The Southern Baptist Convention’s New Conservative Resurgence
March 8, 2017
We should have seen it coming. In the 1980s and 1990s a group of shrewd religious leaders organized a political takeover of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, in the name of "biblical orthodoxy." Based on a cardinal theological concept – biblical inerrancy – the movement came to be called – fondly by one side, not-so-fondly by the other – the Conservative Resurgence.
In the 2000s, the Conservative Resurgence began to coalesce into what was christened the Great Commission Resurgence under the leadership of then young leaders like Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of Lifeway Research. But now, just a decade or so later, baptisms and membership are in freefall, missionaries have been called home, and now prominent churches are withholding their financial support over concerns about the direction of the convention.
The concern of the holders of these purse strings is not the flagging Great Commission motivations within the convention. Their concern is that the leader of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, has publicly criticized Donald Trump.
As the 2016 presidential election unfolded, Moore emerged as a prophetic voice among evangelicals in the US, criticizing candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump alike.
That Moore, a Southern Baptist, would criticize the presidential nominee of the Democratic party wasn’t news at all, but his criticism of the Republican nominee was news indeed. Especially since other prominent Southern Baptists like Jack Graham, Robert Jeffress, and Ronnie Floyd lent their influence in support of Donald Trump, with the likes of evangelist Franklin Graham, pastor Paula White, and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. Come November 2016, evangelicals, including Southern Baptists, would support Trump—the incessantly lying, thrice-married-twice-divorced, p***y-grabbing (but purportedly newly converted) playboy—in numbers exceeding 80%.
It’s no surprise that a conservative Southern Baptist like Moore is willing to call evil evil. But when Trump became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, and Moore continued his criticism, that put him out on a surprisingly lonely limb. Pew reported on November 9 that Trump had garnered the votes of more than 80% of Moore’s fellow evangelicals, the vote traditionally identified with the “Christian Right” that emerged from Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” More evangelicals supported Trump than supported Romney, McCain, or Bush the younger.
In short, the Conservative Resurgence theological had effectively cleared the way for a Conservative Resurgence political.
Just as we must caveat that the first SBC resurgence was only so-called conservative in its thin theological polemics, the present resurgence is only so-called conservative in its appalling political polemics. To borrow the language of Republicans, these are Conservatives In Name Only. In the name of "conserving" tradition, these Southern Baptists conservatives made a calculated grab for power—first in SBC politics, now in US politics. In the name of "conserving" tradition, they actually betray their tradition.
For those in the SBC who willed a Great Commission Resurgence, the handwriting is on the wall. Those who wanted a convention defined by pursuit of God's kingdom are now challenged by those who are ready to betray the Convention (since the only real mechanism of the Convention's existence is Cooperative Program giving) in pursuit of earthly kingdoms.
Surely we should have seen it coming. With this recent political turn, it is all the more evident that the Conservative Resurgence wasn't about religion to begin with. Biblical orthodoxy and Donald Trump are two causes that couldn't have much less in common, which reveals that this really had and has very little to do with the Bible.
Instead it is evident that these religious leaders wish to baptize a particular culture, a particular way of life, a particular parochial power structure. We’ve seen religious leaders like this before – Jesus’ confrontations with them are a primary plot line in the Christian Gospels.
We mourn with those who wanted better for the SBC. We stand with those who are confident God's kingdom doesn't depend on political power plays.
In the 2000s, the Conservative Resurgence began to coalesce into what was christened the Great Commission Resurgence under the leadership of then young leaders like Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of Lifeway Research. But now, just a decade or so later, baptisms and membership are in freefall, missionaries have been called home, and now prominent churches are withholding their financial support over concerns about the direction of the convention.
The concern of the holders of these purse strings is not the flagging Great Commission motivations within the convention. Their concern is that the leader of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, has publicly criticized Donald Trump.
As the 2016 presidential election unfolded, Moore emerged as a prophetic voice among evangelicals in the US, criticizing candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump alike.
That Moore, a Southern Baptist, would criticize the presidential nominee of the Democratic party wasn’t news at all, but his criticism of the Republican nominee was news indeed. Especially since other prominent Southern Baptists like Jack Graham, Robert Jeffress, and Ronnie Floyd lent their influence in support of Donald Trump, with the likes of evangelist Franklin Graham, pastor Paula White, and Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. Come November 2016, evangelicals, including Southern Baptists, would support Trump—the incessantly lying, thrice-married-twice-divorced, p***y-grabbing (but purportedly newly converted) playboy—in numbers exceeding 80%.
It’s no surprise that a conservative Southern Baptist like Moore is willing to call evil evil. But when Trump became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, and Moore continued his criticism, that put him out on a surprisingly lonely limb. Pew reported on November 9 that Trump had garnered the votes of more than 80% of Moore’s fellow evangelicals, the vote traditionally identified with the “Christian Right” that emerged from Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” More evangelicals supported Trump than supported Romney, McCain, or Bush the younger.
In short, the Conservative Resurgence theological had effectively cleared the way for a Conservative Resurgence political.
Just as we must caveat that the first SBC resurgence was only so-called conservative in its thin theological polemics, the present resurgence is only so-called conservative in its appalling political polemics. To borrow the language of Republicans, these are Conservatives In Name Only. In the name of "conserving" tradition, these Southern Baptists conservatives made a calculated grab for power—first in SBC politics, now in US politics. In the name of "conserving" tradition, they actually betray their tradition.
For those in the SBC who willed a Great Commission Resurgence, the handwriting is on the wall. Those who wanted a convention defined by pursuit of God's kingdom are now challenged by those who are ready to betray the Convention (since the only real mechanism of the Convention's existence is Cooperative Program giving) in pursuit of earthly kingdoms.
Surely we should have seen it coming. With this recent political turn, it is all the more evident that the Conservative Resurgence wasn't about religion to begin with. Biblical orthodoxy and Donald Trump are two causes that couldn't have much less in common, which reveals that this really had and has very little to do with the Bible.
Instead it is evident that these religious leaders wish to baptize a particular culture, a particular way of life, a particular parochial power structure. We’ve seen religious leaders like this before – Jesus’ confrontations with them are a primary plot line in the Christian Gospels.
We mourn with those who wanted better for the SBC. We stand with those who are confident God's kingdom doesn't depend on political power plays.
