The Region : Pastor’s Death Prayer for Justices Hit

It is regrettable that a fundamentalist Baptist pastor led a prayer for the death of five U.S. Supreme Court justices because of their actions legalizing abortion, a national Southern Baptist official said. “Any responsible Baptist, like any responsible Christian, would regret that anyone would pray for death of a Supreme Court justice or any other official,” said Wilmer C. Fields, chief spokesman for the Nashville, Tenn.-based national Southern Baptist Convention. Fields’ comments were intended to dissociate the national organization from the action of the Rev. Robert Hymers, pastor of the 2-year-old Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle that he formed after breaking away from the Southern Baptists. Hymers led about 100 members of his congregation in prayer in front of downtown Los Angeles’ federal courthouse Sunday, comparing the justices to Adolf Hitler because of their abortion stance.