The Nashville Scene Plays To It’s Audience With Hit Piece On Southern Baptists
First off, the story Nashville Scene staff writer Elizabeth Ulrich details in this article is very moving and sad. But the writer uses the story to paint a false picture of Southern Baptists. That isn’t surprising, by the way.
First off, the writer doesn’t seem to understand the Southern Baptist Convention and the autonomy of every single congregation. She does mention it in her article, but she doesn’t really get it. She appears to have this image of the SBC as something similar to the Catholic Church or any number of mainline protestant denominations. But the Southern Baptist Convention is nothing like that. All it is really, is a collection of independent congregations with like minded beliefs and traditions, that come together for the purpose of missions. There is no large central governing body of the Southern Baptists. The convention is merely a meeting of independent congregation’s representatives. Everyone is elected.
Put simply, the SBC as a governing body has no power, due to the fact that the governing body does not even exist.
My main criticism of her hit piece though is stuff like this:
The scourge of sex abuse within churches belonging to Nashville’s SBC has been well documented, though the denomination continues to ignore, and in some cases deny, the problem.
Well documented? You mean, you don’t have to provide any documentation? You just say it has been well documented and that is it?
The article is pure garbage. But like I said, the fact that it was written in a piece of excrement like the Nashville Scene and that Liz Garrigan would brag on it, doesn’t surprise me.
Don’t expect any upcoming articles about how much time and money that Southern Baptists spent helping Katrina victims, tornado victims, or even 9/11 victims. No, but when an extreme minority that belongs to the denomination, commits sins, rest assured that Ms. Liz will be right there to point out the hypocrisy of all.
[…] Glen Dean describes why he would label the Nashville Scene story is a hit piece. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to […]
Yes, and I thought it was some sloppy reasoning for her to extrapolate numbers from a poll about sex abuse incidents in all non-Protestant to conclude that sex abuse was rampant in the SBC, which happens to be the largest non-Protestant faith demographic. Unlike some others, I would posit that moral failings are less tolerated in SBC churches. They’re not known for their permissivism, moral relativism or moral laxity.
glen, you mention the state of the convention not having any real power over the individual congregations. now that may be true, but in the perception of the greater population that just isn’t true. it is the same as saying that Church of Christ is a denomination, people in the CoC will defend that there is not a denomination, but common’ you are. the convention might not have power, but that hasn’t stopped them from making proclamations for all their churches to live up too (boycotting disney comes to mind). just that sole act evokes the perception, which i was always told is 99% truth, that the sbc has controlling powers over their congregations. also the fact that there are other baptist churches that do not fit within the sbc reflect that there is some power that keeps out all that claim the baptist name.
maybe it’s poor reporting, but whether she said it this way or another. people are still going to read into it all that sbc has power or authority over it’s participating congregations and should make/take action.
i say this knowing too that my denomination works or believes in the power of the local church & we too collect together to support missions/education/etc. but when we have had issues you can bet that the whole church is affected.
Gavin, I am sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about here. Nothing that is voted on at the Convention has any authority. None. All they do is vote on resolutions, which have about as much meaning as a Congressional Resolution. Nobody was forced to stay away from Disney World, or be kicked out. I attended several SBC churches during that period and every one of them joked in the pulpit about that boycott and how they went to Disney World anyway. All it is is an association of like minded congregations. Obviously a congregation that didn’t agree with the SBC is not a like minded congregation. You wouldn’t join a club of people you had nothing in common with, would you? There is no “boss” over these churches. The Deacons and the Pastor are considered to be servants. The Deacons are elected and the pastor serves at the will of the congregation. They, and they alone, have the power to ask him to leave. They, being the congregation, are the ones who hired him. Perception is not reality. Perception is something created by things like this shoddy hit piece and the minds of others who grew up in other denominations like the UMC or Episcopals. Gavin, bless your heart my friend, but you have absolutely no clue about what you are talking about here.
Let me add one more thing Gavin. You said,
In an SBC church, the “we” is the autonomous congregation itself, not the “church as a whole”. There is no such thing as the “church as a whole” in regards to Southern Baptist. When a Baptist preacher uses an all encompassing term like “God’s church”, he is not referring to just people who worship with the Baptist tradition, but all Christians of all denominations, including Catholic and Orthodox, basically anybody belonging to a church that believes in the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, and his death and resurrection.
Oh, come on, the whole idea of being united but autonomous is used to protect the body as a whole from legal responsibility in such cases. when “one of the flock” goes astray, the assembly want to easily disavow any relationship with it. that is the ‘christian spirit’ isn’t it.
Kevin, why are you so angry and cynical? I mean seriously, what happened to you that made you this way? May you find love and happiness one day.
What’s Richard Land do, then?
Land is not actually the President anymore. But the national convention has a role in running the seminaries they own, as well as organizing missions and things like disaster relief. They also are a spokesman, more than anything. Being democratically elected, much like candidates at political conventions, they represent the views of the majority. But the Baptist Faith and Message or anything that the convention agrees on in principle has no authority over any congregations. For example, most Southern Baptists believe women should not preach, but there are still a few autonomous churches that have female pastors. Even the most conservative congregations though, still respect and associate with female ministers of other denominations, specifically the Methodists.