When Southern Baptists Were Pro-choice

[RainDog]

24. I never claimed they were liberal

You misunderstood what I wrote, apparently, and have responded on that basis. I'm talking about at the level of policy within the SBC - the things that were within a range of difference available - and that has changed, as this thread indicates with abortion and even with pronouncements about birth control and whether or not people can choose to be childless. They were never liberal. I detested them when I was a kid, even. I went to several different churches in Nashville and all of them were full of people who were in the power structure of the SBC, so I can state with some certainty that they were never liberal and I never stated they were. But they were more amenable to differences within a narrow range. The Youth Minister I mentioned, above, left Nashville and the church where I was because he thought it was too conservative - and yet he was not liberal - he just wasn't as far right as those taking power.

I ALWAYS thought southern baptists were conservative - they're just more extremist and vocal about it in the public sphere than before.

A lot of this has to do with the influence of Rushdoony, a presbyterian, who started the dominionist movement. The SBC didn't back the dominionist movement when it began and even Falwell distanced himself from it. But Rushdoony's ideas have had a lot of influence over people who call themselves conservative and religious - even when it deviates from the doctrine of their church.

And I know about the history of the separation of church and state/Danville Bapt. church letter from Washington, etc.

The difference is that there are multicultural voices in American society now, where previously there was a rigid (white) protestant control over power. The mainline churches - Episcopal, etc. were often the power holders in higher office across the land - and in southern states, too - because evangelicals didn't like the rulings Eisenhower made that desegregated the south - but even so, Epsc. etc. were in the "right camp" for Baptists (and other evangelicals, for that matter, tho, by the time I was reading my church library, Episcopals were excoriated for being too liberal and not evangelical in their faith.) Al Gore is a perfect example of this as a southern politician. By the time he ran for president, his state, home of the SBC, was so right wing he could not carry it, even tho he isn't exactly a screaming liberal himself.

So I am saying both the religious and the political have become more right wing for the SBC - and they have elided the "great commission" with some of Rushdoony's and Ted Cruz' dad's dominionism SIMPLY BECAUSE the power structure they want is crumbling. They are outside of the mainstream of American life. Prior to various rights movements, they were within the mainstream so they wanted no part in politics. Now they see their cherished hateful beliefs are challenged in the public sphere and they are fighting against this.

ah - eta - Jim Wallis is the name of the guy I was talking about before. I had to figure out a few ways to get his name - but that's the guy who has written about this stuff for HuffPo, etc. He calls himself an evangelical, but he was never a Baptist, but he has criticized the religious right from the basis of a shared evangelical faith.

I don't follow what the baptists are doing anymore and would never set foot in a SB church if I could avoid it. I detest them that much.

eta one last thing - as I initially noted - I compared Southern Baptists to the Republican Party. No one I know thinks the Republican Party is liberal - but it was not as hardline hateful as it is now - and the mindset of the Republican Party takeover reflects the mindset of the SBC takeover - which makes sense since the SBC is the largest denomimation in the biggest Republican region in the nation.