A Libertarian Hymn

I made it to Broadway Baptist Church for their pre-Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday night. I've been taking an extended leave of absence from BBC for about 6 months now, but when I do stick my nose back in the door, there's usually something to surprise or inspire me.
My friend Dr. Ralph, agent provocateur of this site, was also there. Go here for The Doctor's Thanksgiving post. We tried to sit and eat together, but higher authorities intervened.

This is the hymn that the music ministry folks chose to end the service. As soon as I read the words, I stuck the text into my pocket....please pay particular attention to the second verse:

Praise God for the harvest of orchard and field,
praise God for the people who gather their yield,
the long hours of labour, the skills of a team,
the patience of science, the power of machine.

Praise God for the harvest that comes from afar,
from market and harbour, the sea and the shore:
foods packed and transported, and gathered and grown
by God-given neighbours, unseen and unknown.

Praise God for the harvest that's quarried and mined,
then sifted, and smelted, or shaped and refined:
for oil and for iron, for copper and coal,
praise God, who in love has provided them all.

Praise God for the harvest of science and skill,
the urge to discover, create and fulfil:
for dreams and inventions that promise to gain
a future more hopeful, a world more humane.

Praise God for the harvest of mercy and love
from leaders and peoples who struggle and serve
for patience and kindness, that all may be led
to freedom and justice, and all may be fed.

That's the version found at hymnsUK.com , anyway. My instinct lately has been to trust the British versions of everything.
Dr. Ralph found me as we were leaving. "That was quite a libertarian hymn," he said, and I wholeheartedly agreed.
If you don't understand the point I'm trying to make, hit some of the links. I can't believe someone actually wrote a hymn that 's good enough to cause Dr Ralph to stop twirling his villain moustache and take notice.
Verse two stands alone nicely, no links required. A song in praise of Supply Chain Management.

....foods packed and transported, and gathered and grown
by God-given neighbours, unseen and unknown.

If you're still unclear on the concept, here's The Boston Globe's token libertarian, Jeff Jacoby, explaining why we should be grateful for a certain economic principle which, if you live in the U.S., allowed you to eat some turkey sometime this week:

The activities of countless people over the course of many months had to be intricately choreographed and precisely timed, so that when you showed up to buy a fresh Thanksgiving turkey, there would be one -- or more likely, a few dozen -- waiting. The level of coordination that was required to pull it off is mind-boggling. But what is even more mind-boggling is this: No one coordinated it.

No turkey czar sat in a command post somewhere, consulting a master plan and issuing orders. No one forced people to cooperate for your benefit. And yet they did cooperate. When you arrived at the supermarket, your turkey was there. You didn't have to do anything but show up to buy it. If that isn't a miracle, what should we call it?

Adam Smith called it "the invisible hand" -- the mysterious power that leads innumerable people, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many. Out of the seeming chaos of millions of uncoordinated private transactions emerges the spontaneous order of the market. Free human beings freely interact, and the result is an array of goods and services more immense than the human mind can comprehend. No dictator, no bureaucracy, no supercomputer plans it in advance. Indeed, the more an economy is planned, the more it is plagued by shortages, dislocation, and failure.

It is commonplace to speak of seeing God's signature in the intricacy of a spider's web or the animation of a beehive. But they pale in comparison to the kaleidoscopic energy and productivity of the free market. If it is a blessing from Heaven when seeds are transformed into grain, how much more of a blessing is it when our private, voluntary exchanges are transformed - without our ever intending it - into prosperity, innovation, and growth?

Well said, Mr. Jacoby. Here's one last verse for that hymn; this one composed by Yours Truly. I don't think it's going to appear in a hymnal any time soon....


Praise God for our system of sweet Liberty,
The framework of freedom which feeds you and me.
Praise God for the scholars and writers who've shown
More people can prosper if just left alone.

Broadway Baptist Church Chapel Choir Not Welcome In Kentucky

At the last minute, the Southern Baptists Of Kentucky have formally disinvited my church's youth choir from performing or working in their state. The kids were going there on a choir tour and mission project to fix up low-income housing in Appalachia.

Let me give you some background:

The Broadway Baptist Church Chapel Choir is a world-class choral group. These kids are good.
They've sung the National Anthem at I-don't-know-how-many Big League baseball games. They've sung in the National Cathedral. I think they've done a 4th of July concert at Pearl Harbor.
They don't just sing. When they go on choir tours each summer, at least one week of the trip is spent on a mission project. Sometimes it's a Habitat For Humanity house, sometimes it's remodeling other low-income housing, and sometimes it's doing fixup projects on Indian reservations.
The Aggie is a 6-year veteran of these trips and projects, so she can now hang sheetrock and particle board like a pro.

The choir was going to stay at Kentucky's Cumberland University for a week or so during this year's choir tour and mission trip, working with a University housing program called Mountain Outreach. Think Habitat For Humanity in Appalachia.

Here's a link from the College, now known as University Of The Cumberlands, about a previous Broadway Baptist Youth trip back in 2005 when they helped Mountain Outreach build a home for a low income family. (Something tells me that this link might be taken down by the end of the day, so I'm saving it here, just in case.)

It looked like a good relationship, but that was then and this is now.

The kids have now been officially disinvited. The contact person called with the news yesterday, wanting to give plenty of notice. The kids were supposed to leave on the trip in less than a week. Not only that, but several of the Kentucky churches where they were scheduled to sing have also cancelled performances. Why?

It is because our church welcomes gay and lesbian people. (This recently got us kicked out of The Southern Baptist Convention, which you can read about by going here, reading my rant, and then clicking "previous post" and repeating until your eyes bleed.)

The University Of The Cumberlands has the right to invite and disinvite whoever they choose. Perhaps Sixteen-year-old Singing Sheetrockers are a legitimate threat to the doctrinal purity of The University. But they've invited all sorts of people to speak on campus recently. This is from Cumberland's Wikipedia entry:

The university has in recent years, through its Forcht Group of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Leadership, brought several notable guests to speak on campus. In the spring of 2006, in a "Moral Leadership" program, Roy Moore, the so-called "Ten Commandments judge" spoke at the school, and in March 2007, in a "Patriotic Leadership" program, the university hosted Zell Miller, former governor of Georgia and United States Senator. The April 2008 program featured bestselling author Stephen Covey in a "Principle Centered Leadership" program, while the April 2009 program featured Ben Stein in a "21st Century Leadership" program.

This diverse group of speakers was apparently acceptable for the doctrinal purists at the University Of The Cumberlands. So let's look at them one by one.

1) Here's Georgia Democrat senator Zell Miller, speaking at the 2004 Republican National Convention. (He changed sides back when it was fashionable.) Baptists reading this are probably familiar with the apostle Paul's "Roll Call Of Faith". Well, go to the 1:03 mark in this video to hear Zell Miller's "Roll Call Of Funding".

I'll let the rest of the speech stand alone, after asking the brief question "Who Would Jesus Bomb"?


I bet Zell doesn't go to church with any Gays or Lesbians. I'm just sayin'....

2) One of the other guys they've invited to speak is Ben Stein. I like Mr. Stein a lot, and wish I could've been at the University Of The Cumberlands to hear him. I think he's a brilliant economist, a good actor, and he was a fun game show host. His monthly column in The American Spectator gets sorta sentimental, but I read it all the same.
There's just one little problem if you're going to invite Ben Stein to speak at University Of The Cumberlands, but then disinvite The Broadway Baptist Church Chapel Choir because of religious differences....

It's not something I have a problem with, and Broadway Baptist Church sure doesn't have a problem with it because we've often held services with the synagogue next door.

I hate to bring this up, but Ben Stein is Jewish, AND HE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN THE DIVINITY OF JESUS ! ! !

I REPEAT, THE GUEST SPEAKER FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP PROGRAM HAS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY REJECTED CHRIST ! ! ! (Is this clear? The Broadway Baptist Church Chapel Choir calls itself "Christian". Ben Stein makes no such claim.)

Oh well. Mr. Stein's views on gays and lesbians must have been acceptable to Cumberland. First things first.

3) Then there's Stephen R. Covey, author of "7 Habits Of Highly Effective People". Covey is a great speaker and "7 Habits" is a great book.

But for the doctrinal nit-pickers, there should've been a glaring problem with Covey. He believes that Joseph Smith found some golden tablets in upstate New York, put on some magic Ray-bans, and used them to translate The Book Of Mormon into a bad imitation of King James English. Yep. Covey is a Mormon. He also believes in wearing the holy undergarments at all times, and he believes that an old guy in Salt Lake City is a prophet.
Another dirty little secret.... Mormons dance. Enough said.
Mormons are acceptable to the University Of The Cumberlands. Sixteen-year-old Baptist kids who want to help build low-income housing in Appalachia (and who, for the most part, accept gays and lesbians) are not permitted.
4) Last, we have judge Roy Moore, the famous Alabama judge who displayed a 5,300 pound monument to The Ten Commandments inside his courthouse - a clear violation of the separation of church and state principle.
All the members of the Broadway Baptist Chapel Choir are sane and in their right minds. The unfortunate Roy Moore is, in my opinion, click here to continue....
***********************************
I'm sure that some other churches will eventually come through with performance opportunities for the kids. Give them a gym floor to sleep on for a week anywhere near a Habitat For Humanity project, and you'll be amazed at what they can do. Shunning these kids is a huge black eye for the University, Southern Baptists, and a loss to whoever would've been helped on the mission project.
The University Of The Cumberlands upholds a religious standard that allows them to tolerate Georgia Turncoat Politicians, Brilliant Jewish Economists, Mormon Motivational Speakers, and Alabama Theocrat Judges.
But hosting tolerant Baptists teenagers? You've got to draw a line somewhere. What if it starts spreading?

Southern Baptists reject (Broadway Baptist) Church

This is from Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn's "Under God" feature in The Washington Post:

Southern Baptists Reject Church
The slowly shrinking Southern Baptist Convention voted on Tuesday to sever 125-year-old ties with a Texas church that allowed homosexual members to have their photos in the church directory.

The overwhelming majority of Southern Baptist church directories have photos of gays and lesbians. Ours is apparently the first one that anyone noticed. Note to Broadway Baptist Church members: Save your church directory ! I get a feeling it will be a collectible, just like Rosa Parks' bus seat.

Messengers (delegates) to the SBC's annual meeting voted overwhelmingly to disassociate from Forth Worth's Broadway Baptist Church, following an executive committee ruling Monday that the congregation "failed to establish its compliance" with the SBC rules that ban churches that "act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."

I'm delighted with this decision, but isn't "failure to establish compliance" kind of like "guilty until proven innocent" ? Just wondering.

According to the Associated Baptist Press, "it was the first time the SBC has ejected a church simply because denominational officials perceive that the congregation is in violation of a policy prohibiting affiliation with pro-gay churches."

(Sigh....) Once again, Broadway Baptist is not pro-gay. It isn't pro-straight. It's pro-tolerance, pro-ministry, and pro-King Ranch Casserole.

Since doctrinal conservatives took control of the Southern Baptist Convention in the early 1980s, the association has been getting smaller and more exclusive, at various times rejecting Baptist liberals and moderates, women clergy, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Mormons and Muslims and Jews, public schools and Walt Disney, and, in 1993, churches that are welcoming and affirming of gays.

Somewhere my friend Dr Ralph is gleefully rubbing his hands together and laughing. I now have something in common with Clinton, Carter, Mitt Romney, Osama Bin Laden, Rahm Emmanuel, and the public school system. We've all been condemned by the Southern Baptist Convention.

This year, for the fourth year in a row, Southern Baptist churches baptized fewer people than last year. The number of annual baptisms per church member -- a key indicator of church growth -- has dropped sharply in the past 50 years. Southern Baptists baptized one person for every 19 church members in 1950, a ratio that dropped to 1 baptism for every 47 church members in 2008. in Salt Lake City where th

I've been reading more and more about the Mormon concept of Baptism For The Dead. They do a ceremony at the temple in Salt Lake City where they baptize people as stand-ins for people who have already died. I don't know if it's effective, but it would help get the numbers back up.

Two years ago, then-SBC president Frank Page said the declining numbers can be blamed, in part, on a perception that Baptists are "mean-spirited, hurtful and angry people" and that the denomination has been known too much in recent years for "what we're against" than "what we're for," Page said.

But....but....but....why would anyone ever think that?

"Our culture is increasingly antagonistic and sometimes adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ. Sometimes that's our fault because we have not always presented a winsome Christian life that would engender trust and a desire on the part of many people to engage in a conversation on the Gospel," he said.

Gandhi said it better, and without any preacher-speak: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

"All Southern Baptists should recommit to a life of loving people and ministering to people without strings attached so people will be more open to hearing the Gospel message."
That's apparently the approach Broadway Baptist tried to take in 2007, when gay couples who were attending Broadway asked to have their portraits in the church directory. Rather than reject the request, the congregation voted to publish a directory with candid snapshots and group shots rather than with traditional individual or family photos.

That was just a compromise to keep the Southern Baptists in Nashville from running for the smelling salts and ammonia capsules in a homophobic panic. Now that they've kicked us out, in the next directory I want to be photographed with the cast and crew of "A Chorus Line".

"We are disappointed with the decision of the Southern Baptist Convention," said Kathy Madeja, the church's deacon chair, in a statement released shortly after Tuesday's vote. "Our mission at Broadway is and will continue to be consistent with the SBC's stated enterprise of reaching the world for Christ....

The Aggie and I are driving up I-35 toward Fort Worth as I'm writing this. The Aggie and I are fully agreed on this issue: Kathy Madeja is a great lady, a great deacon chair, and she has put up with more crap in the last two years than anyone should ever have to tolerate. Kathy is the best argument against the ridiculous prohibitions against female deacons in Southern Baptist churches.

"We do not believe Broadway has taken any action which would justify its being deemed not in friendly cooperation with the SBC. It is unfortunate that the Southern Baptist Convention decided otherwise and has severed its affiliation with Broadway Baptist Church."

Yeah, especially since we were the ones giving THEM money !

Broadway might not be the only Southern Baptist congregation facing an ouster this week. Influential Southern Baptist pastor and blogger Wade Burleson predicts that the Convention also will be asked to disassociate from First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., which recently called a woman to be its lead pastor. The SBC's Faith and Message, revised in 2000, clearly states that "the office of pastor is limited to men."

Go back to the first paragraphs about declining membership. Read them carefully. How many non-Christians do you know who would consider an organization that discriminates against women? Charlie Johnson, Broadway's interim pastor, predicts that women are going to dominate ministerial positions in the next 50 years. Why? 1) women are good at it, and 2) there's going to be a shortage of applicants. Charlie speaks the truth.

"The world may not understand our firm view on homosexuality. So be it," Burleson wrote. "But when half of conservative evangelical Christianity doesn't understand why we would disassociate from churches that call women as pastors, then we lose as a Convention. Let's debate the women in ministry issue. Let's disagree with one another amicably. But for heaven's sake, let's not make fools of ourselves by equating women preaching the gospel with homosexual sin."

It's a little late for that.

Ok, here's the best quote of the entire piece. This is the zinger, and it's brilliant. If you're drinking Coke or coffee or water, put it down, swallow, and back away from your keyboard.

By the way, the theme for this year's Southern Baptist Convention: "Love Loud: Actions Speak Louder Than Words."

The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee has voted to cease its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church

This was posted on the Baptist Press website a few hours ago. Comments in italics are mine.

Southern Baptist EC recommends ceasing relationship with church over homosexuality
Posted on Jun 22, 2009 by Michael Foust
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee recommended in a unanimous vote Monday afternoon that the denomination cease its relationship with Broadway Baptist Church, a Fort Worth, Texas, congregation that has been the source of controversy over its stance on homosexuality.

The Executive Committee's recommendation will be considered by SBC messengers during the annual meeting Tuesday or Wednesday.

I know people whose parents wouldn't allow them to go to movies, because movies were "sinful".

At issue is whether the church is in violation of Article III of the SBC Constitution, which states that churches "which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior" are not in friendly cooperation. Broadway Baptist has approximately five open homosexual members, including two male couples, according to church leaders. Some of the homosexuals serve on church committees.

You may have heard of a dominoes game called "42". Baptists used to view card games as sinful. A couple of Texas kids were busted playing Whist back in 1887, and were punished by their parents. The parents didn't have any problem with dominoes, so the kids invented the game of 42.

The controversy over the church began last year when the question arose as to whether the homosexual couples should be pictured in a church directory. In the end, the church voted 294-182 to publish a directory without family portraits but with candid shots of members involved in various ministries and activities. The Executive Committee got involved after a messenger at the '08 SBC annual meeting made a motion that the convention declare Broadway Baptist not to be "in friendly cooperation" with the denomination. The motion was referred to the Executive Committee.

One of my grandmothers loved to play cards, especially Solitaire. This was back in the 1930's, when preachers went door to door, visiting their "flocks". My grandmother always wore an apron when she played solitaire. That way, if the preacher walked up on the porch and looked in through the screen door (this was pre-air conditioning), she could immediately rake all the cards from the table into her apron.

Various Executive Committee workgroups and subcommittees studied the issue during their September and February meetings but delayed action to further study the issue. Although members of Broadway Baptist appeared at the February meeting, none appeared at Monday's meeting. Some members of the workgroup and subcommittee said in February they would welcome a statement from the church on homosexuality so as to clarify its position on the issue. The church, though, chose not to pass any such statement.

Dancing used to be forbidden at Baptist universities. At Baylor University (in Texas), the ban wasn't lifted until 1996. When Baylor's president danced with his wife, it made the New York Times.
Stephen Wilson, a member of the Executive Committee and vice president for academic affairs at Mid-Continent University, emphasized to Baptist Press that the denomination encourages churches to reach out to people struggling with homosexuality. The issue with Broadway Baptist, though, is over a church allowing members who are homosexual and unrepentant.

When I was in college, I worked in at least one church that wouldn't allow divorced people to have their 2nd marriages performed in the church. The Bible is fairly clear on the issue of divorce.
So people would re-marry elsewhere, and then join the church. Dunno why the wanted to do so under those terms.

"If churches are ministering to homosexuals, they are doing nothing more than what our own convention's task force has asked us to do," Wilson told Baptist Press. "But in Broadway's case … the church was in effect saying that it was OK to have members who are open homosexuals."

Texas used to have "Blue Laws" - an elaborate legal code prohibiting certain items from being sold on Sundays. The intent was to shut down all commerce on Sundays, a clear violation of church/state separation, and in 2009 there are still a few remaining Sabbath prohibitions aimed at keeping the day semi-holy.
In 2009, there's not a Luby's Cafeteria in North America that doesn't have a customer surge immediately after church on Sundays.

The Executive Committee's recommendation says that the committee "recommends that the cooperative relationship between the Convention and the church cease, and that the church's messengers not be seated, until such time as the church unambiguously demonstrates its friendly cooperation with the Convention under Article III."

When Broadway Baptist Church built its magnificent French Gothic-style sanctuary in the 1950's, someone decided to portray the Seven Deadly Sins in the bottom of the east stained glass window. Seven is an odd number; therefore they needed another sin to balance the window. In the 1950's, alcohol was the Baptist 8th deadly sin. So along with the pig of gluttony, the fires of lust, the peacock of pride, etc., there is a bottle of bourbon (?) and a shot glass.

From casual observation in the year 2009, I only know three members of Broadway Baptist Church who do not drink at all. The rest of us wouldn't have turned down any of the wine at The Last Supper.

Wilson noted that some outside observers criticized the Executive Committee for delaying action at two previous meetings. He, though, said he had no regrets and that "it has always been our hope there could be reconciliation."

In the Baptist churches where I grew up, women weren't allowed to be deacons. In most of today's Baptist churches....oh, wait.....never mind. (Broadway has women deacons, BTW.)

"This was not a rush to judgment. We actually wanted -- from the bottom of my heart -- for this to be resolved by the local church where the convention wouldn't have to be involved in any way," said Wilson, who serves as chairman of a workgroup that studied the issue. "… I think [in February] there was a feeling that maybe this could be solved without having to go through the step that we had to do today."

That church where I worked during college had a minister that I respected a lot. But he once told me that he didn't approve of any contemporary or pop-style music in church because its roots were in .... Africa.

The church's interim pastor, Charles Johnson, appeared before an Executive Committee workgroup at February's meeting. Since then, the church has called a new pastor, Brent Beasley.
I used to live next door to an old guy named Mr. Nichols who came to Texas in a wagon train in the late 1800's. Fascinating old man. He mowed his own yard until I took over the job. He would never let me mow his yard (at no charge) on Sundays. He said "it just didn't look right". Many of you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Prior to the February meeting, the church sent a letter to the Executive Committee, which stated in part: "Broadway has never taken any church action to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior. Broadway Baptist Church considers itself to be in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention and has every intention of remaining so." It further stated, "While we extend Christian hospitality to everyone -- including homosexuals -- we do not endorse, approve, or affirm homosexual behavior."

But Wilson said the church's actions ran counter to what it claimed in the letter.

I remember when the Family Christian Stores retail chain decided to open for business on Sundays. The press release claimed that with so many churches operating their in-house bookstores on Sundays, they had to dishonor the Sabbath day in order to survive. Or something like that.

"[I]t was more from what they were actually doing in practice where the conflict was," Wilson said. "While they didn't officially endorse it, they were allowing members and also people in leadership that were homosexual."

I'm old enough to remember preachers who occasionally spoke about the old-time Calvinist doctrine of Infant Damnation. That is, if you have a child, even an infant, who dies without accepting Jesus as savior, the child goes to hell forever. (Mark Twain once quipped that the weather was "hotter than the Presbyterian Hell for dead babies".) Then some wimp invented an idea called "the age of accountability", a doctrine that gave the kid a free pass into heaven if he or she died young. I don't hear much about Infant Damnation any more.

David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, Texas, and president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, told BP he had hoped Broadway Baptist would do more to make clear it opposes homosexuality. He said he had discussions with church leaders and that his involvement was "more as a pastor than as the president" of the BGCT. Lowrie said he told church leadership "that they needed to take a step beyond just making a public declaration" in a letter.

Baptists used to have another doctrine called "the autonomy of the local church". It meant that each church answered only to God and no one else. I haven't heard much in the last few weeks about the autonomy of the local church.

"They needed to actually express those convictions in some practical way," he said. "They, for whatever reason, weren't able to do that. … I felt that there were things that they could have done to minister to those within their church fellowship that struggled with those issues and other issues."

I know some of the gay members of Broadway Baptist Church. I don't think they struggle any longer with the way that God, or heredity, or environment, made them. They seem reasonably content with it. That's just my opinion, and no one else's. I've intentionally highlighted the word "struggle" in this post. It's almost like the author can't admit there are people who are "homosexual", the way other people are redheaded or left-handed. He has to say THOSE WHO STRUGGLE WITH HOMOSEXUALITY. Not "homosexuals".

He said he thought a ministry within the church to help people with "unhealthy lifestyles" would have helped clarify the matter.

Within the gay and lesbian community, these are called "re-closeting ministries". I think that's one of the funniest phrases I've ever heard.

The pastor who led the church during the church directory controversy -- Brett Younger -- resigned in June 2008 to take a position at McAfee School of Theology in Georgia. He left the church after a vote to oust him failed, 68-32 percent. But the desire by some to remove Younger had less to do with the issue of homosexuality and more to do with a host of other issues, church members said.

None of these issues concerned playing cards, going to movies, dancing, alcohol, remembering the Sabbath Day and keeping it holy, divorce, or infant damnation.

Younger seemingly approved of the acceptance of homosexuality in church life. He delivered a sermon Dec. 2, 2007, explaining both sides of the debate over whether homosexuality is a sin. In the end, he said, God's people will "serve together in the unity of God's diversity."

A damning statement if I ever heard one. As if God tolerates anything like diversity. God's people, and God's doctrines, are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Always have been the same, and always will be the same.

Michael Foust is an assistant editor of Baptist Press. And in 20 years, he's going to be embarrassed by this article.

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).

The Preacher's Story

This is The Preacher's Story, from RealLivePreacher.com

It's one of the most brutally honest Loss Of Faith stories I've ever read. I hope you'll read it, and then get back to me.

This guy recently spoke at my own Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX.

If you've ever felt the same way as the guy in The Preacher's Story link, come see us.

Speaking of what to do with changing faith....Starting January 4th, we're going to be reading Bishop John Shelby Spong's "Why Christianity Must Change Or Die" at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Every Sunday mornings in January at 9:30 a.m., room 306, at 305 West Broadway, Fort Worth TX.

Check out the Spong link too. Look at the customer reviews. 99 of the reviewers give the book 5 stars, and 63 people give it only one star. Read a few of each variety (you can click on the star chart to read only the Raves or only the Rotten Tomatoes). Ask yourself what kind of people you'd want to hang out with for an hour on Sunday morning, and then come see us.

John Shelby Spong and The Invention Of Hell

Here's my all-time favorite theologian, the retired episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ, speaking on "Hell as an invention of the church".



If this video makes sense to you, or if you want to learn more, or if you feel that the faith of your childhood was just a bit oversold ? Or if you want to get down to what Jesus probably taught, before Paul, the church, and anyone who felt like writing a Gospel got hold of his Jesus' life story? John Spong is your man.
We're going to be discussing Bishop Spong's book "Why Christianity Much Change Or Die" starting January 4th, 2009, Sunday mornings at 9:30, room 306, Broadway Baptist Church, 305 West Broadway, Fort Worth, TX.

Broadway Baptist Church Might Be Ousted ! ! !

My home church, Broadway Baptist, is in the news again. It's never going to end. My friend Gary alerted me to this jewel on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website:

Resolution at Southern Baptist Convention seeks Fort Worth church's ouster

To my friend David M., Please make note of the word "ouster"....

By TERRY LEE GOODRICH

A North Carolina pastor has recommended that Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth be ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention, saying it encourages homosexuality.

Ousted. There it is again. Ousted. You start using a new word regularly for the first time, and it appears everywhere. (Inside joke....my friend David M. recently did an audio/video presentation about our former pastor, Dr. Brett Younger, and his appearances in newspaper headlines and internet posts. The word "ousted" was quite popular. Click here for recent details. )

Back to the bidness at hand. Broadway Baptist Church encourages homesexuality? Like, in experimental classes? During communion? Field trips to Pier One Imports? Let's read on.

The proposed resolution, made Tuesday at the SBC’s annual meeting in Indianapolis. was referred to an executive committee which will bring back a report at the 2009 meeting in Kentucky.

For those unfamiliar with the Southern Baptist Convention, it's the baptist group that split off from the northern baptists shortly before the Civil War, primarily because the yankees didn't want southern missionaries to carry their slaves with them on mission trips. This, of course, was intolerable interference from the yankees.

Punting awkward resolutions to a committee is a time-honored technique most often used when leadership determines that somebody is making resolutions just to get his name in the paper.

Wait a minute....??? I didn't even know Broadway was in the Southern Baptist Convention....I thought we left it years ago to join the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or some grouping like that. Isn't this like closing the barn door after the horses have run off?

The action stemmed from a controversy at Broadway over whether gay and lesbian couples could be pictured together in the church directory. In February, to get beyond the divisive issue, the congregation voted to publish a book without individual or family portraits — and with candid snapshots instead. Several gay couples had asked earlier to have their portraits appear.

I thought it was a good compromise. Broadway is going for a very big tent. And speaking of big tents, that Southern Baptist tent? It has lots and lots and lots of gays and lesbians in it. Encouraged or not, they're in there.

The Reverend Bill Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C., declined to answer questions in a phone call from the Star-Telegram.

But Reverend Bill Sanderson of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C. didn't hesitate to speak from inside the relatively small convention tent in Indianapolis.

If you want to know more about this guy, here's his website.

Here's a video of Rev. Bill. .

Officials with Broadway could not be reached immediately to comment.

Officials? Officials? Hey, we're the real baptists. We don't need no stinkin' officials. We're all about concepts like Autonomy Of The Local Church, and Priesthood Of The Believer. (Click here if you're unfamiliar with the concept. Read what the guy says, imagine strongly disagreeing with him, and you'll know where I'm coming from....)

So I'll make an un-official comment that might work until a more qualified commenter comes along:

(Ahem....) I am deeply, deeply saddened that a sister baptist church would try to gain attention and notoriety by making a resolution to remove my church from the Southern Baptist Convention, the organization that brought us The Disney Boycott, Subjugation of Women, Bailey Smith, and the Jimmy Carter presidency.

A Visual Metaphor

Fort Worth residents might recognize this as the interior of Broadway Baptist Church. We're trying to repair some things, close some ruptures, and firm up our foundation.
Doing so has made it necessary to bring in additional support.

Photography by DG.

Brett Younger Is Leaving Broadway Baptist

The Star-Telegram is saying that Reverend Brett Younger is leaving Broadway Baptist Church, the church where I've been a member for a couple of decades.

I can't blame him. He's resigning at Broadway to teach at an Angel Factory in Georgia called the McAfee School of Theology. (Hat Tip to Doug Dickens for the phrase "Angel Factory" in reference to Seminaries and Divinity Schools.)

If you're new to this site click here and then do some Googling. You'll get the picture.

Here's something Brett emailed me when I asked him about going to hear Bruce Springsteen in Dallas. Good stuff.
He wrote it for the church newsletter.

Wouldn't it be great if every preacher, priest, rabbi and Imam saw the rest of the world this way?

Do you think that Iraq, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Iran, Tupelo Mississippi, and The Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints' YFZ Ranch would be more pleasant if that were the case?

Here's a Springsteen lyric from a song called "Reason To Believe". It's on the Nebraska CD, which for my money is the best album ever recorded by a Yankee.

There's nothing on it but Bruce Springsteen, his acoustic guitar, and a harmonica.

A man is standin' over a dead dog that's lyin' by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled, pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open, he's standin' out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough, that dog'd get up and run....
It struck me kinda funny, seemed kinda funny sir to me,
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe.

So good luck, Brett, and good luck to whoever is next in line to poke us with a stick.
Sometimes, if you stand there long enough, we do get up and run.
I promise.

So ... who's in your church's directory?

I sent this to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week. They ran it as an editorial.

Star-Telegram.com: 11/30/2007 So ... who's in your church's directory?

So ... who's in your church's directory?
Broadway Baptist Church is putting together a directory for its 125th anniversary. Photos of member families were to be included. Some same-sex couples -- members of the Fort Worth congregation -- made appointments to be photographed together but were told they could not.
This has caused some controversy about same-sex couples within a Christian community. We church members will vote on the issue Sunday.

Some of our members believe that homosexuality is a sin, and to include committed same-sex couples as a family in the church directory is to approve of their lifestyle.

Other members welcome same-sex couples and gay or lesbian individuals to participate in leading, teaching, serving and tithing. They believe that there is a legitimate conflict between homosexuality and interpretations of Scripture that condemn it. But they prefer a "don't ask, don't tell" approach, and allowing committed same-sex members to be photographed together for the directory would be too highly visible.

Still other members just wish these issues would go away. They wish that God had created everyone with the same orientation: political, spiritual and sexual. They see the directory conflict as embarrassing, a distraction from the church's mission. They would prefer to focus on the hungry people to be fed, cold people to be clothed and lonely people to be comforted. These Broadway members perceive our directory dispute as a waste of emotion, time and resources.

A final group, which includes me, sees this as an opportunity for inclusion: In Christ, there is no black or white, rich or poor, Gentile or Jew, gay or straight. This is an opportunity for a Baptist church to be among the first to get something right.

Each group is composed of good people who want to do the best they can, in light of what they know.
Jesus made a consistent practice of not turning away anyone -- the diseased, the outcast, tax collectors or sinners. "If you've done it for the least of these, you've done it for me," was his memorable phrase. All four strongly committed groups of Christians in Broadway Baptist Church want to emulate his love, his outreach and his understanding.

But enough about Broadway Baptist. Let's talk about your church.

A recent Star-Telegram article reported that Fort Worth is home to 10 times as many same-sex couples as it was 16 years ago. Other statistics report that gays and lesbians make up as much as 5 percent of the population, spread out across all neighborhoods, professions, income levels and faiths. If your church has more than 100 members, some are probably gay or lesbian.

Congregations such as those in the Metropolitan Community Church provide some of the only outlets for openly gay and lesbian people to worship. Scant few other mainstream Protestant denominations allow gays and lesbians to be who God made them.

Some people believe that sexual orientation is a choice and therefore, according to one interpretation of Scripture, a sin.

I don't know a single person who chose to be heterosexual, nor do I know anyone who would choose the (now diminishing) shame, ridicule and ostracism associated with being openly gay or lesbian.
Within 20 years, most Christian denominations will accept openly gay members. Society is accepting openly gay and lesbian people, and the church will follow that trend or become increasingly irrelevant.

Regardless of how Broadway Baptist votes, I believe that I will see the following within my lifetime:
More theologians will become embarrassed by the church's prejudice and discrimination. Scriptures will be re-interpreted.

Sermons will claim that the church should be open to gays and lesbians.

We will then claim that we were instrumental in the liberation of gays and lesbians and were never really opposed to it.

That has been the pattern with slavery, women's rights and civil rights. We could belabor the point by pointing out that the church tried to suppress scientific truths about the movement, shape and age of Earth, all with biblical justification.

I cannot believe that the Creator of the universe made "defective" people for the purpose of condemning them for their defects. God is bigger than we can possibly imagine -- big enough to create everything we see around us. God is big enough to be in all of us.

I just hope that our church directories are big enough for God.
***********************************
Prior to our meeting that Sunday, the church asked that all non-members from the news media leave the room, stating that The Deacon Chair would make a short summary of the meeting available afterwards. I'll post a link to this summary as soon as it's published elsewhere.

My 17-year-old daughter made a point of finding me prior to the meeting so she could sit beside me. (Publishing this for all the world to see has caused some controversy....)

"I don't think you should be sitting by yourself, Dad," she said. "I want everybody to see that I've got your back."

That's how you know you've raised your kid right ! ! !