Written by J. Brent Walker, BJC Executive Director
Editor’s note: Richard E. Ice passed away in March 2014. This article was published in the October 2011 Report from the Capital. Click here to download the entire magazine as a PDF document.
At our annual board meeting this year, I had the privilege of making a special presentation of the J.M. Dawson Religious Liberty Award. We presented the award to Richard E. Ice, a board member of 41 years, upon his retirement from the BJC board. Upon receiving the award at the meeting — which Dick did not know was coming — he instinctively and immediately pulled out a copy of George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., and read it to the group as something of a swan song to his legacy on the board.
Established on the 50th anniversary of the Baptist Joint Committee in 1986 and named for the BJC’s first executive director, the Dawson Award recognizes Baptists who have made outstanding contributions to the defense of religious liberty and who support the BJC. Previous recipients include the likes of Bill Moyers, Jimmy Carter, Walter Shurden, Gardner Taylor and James Dunn.
Dick Ice’s contributions to the life and work of the BJC are incalculable. In over four decades, he missed only one board meeting — then because he was hospitalized for a few days during a trip to Russia and could not get back in time. His business acumen and advice were well appreciated as chairman of the BJC’s Endowment Committee. Yet Dick is not just a financial guru. He understands and appreciates Baptist principles and the American concept of the separation of church and state like few others. He is also a student of history who can call up the words of our Founders on the spur of the moment and make scholarly presentations on James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and others.
That powerful letter from George Washington that Dick read upon receiving the award is reproduced below this column. Although we tend to know well the words and sentiments of Jefferson and Madison, we often overlook Washington’s commitment to fostering religious pluralism and religious liberty for all, including “the children of the Stock of Abraham,” a shockingly brash sentiment in the late 18th century. (I think I know what George Washington would say today about the other children of Abraham — Muslims!). If you want to read more about Washington and his letters to other religious groups, including Baptists, download a copy of my friend Dan Swett’s fascinating new book titled “Protecting Religious Diversity to Achieve National Unity: A Fantasy Memoir of George Washington” and give it a good read. (It is available exclusively in an electronic format — click here to see it on Amazon.com.)
Thank you, Dick, for your generous beneficence to the BJC and for reminding us of the father of our country’s commitment to the rights of conscience and religious liberty for all of God’s children.
Click here to watch a portion of Dick Ice’s speech upon receiving the award.
Letter from George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I.
August 18, 1790
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. …
May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the Father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
