"We live in a time of unprecedented moral and spiritual crisis in our nation," Land said. "And in the very time when our nation most needs to hear a sure and certain word from God through His people, those in the media and those in the press and those in society who oppose us are doing their very best to oppress us."

The greatest threat of the day comes from those who would suppress Christians' right to express religious convictions in the public arena, he said.

As an example, Land spoke about a recent experience with CNN, whose headquarters building is located just across from the Georgia Dome, where he was speaking to messengers.

"CNN, if you're listening, I have a message for you, and I want you to hear it," he said. "CNN is slanting the news. CNN is trying to beat up on Southern Baptists. And we're not going to stand for it silently anymore."

Land said CNN recently scheduled a program on Southern Baptists featuring Americans United Executive Director Barry Lynn and California Baptist pastor and conservative activist Wiley Drake. Despite the suggestion that Land be invited in his capacity as spokesman for Southern Baptists on public policy issues, CNN called Land only to ask if he would be interested in being in the audience, he said.

This selection of guests that excludes people like him is typical of how CNN "slants the news," Land said. "Brother Wiley, I love you, but you're just too nice a guy to go up against Barry Lynn. You need somebody with a mean streak like me. You've employed me to take on the Barry Lynns of this world, and I do it."

To make matters worse, Land said Lynn claimed during the program that Land once asserted the SBC ought to 'marry' the Republican Party.

"That's not what I said," Land told messengers. "Let me tell you and let me tell CNN what I really said. I said if the Republican Party wants the support of people who believe in God and who believe in the sanctity of all human life from conception onward and believe in the traditional family and believe that homosexuality is deviant and immoral behavior and shouldn't be approved and affirmed by the president of the United States, then they need to come and endorse our values and our beliefs and our understanding of the truth.

"And if they do, and they commit themselves to that, then we'll support them," he said. "If a party wants our support, they have to get it the old-fashioned way. They have to earn it by supporting our basic beliefs."

If Southern Baptists are to support a candidate, they want a formal marriage ceremony, Land said, unlike Lynn, whom he said is "in bed with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party without benefit of matrimony."

In reply, Lynn said in a telephone interview that he stands by his assertion that Land sought to marry the SBC and the Republican Party. He quoted from a March 23, 1998, New York Times story about a meeting of conservative activists in Washington in which Land participated.

Lynn said the Times story quoted Land issuing this warning to Republican leaders: "The go-along, get-along strategy is dead. No more engagement. We want a wedding ring. We want a ceremony. We want a consummation of the marriage."

As for Land's comments that Lynn is "in bed" with Democrats without benefit of marriage, Lynn said, "I never attend any political function, no strategy sessions. If I find out there is a meeting scheduled where Democratic operatives are going to run it, I do not attend."

And besides, he said, "I've been married to the same woman since 1970, and I'm not looking to marry anybody else."