Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, about 10,000 delegates representing the 45,000 churches of the Southern Baptist Convention came up with a couple of huge surprises that were somewhat unexpected, defying predictions of this author about the outcomes from their two-day convention meeting. I'm still looking over the media reports, both secular and Baptist, checking for insights and explanations into what is clearly a move away from the influence of Christian Fundamentalism, rooted mainly in independent Baptist congregations (think Jerry Falwell) and from the Christian nationalism that has blended itself into the MAGA movement of the GOP.
By Affirming First Amendment Religious Liberty as a Matter of Individual Conscience, the Southern Baptist Convention Distances Itself From Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism in some form or another has always been around, but Baptists, who developed a free, independent church tradition and who were among the original separatists who came to America to escape persecution by the British monarchy. They were among the biggest influences on both Jefferson and Madison in helping promote the idea of religious liberty and abandoning the idea of a state church. Their ideology in this regard was based on the manner in which Jesus and at least two of his Apostles, along with the gospel writer Luke, transferred the idea of "chosen people" from the Old Testament covenant with the nation of Israel to individual followers of and believers in Christ, rather than to the custody of a political entity.
Some of the arguments put forth by those who were seeking to alter the resolution proposed by the Southern Baptists' resolutions committee are based on false assumptions and mis-interpretations of what Baptists consider to be inspired scripture. They were infused with the rhetoric of the heretical Christian nationalist movements, and lacked supporting quotes from Jesus or any of his Apostles. They also represent the influence of Trumpism, and the MAGA cult's views. Trump himself has rejected the premise of Christian conversion for himself, but has set a system in place to use it for his own political purposes. Those within Evangelical Christianity who hold this view are demonstrating a very stilted and distorted view of the Christian gospel, ignoring the fact that there's no support or suggestion that Christianity be linked to political power.
The "new Covenant" offered by Jesus, extends the redemption from sin and reconciliation to God that had been offered through the mediation of the theocratic structure of the Old Testament Jewish political-religious state and requires no ecclesiastical or political authority to mediate. Two of the apostles, Paul and Peter, offer Christian perspectives of secular political power, mainly to demonstrate respect for the law as a testimony of faith. Noting that they were speaking of the Roman Empire and its emperor, who would eventually turn against them and persecute the church, their words are remarkable in their context. And for two centuries, during some of the worst persecution experienced anywhere in history, Christians remained faithful to the words of their apostles. They did not organize a rebellion and resist. They simply found ways to survive, if they could. This persecution, and their suffering, led to the conversion to Christianity of a majority of the population of the Empire by the beginning of the third century, including subsequent emperors.
In other words, while there are multiple nations that are "Christian influenced," in that their political system is based, either generally or more specifically, on a particular set of values identified with the Christian faith, and a majority of the population follows some branch of Christianity, there is no biblical authority that creates a state church where the theology and doctrine is enforced by law.
The leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention is to be commended for recognizing this creeping, illegitimate threat to its own religious liberty, and to acknowledging free will expression of one's conscience as a gift from God. The rhetoric in the arguments made against this resolution during the convention sessions is clearly influenced by MAGA politics. The passage of this resolution is as strong a statement against Christian nationalism and in support of religious liberty as Baptists have come up with for a while now, and shows that there may be quite a few more Evangelical pastors and church leaders, who make up the majority of the messenger body at a Southern Baptist convention meeting, who are not part of the MAGA cult than we might think.
Southern Baptists Turn Away Attempt to Amend Their Constitution to Prohibit Women Serving in a Pastoral Ministry Role
Don't mistake the failure of the Law Amendment to the constitution and bylaws of the Southern Baptist Convention as a victory for women in ministry. The day prior to this amendment failing to get its required two-thirds majority at two subsequent conventions, over 85% of the gathered messengers from the churches voted to expel the historic First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia from the denomination because it has ordained several women to the ministry over the course of the past 50 years, has three ordained women who serve as pastors on its staff currently, and told the credentials committee, who sent representatives to question them, that if the opportunity came up for them to call a female senior pastor, they would do so without hesitation.
And so, out the door they went, a historic church whose founding pre-dates the Southern Baptist Convention's founding in 1845 by almost a hundred years, because they disagree with the current version of the Baptist Faith and Message when it comes to the gender of who God can call as a pastor.
Then, the next day, the same convention body failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority for a second year in a row to pass an amendment that would codify the dismissal of churches on this basis, making it an ecclesiastical interference into the affairs of a local, independent, autonomous church. The credentials committee and convention ballot process already does this, on this specific issue, but putting it in the constitution would have made it more difficult to amend, as more and more Baptists seem to recognize a better historical and contextual way to interpret scripture than the literal nit-picking which led to this prohibition.
It's Not All Good News; Southern Baptists Fail to Achieve Forward Progress in Resolving Their Sexual Abuse Scandal
In this same denomination, where there were no qualms about violating local church autonomy to prevent women from being ordained and serving as pastors, no solution could be found to put practices in place which would prevent sexual abuse from occurring in local churches and in denominational entities. Very little concern was expressed for the multiple victims of sexual abuse that has occurred at the hands of pastors, church leaders and denominational employees in what is as widespread of a problem as the Catholic church has been dealing with for decades. The biggest problems for those who addressed the issue seem to be the extent of legal liability that the denomination or its entities might assume, and the cost of insurance premiums and lawsuits and litigation that might result from abuse.
The task forces and investigations that have been done since the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News exposed the scandal, even though their evidence was found among those already adjudicated for abuse instances in a limited geographic area, have cost a lot of money, eaten through reserve funds that belonged to its executive committee and stressed the resources of a denomination that has seen a 25% decline in membership and attendance over the past couple of decades. But even though there's a reason for the concern, the manner in which many of the victims of the scandal have been treated, when they should have been supported, prayed for, and experienced the kind of ministering spirit expected from a Christian denomination, speaks volumes about where this group of Evangelical Christians has landed ideologically.
There have been those who have suggested that a lot of this is just some kind of satanic attack on the SBC, to slow it down and prevent its evangelistic outreach from advancing. The fact that this isn't taken seriously, that it got bogged down in denominational bureaucracy and that the "independence and autonomy" of local churches became the obstacle to action is inexcusable. Among the many problems that the Southern Baptists resolve with the use of task forces, they seem to be stymied and at a complete loss as to how to deal with this issue.
Personally, I think their failure to deal with this particular issue stems from their perspective of women in general. They get hung up by their literal interpretation and application of an ancient biblical text, including the cultural norms of the day in which it was written also being considered as authoritative to interpreting and practicing the principle, and as a result, their treatment of and perspective of women fails to consider them as equal to men. Their "equal but with different roles" argument doesn't really support the "equal" part. And that's one of the main reasons why they're struggling with this.
An Interesting Divide
Three years ago, influenced heavily by perspectives from the extremist, right wing political faction of Trump, a small group of pastors formed the Conservative Baptist Network, following the defeat of a more conservative candidate for the denominational presidency. Their anger and wrath was directed mainly at Dr. Russell Moore, then executive director of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, because he was openly anti-Trump, which is a position consistent with Christian faith and practice. The bottom line was that they were looking to tighten the relationship between far right wing extremism in politics to the denomination.
Since that time, only one of the candidates they have endorsed for office, a minor vice-president position, has won an election. All of their other endorsees have been defeated, their recommendations and resolutions have been turned aside and they have become somewhat obscure, as their funding has dried up. I would not interpret that as a sign that the SBC is becoming more moderate, because what remains is ultra-conservative doctrinally and in practice. What is also present is a resistance to seeing the denominational structure itself get too wrapped up in secular politics. A majority of Southern Baptists are Trump supporters, and blind to the fact that goes against the Christian gospel, but they are not willing to let their denomination be turned into a political action committee.
At least, not yet.
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