Texas Baptists reject Christian nationalism in November resolution; affirm religious liberty

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/11/texas-baptists-reject-christian.html

The largest state-affiliated group in the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, with 1.7 million members, has rejected Christian nationalism in a resolution passed by messengers at their annual convention in Waco this month.

The resolution avoided using the specific term "Christian Nationalism,' but the content clearly rejected any of its tenets. It affirmed religious liberty and also condemned any government attempt to commandeer churches for secular purposes.

Some of the critics of the resolution, according to the report in the Baptist Standard, felt that the resolution should have called out Christian nationalism by name, citing examples from Germany in the 1930's when Pastor Dietrich Boenhoffer and other confessing Christians called out the Nazi movement by name. It was also noted that the resolution was introduced and supported by many younger pastors and church leaders. Supporters said the term was avoided to steer clear of politics, and focus on the mission and purpose of churches.

[Paladin]

1. I'll take what I can get, regarding proper behavior from that crowd.

Better-than-expected action from the Babtist General Convention of Texas.

[Runningdawg]

2. They're lying again - By their fruit you shall know them.

[phoenix75]

3. An interesting development indeed

but we shall see....

[republianmushroom]

5. you got it correct

[slightlv]

4. Add this to some of the Evangelicals

finally waking up to seeing they've been usurped.

Frankly, I hope they all go down into a wisp of smoke. But then, I'm not Christian, and I'm no being very charitable, period. But any group who says they have the ONLY way needs to go down, AFAIC. You're always bound to have trouble from them. In this day and age, with all the problems we have to confront and solve, we need solid free thinkers who are not bound by outdated modes of thought and belief. While I believe you must know where you come from to know where you're going, I also believe you must not be afraid to throw away the past for what can be the future. Churches are still too stuck in ancient thought to ever confront the evils at their door right now. Reading the "bible" literally doesn't help with modern problems. It's just like originalism and the Constitution. It ain't ever gonna work.

[steve.weinberg]

6. Religion still way too important to simply discard

Mightn’t we be better off urging all religious leaders to focus on the similarity in the core spirituality of all religions in addressing and dealing with the sublime mystery of existence and the commonality of all humankind in participating in the search for ways of coping with that mystery and not on their political or social agendas that emphasize differences between individual spiritual traditions? Can we call a truce from all efforts at conversion? Can we focus, instead, on deep religious cooperation and collaboration?

[marble falls]

8. Let's just get politics out of religion and get religion out of government.

[MicaelS]

9. 1960s Civils Rights Movement.

Plenty of religious leaders got involved.

[phoenix75]

10. In regard to the idea that religion is too important to discard,

may I share a quote from Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason":
"The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion."

[NewHendoLib]

11. why does cooperation and collaboration need religion?

Do you realize the horrors and loss of life through all humankind because of differences in beliefs?

[slightlv]

13. Once I walked away from the church,

I did just what you stated here... I call it a "seeker's path"... read everything I could get my hands on, especially from a historical perspective as well as religious texts. I felt it important to read the religious texts in relation to their cultural and historical contexts. Compare and contrast them with those I had studied prior, and kept that knowledge with others I studied going forward. My seeking was for "core truths"... I believe religion... or maybe it's spirituality, actually... can be a force for good. It's when you get man involved who's telling you what and how you must believe that you get into all kinds of corruption, IMO.

Someone in the thread mentioned the dangers of "revealed truth" and I agree with that statement, because generally that "revealed truth" is something that is simply imagined from an individual for personal power. It's the same way with with these intercessors. Individuals don't need interpreters for whatever they feel is "god." If they could get past that, we could maybe get into the religious cooperation and collaboration you speak of. Right now, the closest thing we have is the Interfaith Council, I believe.

That hardest nuts to crack is the "one true way-ism" religions. Right up their with the "revealed truths." All too power trippy. Once you have those, there's no compromise, let alone cooperation. It's their way - period. Unfortunately, that's what Christianity has devolved in to in the U.S. and in most of the world. There may be pockets of the old, where the "Word" is still recognized as the Feminine aspect of God, but I doubt there's many.

Personally, I like religion unorganized - even disorganized! I like personal spirituality - Seekers after Truth. I've never lost that curiosity, that "what binds us all" even to those ancient humans that looked to spirits to order the Universe before science was discovered.

[KS Toronado]

14. I like how you think!

[lees1975]

12. I agree with almost everything you say here, but you're painting with a broad brush.

Even in American history, the influence of Christianity--and that's an important phrase that I will return to in a moment--has sparked movements which did what Christianity was intended to do. There are a lot of solid, free thinkers in American Christianity, they're not the ones whose names are on everything, but they're there. The whole abolitionist movement was totally dependent on the support of Christians, not just lip service but they took action and when they were thwarted in the legislative process, they jumped in and kept going. A sizeable contribution to the abolition of slavery, and to the subsequent civil rights movement was made by African American Christians who took the lead.

You're right that it cannot be bound by outdated modes of thought and belief, or by a literal interpretation of the Bible or in a conflated relationship with the Republican party, or as a state church. Some have had to wake up to see that they've been used. But some of us were already woke, and I'm using that term deliberately. And we are working from the inside to try and make a difference, and achieve two things--the total preservation of the constitution's first amendment freedom of conscience, the establishment clause and the complete separation of church and state, and to neutralize, as much as possible, the influence and support given to extremists on the right wing of the GOP.

Read my blog, not just this post, but the other stuff I've posted there. It's all in a Christian context, and I think you'll see what I mean.
The Signal Press

[murielm99]

15. Thank you for this intelligent post.

[czarjak]

7. Sure they reject it. Like Robert Jeffress holding his nose and voting for the Mormon...

Because he hated the black guy? Way to keep that faith, Rev.