Broadway Baptist, The Southern Baptist Convention, Racism, and Praying For Barack Obama To Die

I'm taking a break from the normal Sunday programming.
See the little "search blog" field in the top left corner? People are wearing it out, wanting info on Broadway -Baptist -Southern -Baptist -Brett -Younger -Gays -Lesbians -Church -Directory -Ousted -Convention.
People are sending me emails about this piece in yesterday's Star-Telegram.
I've sworn off of this before, but here goes....

This Star-Telegram article deals with three issues that the Southern Baptist Convention will be dealing with next week: 1) A proclamation heralding Obama's election as a sign of racial progress, 2) my own Broadway Baptist Church, and 3) a former 2nd Veep of the Southern Baptist Convention who is praying for Obama to die.

I'll try to tie all of this stuff together into a neat package at the end of the post.

Fort Worth's Broadway Baptist, Obama's election on Baptists' agenda
By JIM JONES
Special to the Star-Telegram

An effort to expel Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist Church from the denomination because of its stances on homosexuality and an Arlington pastor’s proclamation of President Barack Obama’s election as a milestone of racial progress will be considered at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention.

This is why I've started telling people that I was raised as a Moonie. Or a Scientologist, or a Druid. Anything less embarrassing than Southern Baptist.




The Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington, who says he is a "Bible conservative Republican," can’t imagine fellow Baptists not approving his resolution on "Barack Hussein Obama and Racial Reconciliation" at their meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Louisville, Ky.
"If Baptists don’t approve this, it will render their 1995 apology for racism hollow, and mean we still have a huge problem with race," said McKissic, pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington. "This is not about Obama’s politics. It’s about America itself. It’s about fulfilling Martin Luther King’s dream that we judge a man by the competency of his character and not by the color of his skin."

(Ahem....throat clearing and stammering....) Dr. King's quote is about "the content of character", not the "competency of character". Please continue.

His resolution says Obama’s election "provides a new opportunity for people of faith to facilitate racial reconciliation and heal the wounds and scars of the past." It urges Obama "to promote liberty and justice for all people, including the unborn."

Ok, so we have a resolution in place where we will congratulate ourselves for electing an African American president. Please stay with me. I'm going somewhere with this.

Broadway Baptist

....Convention delegates are also expected to decide whether one of Fort Worth’s most venerable congregations, Broadway Baptist, remains in the denomination.
The Rev. Bob Sanderson of Wendell, N.C., criticized Broadway’s stands on homosexuality at last year’s convention and urged that the church be declared "not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention."

It's not "Bob Sanderson" who did this, but Bill Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church. The Star-Telegram is suffering from budget cuts, and this mistake is understandable.
Soon after Brother Bill pulled this stunt, I went to the Hephzibah Church website and explained to Brother Bill that I've known 3 people with his level of homophobia, and that two of them eventually came out of the closet.

Immediately afterwards, Hephzibah Baptist Church took down the Comments section of their website. I continue to hope that Brother Bill is examining his heart.

The matter arose after Broadway members debated whether to allow photographs of same-sex couples in a church directory. The photographs were rejected in favor of group pictures.


A church statements says that one reason for not allowing photographs of gay couples was to emphasize that the church is in line with the Baptist constitution, which does not include churches that "affirm, approve or endorse" homosexual behavior.

As far as I know, Broadway doesn't affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior. Or heterosexual behavior. Or any sexual behavior. I don't think we've ever had a meeting where we affirmed The Missionary Position, Coitus Interruptus, Birth Control, or even Old Testament-style Circumcision.

Broadway has been linked with the Southern Baptist Convention for 127 years, but many of its members support an alternative moderate convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The Baptist Executive Committee will meet Monday and recommend whether Broadway should continue as a cooperating member. A final decision will be made by a vote on the convention floor.

Obama

In contrast to McKissic’s resolution on Obama, the Rev. Wiley Drake of Buena Park, Calif., who was elected second vice president of the convention in 2006, has stirred controversy by saying he is praying that Obama will die unless he repents.
For more details on Brother Wiley, plus the subject of "imprecatory prayer" and my rant on various preachers "praying for Obama to die", you can hit the link.

The remarks were made June 1 on Alan Colmes’ show on Fox News Radio. Drake, an Obama critic known for his headline-grabbing resolutions at Baptist conventions, said he had voiced "imprecatory prayers" against Obama. Imprecatory prayers are based on Psalm 109, in which the Psalmist prays against an enemy, stating, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow."
Several Southern Baptist leaders, including McKissic, have repudiated Drake’s statements. They’ve also criticized Drake for declaring that he had voiced similar prayers against Dr. George Tiller, the abortion doctor who was shot to death May 31 while attending church in Wichita, Kan.
"What Drake says is deplorable and despicable," McKissic said. "Nobody who believes in the Bible ought to advocate that position."

Well, this guy thinks otherwise, and lays out a boatload of examples of imprecatory prayers from the Bible, plus this one from another notable source:

We should pray that our enemies be converted and become our friends, and if not, that their doing and designing be bound to fail and have no success and that their persons perish rather than the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ.
- Martin Luther

Wow.
That's the big picture for the Southern Baptists next week at their annual meeting in Louisville. It should be interesting.
So what does all this mean? And why did you read this far? Thanks for your patience. I'm getting there.
We Southern Baptists don't have a good record on race relations. Why? Well, the Bible tells me that's how it ought to be.
We've used the Bible to justify slavery. Hit the link to read excerpts from "Noah's Curse", a book on how Americans used scripture to justify owning others. Here's Jefferson Davis on the subject:

(slavery) was established by decree of Almighty God... it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation... it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.

We've used the Bible to justify racism. Ever heard of "The Chosen People"? If you still don't believe me, just ask a Canaanite. If you can find one who was allowed to live.
Today, the overwhelming majority of us are offended by these attitudes. So we have re-interpreted the scriptures in question, re-upholstered them, had them taxidermied, mounted them on the wall, and given them new symbolic meanings. Good for us. Let the resolutions congratulating ourselves for electing a black president roll forth.
Next, here are a few of the comments about homosexuality, from readers of the Star-Telegram article:

I don't know much about ""imprecatory prayers", but I do know it is fine to pray that the righteousness of His word be upheld and vindicated; and His word says, in at least 33 separate and distinct locations in both old and new books, that homosexual acts are a sin and an obomination....

and:

The Bible specifically addresses the issues that are on the table against BB as SIN! However in this age of tolerance and compromise, ala Pres.Obama, I can see why BB would chose to avoid scripture and follow the culture of a vocal miniority.

I wish I'd written this one:

Fatwas: They're not just for Muslims any more !

Can we now agree that parts of the Bible really do condemn homosexuality, just like other parts of the Bible really did condemn wearing clothing from multiple fabrics, eating shellfish, and gathering firewood on the Sabbath ?
Just like other parts of the Bible justify slavery and racism?
Within 50 years, Baptists will look back on their gay-bashing ancestors in the same way we now look back on slave owners and segregationists. First, we will re-interpret the Bible to fit reality. Then we will pat ourselves on the back, issue proclamations apologizing for homophobia, and pretend that we have always been leaders in The Tolerance Parade.
One other thing....Broadway Baptist Church gives out food and clothing to the homeless. They give people shelter on the coldest and hottest Texas nights. What does it mean if the Southern Baptist Convention kicks out Broadway Baptist Church but doesn't kick out Reverend Wiley "I pray that Obama dies" Drake ???
They're going to use scripture to justify prejudice against gays and lesbians, apologize for using scripture to justify prejudice against African-Americans, and then ignore the scriptures that justify praying for the death of a president.

Picture of the T-shirt I want for my birthday came from here. The Brokeback Pastors pic came from here, and requires some context (hope you guys aren't upset).