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Habitat board wrongs a good man

By PHILIP GAILEY
Published February 20, 2005

Habitat for Humanity, the Christian housing ministry, is always asking for our prayers and money in its mailings, and many of us have responded with a glad heart over the years. But Habitat will get not another nickel from me until its board of directors reinstates Millard Fuller, the organization's founder and spiritual leader for 28 years. Fuller's return as president should be coupled with an apology for his shabby treatment. Until that happens, this longtime Habitat supporter will close his checkbook to an organization run by a board of directors that has wronged a good man.

Last month, Habitat's directors fired the 70-year-old Fuller as president and his wife Linda, the organization's co-founder, based on an allegation that Fuller had engaged in "inappropriate conduct" with a female staffer. According to Fuller, the board spent $400,000 (how many houses would that build for the poor?) on lawyers fees in an investigation that found "insufficient proof of inappropriate conduct."

But that didn't stop the board from firing the Fullers anyway. A Habitat statement explained that the couple was dismissed after "a pattern of ongoing public comments and communications by the Fullers that have been divisive and disruptive." That means the board was furious with Fuller for speaking to news organizations about the sexual harassment allegation and his differences with the board. Imagine the nerve of this man, daring to defend his good name against a smear.

You have to wonder, what's the board's real agenda?

The dismissal of the Fullers has outraged Habitat affiliates and volunteers across the country. They have held prayer vigils and signed petitions seeking the couple's reinstatement. Former President Jimmy Carter, a friend of the Fullers and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has tried to mediate the dispute, but so far his peacekeeping efforts have been unsuccessful. Carter is on record saying "it is obvious that there is no proof of impropriety" on Fuller's part. Habitat's most famous volunteer also has expressed concern that the board's handling of the matter has damaged Fuller's reputation and undermined support for one of the world's most respected nonprofit organizations.

This is personal for me. I have known Millard Fuller for four decades, and he comes closer to living a true Christian life than anyone I know. I also feel like I was present at the creation of his housing ministry. Fuller, who became a millionaire in the direct-mail business in Montgomery, Ala., decided to forsake his fortune to save his marriage in the early 1960s. In search of a more meaningful life, he moved his family to Koinonia, a racially integrated, Christian farm commune just outside of Americus, Ga. Koinonia was founded by Clarence Jordan, a Baptist theologian who preached and practiced racial and economic justice. Back then Koinonia was a target for night riders and the Ku Klux Klan. It survived shootings, dynamite bombings and a boycott of its pecans and farm products by local businesses. As a young reporter, I visited Koinonia often in search of a story.

Toward the end of his life, Jordan felt a calling to do something about the appalling housing conditions of the poor in his county. He built a few modest houses in a pine grove on his farm and called the project "Partnership Housing." The houses were sold at cost, with no interest. Monthly payments were tailored to the buyer's income. The new homeowners contributed their own labor to the construction. No government funding. The first house went to a poor black tenant farmer whose family lived in a shotgun shack on Jimmy Carter's nearby farm.

After Jordan's death, Fuller took his old friend's idea to Africa and built houses. After a few years he returned to the United States and established Habitat for Humanity, a more inspiring name than Partnership Housing. That's how it began, and it has been going strong ever since. Today, Habitat has 1,700 U.S. affiliates, and its volunteers are building houses for the poor around the world.

"While I am not perfect, I must have made a few right decisions along the way," Fuller recently told the Associated Press. "You know the Bible says: "By their fruits you shall know them.' And what have been the fruits of my leadership? We've gone into 3,700 cities in 100 countries and built housing for almost a million people."

By its bitter fruits we now know the Habitat board of directors. If anyone has acted disgracefully in this matter, it is the Habitat board, not Millard Fuller.

Philip Gailey's e-mail address is gailey@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:53:18]