The Florida Baptist Witness has published a story announcing that Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is withdrawing from participation in the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant.
Huckabee says it was to protest Carter's harsh critique of President Bush. Anyone who knows the heat that SBC leaders put on those who cross their political lines, knows that the heat in the SBC kitchen got too hot for Huckabee.
There has been no dialogue within the Southern Baptist Convention for more than 28 years. They want the microphone all to themselves and they are known for cutting it off whenever anyone raises a voice in dissent.
Now we will see if the heat gets too hot for Graham, Grassley and the SBC bloggers who met with Carter and Underwood last week.
6 comments:
Can a man be seriously considered for President of the United States when he seems to lack the fortitude to stand up to criticism for talking to people of different convictions within his own faith?
Could such a man be expected to lead the country in difficult diplomacy with other nations and in negotiations with people of other faiths?
Coleman,
This meeting was planned to be a bi-partisan meeting of Baptist leaders and laymen from the beginning.
The SBC and the GOP have a vested interest in preserving the impression that Baptists and the GOP are one and the same.
Those concerned about keeping church and state separate have an interest in making sure that Baptists speak to all political parties and are not aligned with any.
In my opinion, we are facing the same situation that we faced when the fundamentalists took over the SBC. If we don't organize and speak out to preserve our values, they will be lost. When we do organize and speak out, we are accused of engaging in politics.
There is no way to avoid criticism on this. Either it is right to try to unify Baptists or it is wrong. Each man or woman will have to pick his own position.
Coleman,
The meeting was never a platform for presidential candidates to woo moderate Baptists. Huckabee is the only presidential candidate who was invited. He was invited to speak about initiatives he made on behalf of children while he was Governor of Arkansas.
The meeting has always been about themes in Christ's sermon to his hometown in Luke 4:18-19.
Unity for the New Baptist Covenant organizers has always been about unity in service -- not uniformity of belief or of organization. Serving Christ together ought to be a non-partisan issue.
If unifying around service to Christ is not non-partisan, it is because Huckabee and Southern Baptists insist on enforcing their dogmatic beliefs on all other Baptists and the entire nation.
I overstated when I called it a forum for presidential candidates, so I apologize for that. But my main point stands - the roster of speakers is loaded with political figures, and that's a problem.
Gathering different groups of Baptists to talk and plan ways to work together is wonderful; I'm glad it's being done and I hope to participate. However, it's reasonable to question what's being given priority and whether political figures are the ones who can best understand or address the issues raised by Jesus' sermon. Further, the impression is that we Baptists can agree to talk about politics but we have to keep the theology that divides us off the table. Those "dogmas" should be addressed precisely because in doing so our life and work together would benefit.
Thanks for the comments.
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