It is hard to say which better illustrates the machinations of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting: the fact that the nation’s largest Protestant denomination decided this week to laud radio gabber Laura Schlessinger for her stand against homosexuality or what it decided to omit from its Dr. Laura laurels.
In its original form, the resolution would have commissioned a letter commending Dr. Laura “on her courageous stand for Judeo-Christian principles, in her work.”
When the resolution came up for discussion, however, some speakers questioned just how strong her Judeo-Christian credentials really were, while at least a few delegates quietly implied that her principles were too Judeo and not Christian enough.
So, in the end, the resolution was amended to say it more plainly: The Southern Baptists appreciate Dr. Laura as an ally in their battle against cultural acceptance of homosexuality.
Those who are familiar with less democratic religious organizations, or groups whose governance focuses primarily on internal issues, might puzzle at the whole idea of issuing symbolic pats and slaps and nudges to society from the podium of a denominational meeting.
Others might wonder that the Southern Baptist Convention, which so self-consciously stands in opposition to secular culture, should suddenly delve into pop media reviews — something like a nutritionist spontaneously recommending a favorite brand of bon-bons.
But the provision that allows any of the 11,000 delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention to present a resolution or motion on almost any topic imaginable offers a fascinating window on the thinking of rank-and-file members of the denomination, or at least those comfortable enough with the national leadership to attend the annual meeting.
Some of the resolutions are deadly serious, such as the statement approved Wednesday that supported the use of capital punishment with a variety of biblical citations, at a time when virtually all other major religious organizations in the country have either condemned the death penalty or remained silent.
“Since the [Southern Baptist] convention had a more liberal drift in the ’60s, it was important for our now predominantly conservative convention to speak clearly and without stuttering on an issue that is grabbing many of today’s headlines,” said Rev. Hayes Wicker, a pastor from Naples, Fla., who oversaw the disposition of resolutions this week.
The denomination also passed resolutions condemning religious persecution in China and Sudan, trafficking in human fetal tissue and the “judicial oppression of the Boy Scouts of America.”
But other resolutions took on less weighty matters. On Wednesday, without discussion, the denomination officially supported society’s continued use of the calendar conventions B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini, or year of the Lord) rather than the academic alternatives b.c.e (before common era) and c.e. (common era). Call it a pre-emptive strike.
Some motions never make it to the floor. Perhaps fired by the Holy Spirit, one delegate suggested adding Pentecost to the official denominational calendar — a motion referred to committee for further study. In the same vein, another delegate wanted to officially mark on the church calendar the day of Christ’s ascension, a suggestion that had such a strong whiff of Catholicism to one delegate that he grumbled, “Next they’ll want to put Mardi Gras on the calendar.”
Still another delegate wanted not only to rename Easter, but to have the denomination repent en masse for its former use of “Easter, the name of a pagan goddess.” That one died in committee, likely to be resurrected next year, as in each of the past few years.
More Top Picks Ping Pongs
Discussion on those resolutions that did reach the floor often centered on unexpected questions.
One successful resolution, “On the Threat of New Age Globalism,” for instance, wrapped up sexual mores, children’s rights, international economics, governmental sovereignty and United Nations troop deployment in one sweeping package.
Debate, however, centered not on the merits of greater fluidity of the world’s resources or the balance of war and peace, but on a clause that instructed, “Whereas the Holy Scriptures have given us the example of Nimrod at the Tower of Babel to show God’s displeasure with man’s idea of one-world government …” Turns out, after some dispute, that Nimrod was not at the Tower of Babel, and in the end, he was not in the resolution either.
Many of these motions come from a single source, Rev. Wiley Drake of Buena Park, Calif., a one-man opinion factory who has become something of a Southern Baptist legend. Among Drake’s most deeply held views is a distaste for fellow Southern Baptist Bill Clinton, whom he has chastised in at least one proposed resolution for each of the president’s years in office.
As in past years, Drake’s motion on Clinton this year did not pass. But the Southern Baptist Convention’s outgoing president, Paige Patterson, did note in the waning moments of the annual meeting, “We always say we’re going to pray for [Clinton], and then I fear sometimes we are hypocrites, and we do not pray for him.”
So with the strength of numbers and without a note of irony or ungenerosity, the Southern Baptists prayed for Clinton, just as they have prayed for Hindus, Jews, Muslims, secular journalists and a whole world full of people with whom they disagree, but for whom they never lose hope.
———-
E-mail [email protected]