One SBC: Slightly Divided

June 20, 2011 by Douglas Baker

Continued from Page 1

History is replete with examples showing that the presence of political antagonisms cannot sustain long-term unity. Once-great churches and denominations that merely emphasized political issues to the exclusion of greater biblical and theological realities soon fractured under the pressure of political coercion. Peer pressure can easily conform the Christian message to political expediency, corroding the clear articulation of the Gospel. Washington is filled with "Christian" lobbying organizations where strong personalities shape theological issues into political platforms that often oversimplify the real and complex underlying concerns.

It is a dynamic that is difficult to spot in process. Only after organizations, movements, or institutions lie in ruins can the true causes be traced back to seminal moments in the lives of the leaders and followers who so forfeited the goal for the process that the process itself became the goal. When this finally happens, collapse is inevitable. As Williams' book reveals, Christian organizations and lobbyists that exclusively emphasize politics rather than theology can camouflage the real issues and drive them underground until all that is left is a brittle shell of unity that is easily cracked given the right (wrong) circumstances.

The challenge facing Southern Baptists is whether or not the internal political polity of the denomination can embrace a "blue state" reality without fracturing along the dividing lines of conservative political issues. Advancing the gospel, not proving conservatism, must be the goal.

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About Douglas Baker

Douglas E. Baker is the former Executive Editor of The Baptist Messenger, and serves now as Assistant to the Provost of Union University. Follow him via Twitter or Facebook.

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