The Value of Integrity (Part 2)

Getting to the Bottom of Political Shenanigans in the Southern Baptist Convention *see note

I'm rarely left speechless when it comes to news about shenanigans associated with politics in my former denomination.  But these developments have left me as close to that as I've ever come.  

A conservative faction gained control of the denomination's officer positions, committee seats and trustee boards back in 1979 and have held control ever since.  They have enforced their own brand of theology and doctrine onto the denomination's mission boards and in particular, on its six theological seminaries where pastors, church leaders and missionaries are trained.  They've kept control up to this point, mainly because the more moderate churches more or less stopped engaging in denominational politics and found other ways to put their mission money to work.  

But the moderate leadership predicted that there would be conflict and division, even after they left, because, they said, that was the nature of the "conservative" approach that took control of the convention.  And sure enough, they've been right, though until these past three years, there hasn't been anything that has been as ugly, or that has threatened to split the denomination apart, as what's going on now.  

"These Conservatives" versus "Those Conservatives" 

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest of about a dozen or so different Baptist denominations in the United States, along with many congregations that are independent of any denominational affiliation.  Baptist churches are independent, congregationally-governed churches.  There is no ecclesiastical connection between any church, no official "clergy recognition" or credentials, since each local church ordains its own pastors and elders.  Many Baptist churches choose to keep their independence and not affiliate with, or even cooperate with, other churches in any kind of structure.  

Denominational politics in the SBC is as old as the denomination itself, which dates back to 1845.  It was formed out of Baptist churches in the South who separated from what was then known as the Triennial Convention of Philadelphia because that body would not appoint slave-owners as missionaries.  While there are Southern Baptist churches in all 50 states now, the vast majority of churches and church members are found in the 11 states of the old Confederacy, plus Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, Oklahoma and California.  Only 12% of the members live outside of those states.  

The argument that was made to support the need for conservatives to take over the convention in 1979 was that the leadership of the SBC was made up of too many "liberals" who did not believe that the Bible was the inerrant, infallible, written word of God.  "Higher criticism" was being taught to students in the seminaries, and liberal practices, like ordaining women to serve as pastors, were "creeping in" to the denomination.  To a certain extent, that was true, though the liberals in the SBC were nowhere near the theology of true liberals in the mainline denominations.  

There's been no change in the theological position of the SBC.  However, there's always been a doctrinal rift between the Baptists whose theology falls in the Calvinist tradition, and those whose theology is more Zwinglian or more Anabaptist.  In addition to this, the two "architects" of the original "Conservative Resurgence" in 1979 have fallen into disfavor as a result of the clergy sexual abuse scandal and their train of "admirers," mainly those who have lined up to kiss their rear ends in the hopes of getting a piece of the pie by being appointed to a committee or board, now find themselves and their personal kingdom building efforts, on the outside looking in.  So they've declared that liberalism now controls the SBC again, and have formed a political faction called the Conservative Baptist Network, to try and get some of their guys in the power positions to make appointments again.  And that's what this current fight is all about.  

Who in the World Did They Learn These Cut-throat Political Tactics From?  

That's a rhetorical question.  Actually, even back as far as I can remember SBC politics, which was around the late 70's when I was a student at an SBC-related college, the good-ole-boy, glad-handing, influence peddling, rear-end kissing game of prestige and prominence was a major factor in who got to become the "Baptist royalty" as the ministerial students in the theology program at the college called it.  But what's been happening now is straight out of the book called The Dirty, Low-Down, Unethical, Immoral Politics of Donald J. Trump.  

So, in simple terms, for those who aren't up on what's going on, there were two candidates who announced they were running for president of the SBC in June, when it meets in Anaheim, California (yes, across the street from Disneyland, which they once cancelled, er, boycotted).  One was a pastor from Florida, Willy Rice, who represented the current leadership and the traditional "conservatives" and the other, Tom Ascol, also from Florida, a Calvinist who represents the faction that formed the Conservative Baptist Network and says, without a shred of evidence, that the current leadership of the SBC is leading it back down the path of liberalism which includes "wokeness," and bowing to feminism, because it is finally giving attention to the victims of decades of sexual abuse by clergy in Southern Baptist churches.  

In a previous article on this subject, Signal Press: Cancel Culture on the Right, I wondered who the "informant" was, that person from outside Pastor Rice's church who called to let him know that it wouldn't be a good idea to try and run for president of the SBC after having ordained a former sexual abuser as a deacon.  The SBC passed a strongly worded resolution several years ago, right after this massive scandal broke, encouraging churches to prevent any former sex abusers from holding any church leadership positions.  Was there an ulterior motive behind the informant's actions?  Was this individual associated with the Conservative Baptist Network whose candidate, Tom Ascol, would stand a better chance if Rice stepped out?  

As it turns out, the "informant" was the sexual abuser's pastor when the incident occurred.  Not only did he know this deacon personally, he had developed a very close friendship with both he and his wife as he ministered to them and walked them through the aftermath of the sexual abuse.  They were close friends for years, and give the credit to this specific pastor for helping them get their lives back together, overcome the abuse, and receive God's grace, mercy and forgiveness, serving in church leadership at their pastor's recommendation.  Yes, that pastor is the one who contacted Willy Rice and started the ball rolling toward his decision to back out of the SBC presidential race. No one else had that information, no one else said anything.  That pastor has made his support for Tom Ascol, CBN, and his opposition to current SBC leadership, well known. Is that enough to fairly conclude that this act was politically motivated?  

This is one of those kinds of things that really shakes my confidence in church leadership.  Stepping into the  business of another church is contrary to both Baptist polity, since churches are independent and autonomous, and also to Biblical principle, at least, in the way it is interpreted by Baptists who believe the Bible to be inerrant and infallible.  This pastor has known about the sexual abuse for seventeen years, and he's known it all through the time that the deacon has been ordained at Rice's congregation, because they have been close friends ever since.  Why didn't he bring this up prior to the ordination, instead of now, when Rice has announced his candidacy and isn't the preferred choice of CBN?  And it should be noted that this pastor is the sole instigator of this issue.  

And what about the deacon and his wife?  I hope their Christian faith is strong enough to handle this monumental disappointment.  What they thought had been forgiven, and put behind them, as the scripture says God does with our sin, an event seventeen years in the past and, they thought, forgiven and forgotten by God, has become a newly opened, bleeding, painful wound.  Both they and the victim must now go through this pain and misery once again because their pastor, a man whom they trusted more than anyone else in this world, has made this an issue once again for the sake of denominational politics.  

There Are Lots of Far-Reaching Consequences

There are at least two Baptist pastors in this issue who have openly expressed a view that is contrary to the core doctrine of the Christian gospel.  By their actions, they have denied the sincerity of a Christian's testimony and the promise of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  I'm not minimizing the seriousness of the sexual abuse that was committed.  But neither does the man who committed it.  He did everything that was required of him to demonstrate true repentance.  His former pastor provided him with that guidance, and his current pastor, Willy Rice, and his current church, who knew about the sexual abuse because he had admitted to it and accepted responsibility for it, determined that he had exhibited the qualifications to be ordained as a deacon.  So one pastor, who helped the deacon spiritually with repentance and restoration, undermined everything by interfering with another church's autonomy, and the other one led his church to undo the ordination and take back their recognition of his restoration to faith. 

There was enough confidence in this man's spiritual restoration, that he had been appointed to Florida Governor Desantis' Faith Advisory Council.  

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.  Psalm 103:11-12, NRSV

Apparently there are some passages and verses of scripture missing from some people's Bibles. 

The Conservative Baptist Network is an angry group that first met in the home of former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson's to film their informational video and launch their movement.  Patterson was one of the architects of the original "conservative resurgence" in the Southern Baptist Convention and used his influence to put himself into the most influential committee and trustee board seats, and eventually to obtain the presidential leadership of two of the SBC seminaries.  He was dismissed from Southwestern as evidence mounted of repeated mishandling of sexual abuse cases among students.  CBN has revived the old Conservative Resurgence cries of "liberalism" against those who ousted Patterson and who currently lead the SBC, citing "wokeness," "support and teaching of CRT", and what they claim is a "feminist push" for church leadership.  The only example they actually cite in support of that, from within the SBC's entities, is the recent efforts by the ERLC to recognize and minister to the female victims of the massive sexual abuse that has occurred for decades, perpetrated by SBC clergy.  

They have, to date, produced no evidence whatsoever for their charges, but they have engaged in some very anti-Christian tactics on social media, including some blistering false accusations against the current SBC President Ed Litton, who defeated their first candidate for president in Nashville last summer at the largest gathering of messengers in decades.  What's going on here, with Willy Rice, is just more of the same.  

This isn't what Jesus would do.  It is what Donald Trump would do. It lacks integrity, character and honesty in every way possible.  

And that's all I need to say.

*Baptist News Global is an independent, Baptist news agency, founded by the merger of the Religious Herald, the news journal owned by the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Associated Baptist Press, the independent news agency partnered with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, one of the church groups which stopped participating in the Southern Baptist Convention when the conservative resurgence leadership took over.  Though it does maintain a partnership relationship to cover events and news related to CBF it is independently owned, autonomous and self-supporting.