Friday, June 19, 2009
Hargrove / Hicks From the Sticks Southern Baptist Conv. to Membership: Let's tone down the bigotry this year
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Has the undeniably white-bread nature of your average Southern Baptist congregation sown the seeds of its own demise by failing to reach out to minorities? Particularly at a time when the minorities are inching their way toward a majority?
We think so.
And, apparently, the Southern Baptist Convention leadership may be getting the idea. Because they've asked their membership to tone down the wedge issue rhetoric and focus on the bigger picture: Preventing the SBC from dwindling into irrelevancy. If it hasn't already.
Yes, in recent years we had a resolution to boycott Walt Disney Co. for offering domestic partner benefits to gay couples. Then there was the proscribing of women as pastors. And that wives need to "submit" to their husbands. You know, that whole misogyny thing? I guess this kind of anachronistic crap doesn't fly with everyone. So, best of luck, SBC. I grew up in a few of your churches.
And here I am.
Comments (14)
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Last time I stepped in a Southern Baptist church it was Mother's Day and the preacher was talking about abortion.
I won't be back. Ever.
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I grew up in a few SBC churches myself. If I was playing Password and wanted a word for SBC Churches then I would use Hypocrite.
I have not been inside of an SBC church in years and have no plans to ever go again. See the problem I had was every Sunday, when I came out of the church, I felt worse than when I went in.
sbc = southern bullshit convention
= shitty bible construers
= stupid brimstone counsel
= sucking bezelbub's c---... heh
I know the cross in that logo is supposed to resemble a star, but mostly it just seems really angular and angry. Dagger-like. They should let their kids go to secular colleges and take some desgin classes to fix that shit 'cause it's ugly, yo.
I don't believe that either theology or social ethics is the primary cause for the decline in SBC numbers any more than I believe evangelicals who claim that mainline denominations shrink because of "lax" theology or social ethics.
I tend to agree with sociologist Andrew Greeley, who concludes that family-planning and retention are the main variables in church growth and shrinkage. I would also add that conservatives are better at retaining followers because of the sweet multi-use facilities they build and pop culture trends they follow. Mainliners are less interested in such things.
The SBC's toning down the rhetoric is simply accommodation to the reality of declining birthrates, which is something Brantley does not engage above. They've been moving towards toning down for several years now. In fact, the SBC was hemorrhaging moderates (including their own universities) in the 1990s, a decade after the Fundies took over. So, they're just a little too late to stop the attrition caused by more conservatives practicing family planning 100 years after mainliners started.
I blogged my thoughts on the decline in evangelical numbers in 2005 when evangelical and mainline fertility rates were virtually identical after a century of mismatch: http://enclave-nashville.blogspot.com/2005/10/fertility-and-facilities-exploding.html
(Full disclosure: I am a recovering Southern Baptist and I wrote a Vandy dissertation touching on mainline vs. evangelical theological frameworks in social movements).
Oh, and I almost forgot, the actual numbers of Southern Baptist-affiliated individuals may have been artificially inflated in the 20th Century because re-baptisms have been counted along w/first time baptisms toward memberships. It is hard to get an accurate demographic after a century of SBC double-dipping: counting the re-baptism of adults who did not believe that their childhood baptism "took."
It is perhaps accurate to accuse the SBC of cooking their books than driving people away with extreme theology. Frankly, there is a huge subset of Americans drawn to extreme theology no matter who offers it.
Are all baptized counted as members, even children? Or counted by attending family members? I know absolutely zero about the nuts-and-bolts of chuchin'.
I am a Southern Baptist and I am not ashamed of it. I am a Christian first. I believe we are commanded to love our neighbor and I believe that does not mean that we accept lifestyle that is contrary to Gods law. I believe my first duty is to God. If I choose only to follow scripture that the world says is acceptable, then what value is the bible? Abortion is a sad sad thing and a sin. Homosexuality is a sin and I and every Christian has a duty to say that. I am a sinner and I have many things in my own life to work on, but I admit them, repent of them and strive to turn from them. Jesua said it himself, he is the only way to God. I know that he saved me, I could never do it on my own. Please read the scripture, make up your own mind, pray and trust God to lead you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that none should persish. He loves us but we have to make the decision to follow him, to ask him for forgiveness and accept him as lord and savior. God bless you all.
Do Southern Baptists believe in, and practice, infant baptism?
Some Southern Baptists have "Baby Dedication Sunday" for the parents to express a commitment to raise the child in whatever context the local church adheres to, but in general they reject infant baptism, because infants cannot express a basic comprehension of a "personal relationship with Jesus."
How are Southern Baptists hypocrites any more than anyone else going to any other church hypocrites?
All of us are less than perfect. All of us do things concerning which we might have cause to be ashamed. People who go to church are going to an institution that has aspirations regarding behavior and sin that are often at odds with their actual lives. This is a sign of them being human beings, not hypocrites. If you concentrate on the human foibles of the people who inhabit churches you are missing the point of church.
Of course, it could never be said of non believers that their aspirational standards were ever higher than their actual behavior, could it?
There is nothing wrong with being a non believer. There is something slightly . . . what is the word I am searching for here . . . hypocritical - about accusing others of less than perfect behavior when you are less than perfect yourself.
I disagree with Southern Baptist theology. At the same time I understand that they act upon their beliefs. Perhaps they are less than perfect. So are we all.
As to folks from the church roaming the streets to collect copies of the Scene; congratulations. You seem to have hit a sore spot.
As to folks collecting copies of the Scene, the Scene should be embarrassed. Time was when there were no copies of the Scene to be had by Friday afternoon.
