Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Progressive Baptist, R.I.P.

My friend J.C., over at The Progressive Baptist, has decided to become an Episcopalian. The Progressive Baptist website is now inactive.

This bombshell has been enough to throw my "Spiritual Advisors" blogroll (lower, and to the right) into a state of upheaval. I need someone to act as a firm counter-balance to all the other spiritual flamethrowers included in that category. There's one guy named Stylos that I like, mostly because he's a good writer, has a sense of history, and allows all sorts of opposing views to be posted on his site. Rare for a Baptist minister. BigDaddyWeave is really close to J.C. politically and theologically, and he interned with Congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis. But he's only 24. Plus, BDWeave thinks I'm "off my rocker" for considering Marcus Borg a mainstream protestant.


This has gotten me thinking about Baptists and politics. You could make the case that the Baptist emphasis on Priesthood of The Believer, Autonomy of The Local Church, and our distrust of hierarchy combine to make Baptists the most Libertarian Christian denomination. (I mean this in the traditional Baptist sense, not in the current Religious Right/Washington lobbyist/Richard Land sense....)

Enough about my problems. J.C. is the one with problems. When J.C. goes over to the Episcopalians, he's going to be the most conservative person in the room ! ! ! It's going to make him nuts ! ! !

So what should The Progressive Baptist call his new blog? The Reactionary Anglican? The Right Wing Episcopalian? The Conservative Lite Catholic?

Please advise....
R.I.P. logo from Metal Archives
Update from 3-2-08....You can view The Formerly Progressive Baptist's, soon to be Typical Episcopalian's response to these questions by clicking here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://jcbaker.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/being-episcopal-makes-me-conservative/

GrEaT sAtAn'S gIrLfRiEnD said...

Devil's Advocate here: Well, no surprise. The Bible says in the last days there shall be a great turning away.

Essentially, Xians tend to believe like Hebrews says "Jesus Christ - the same yesterday, today and forever" For those who prefer the KJV and all that implies - perhaps they view folks that tend to change or seek out ear tickling may in fact prove that it may not be about eternal truths at all - it may be just about them.