more on the clinton-carter initiative
January 13, 2007
Via Dallas Morning News writer Jeffery Weiss:
With all due respect to Dr. Wade…
Say this big meeting comes off and 20,000 Baptists come together next year. And several autonomous Baptists organizations decide to cooperate and pool resources to achieve specific common goals. How exactly is that different from the organization of the SBC?
There are symbolic reasons why this new body would never call itself a convention or a denomination. But Dr. Wade says he wants the new whatever-it-is to “express the heart of the Baptist vision” And Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University in Georgia, said that “North America desperately needs a true Baptist witness.”
Call it a convention, a covenant or a convocation. Call it a duck, if you like. How would it not be competing with the SBC?
On the other hand, if all that happens next year is a meeting — with no plans, cooperations or consequences emerging — then it won’t be a convention or a duck…
True: The resulting fruits of this meeting could be a more organized effort among a swath of Baptists-namely the North American Baptist Fellowship-to tackle issues of social justice.
True: By outward appearances, this potential of pooled resources could look alot like the SBC. But looks and officialism are two very different things. If they say they have no desire to be a convention, let’s take them at their word.
True: Not becoming a convention may be symbolic. Sometimes symbolism is good…
False: The idea that this convocation will compete with the SBC is a false assumption. How could a meeting that is designed to address poverty, the environment and global conflicts be considered competition to any organization?
So what is going on here?
It is as if Weiss thinks this is just window-dressing to a more subversive attempt to wrangle political power from the SBC. If that is true, he is walking on the thin ice of assumption.
I think we need to be careful of the verbiage. Again, let’s use a wait-and-see approach…
Posted in Christianity, news, politics, quotes of note, religion, social justice
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January 19th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Dr. Russell Moore, guest host of The Albert Mohler Program, did a show today on this issue. He had Tony Campolo and John Mercurio on to discuss this.
Campolo said that while he thinks this a good idea, it should have been raised by either Christian leaders who are in agreement upon the gospel and what it is and who Jesus is or by two political leaders of different parties. And since this is not centered around unity on Christ, Campolo said that this should be viewed as a new social movement, not a Christian movement.
John Mercurio is a politicla writer and said that this is way too politically charged. It is in the middle of the campaign season with Hilary Clinton running for president and evangelical Christians are becoming more open to the Democratic party.
You should check out the show at is trying to show that he isn’t a http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_list.php and click on “The Voodoo Ecumenism of Bill Clinton.” it was really good.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
[...] Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, two former Presidents of the US and are both Democrats, have created a new social initiative within the Christian church. Now this makes me uneasy because of how liberal these guys can be. For more info on the initiative and some Christian reaction, go see what Brad Andrews wrote at relevintage.com here and here. Dr. Russell Moore, who is filling in for the sick Dr. Albert Mohler on the Alber Mohler Program, tackled this issue today on the radio with guests Tony Campolo and John Mercurio. It was very interesting to hear the comments. [...]