways he might can get involved in civic life.
“What I liked best is knowing a guy like that, in a position of power, is holding those kinds of beliefs,” Mims said. “It gives you hope for the future.”
Darla Williamson, a Zentangle artist at the Artists on the Bluff facility in Bluff Park, said she tends to be a little more liberal than Murdock, but she understands his perspective.
“I think it is important that we are more personally involved at the local level,” she said. “We do need to take responsibility. We are responsible for keeping this country a democracy and a republic. We’ve got to know what’s going on and make sure the people representing us are truly representing their areas.”
