DENOMINATION REPORT
The route to San Antonio from Houston is less than four hours by car, but in terms of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) history, the journey took a decade.
Beginning with the 1979 SBC meeting in Houston and ending June 14–16 at the so-called second battle of the Alamo in San Antonio, SBC conservatives completed a ten-year campaign to regain control of their 14.7 million-member denomination.
In a contest considered by rival factions in the convention to be a watershed, conservatives got almost everything they wanted. However, their candidate for the SBC presidency, Jerry Vines, a Jacksonville, Florida, pastor, won by one of the narrowest margins in SBC history: 50.5 percent—15,804 votes—over the moderates’ choice, Richard Jackson, a Phoenix, Arizona, pastor, who gained 15,112 votes, or 48.3 percent. It was not a stunning mandate for either side.
Theologically, the candidates were indistinguishable. Both are inerrantists: people who believe the Bible is without error. However, conservatives believe the Bible is without error in matters of science, history, faith, and revelation. Moderates believe the Bible must be understood in the context of its historical setting and the limited world views of its writers.
During the 1970s, conservatives began suspecting the moderate point of view was being taught in certain SBC seminaries. Their alarms helped set attendance records at conventions in recent years, though the turnout of 32,436 messengers in San Antonio was lower than projected. In addition to the moderate-conservative struggle, Baptists went to San Antonio concerned about a drop in baptisms during the previous year and the lowest gain in denominational growth since 1937.
Non-Baptist Baptists?
Next to the presidency, the vote that galled moderates the most was a resolution based on Hebrews 13:17 that put limitations on a classic Protestant concept, “the priesthood of the believer,” which assigns equal authority to clergy and laity. The convention declared that “misunderstanding and abuse” of the doctrine had undermined the authority of pastors over their congregations.
This prompted sharp protests from moderates, who charged it betrayed a principle of the Reformation, which rejected clerical domination by the Roman Catholic Church. Frustrated, 200 moderates marched to the Alamo site, about one block away from the convention center, and tore up copies of the resolution.
“This was the most non-Baptist, most heretical resolution ever adopted by a Southern Baptist Convention,” said Randall Lolley, who last October resigned his presidency of Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, because of pressure from conservatives.
“We’re moving more toward where the Catholic has been” said Winfred Moore, moderate leader from Amarillo, Texas. “That wouldn’t sell very well in the panhandle of Texas.”
Like falling dominoes, other conservative resolutions passed one by one:
• The convention approved a 1988–89 budget of $145.6 million, up $5.6 million from this year’s, which included increases for all church agencies except the controversial Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. When conservatives moved to cut $48,000—about 11 percent of the budget—from the Joint Committee, which is a Washington-based church-state watchdog, moderates made a motion to restore the funds plus grant the Joint Committee a 4.25 percent budget increase. The motion failed and the budget was cut. Conservatives have long been unhappy with the Joint Committee because of its refusal to back public-school prayer and because its director, James Dunn, once served on the board of People for the American Way.
• A moderate-backed minority report was defeated that would have substituted a slate of moderate candidates to serve on 20 Southern Baptist seminary and organization boards in place of the more conservative lineup proposed by the Committee on Nominations. Through a succession of conservative presidents beginning in 1979, conservatives have gradually brought this vast network of denominational operations under their control. A slate of 140 mostly conservative trustees was approved in San Antonio.
• Southern Baptists adopted their most stinging condemnation of homosexuality, calling it “a perversion of divine standards” and a “violation of nature and natural affections.” It blamed homosexuality for the spread of AIDS and called it a “deviant behavior [that] has wrought havoc in the lives of millions.”
Deep Divisions
The SBC Peace Committee, set up in 1985 to settle the prolonged denominational conflict, was disbanded in spite of the tensions that still remain. Committee chairman Charles Fuller criticized moderates and conservatives for disregarding the committee’s request to cease politicking.
Texans dominated the convention, beginning the night before the presidential election when a conservative candidate, Ralph Smith of Austin, overwhelmingly defeated his moderate challenger, Paul Powell of Tyler, for the presidency of the Pastor’s Conference. George Bush was to have addressed the pastors, but insiders said he was disinvited by the conservatives for fear of political ramifications. That same night, W. A. Criswell of Dallas, the elder statesman of Baptist conservatives, lashed out at the SBC television special on him aired this spring and said that moderates were liberals in disguise. “However,” he said as moderates seethed, “a skunk by another name still stinks.”
John Bisagno, pastor of the 20,000-member First Baptist Church of Houston, saw little progress coming out of Vines’s election. The SBC, he said, “is divided more than ever. It’s more polarized and entrenched than it’s ever been.” Two months earlier, Bisagno pled for a compromise candidate to be selected as president. This fell on deaf ears because many suspected that Bisagno had himself in mind. “I planted a seed,” Bisagno said. “Maybe it’ll happen later.”
However, minutes after the presidential vote, a grinning Paige Patterson, who is president of the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies in Dallas and a conservative leader, informed reporters that the future looks bright for Southern Baptists. “The course correction has been complete,” he said. “Controversies don’t go on forever.”
Moderates predict the fragmentation will continue, and Winfred Moore says moderates will once again try to topple the conservatives when the SBC meets next year in Las Vegas. Chances are, he said, that a neutral candidate would not do the trick. “My grandfather used to tell me there isn’t anything in the middle of the road cept a yellow line and dead possums.”
By Julia Duin in San Antonio.
North American Scene
gay rights
Gays Force Publisher Out
A newspaper publisher in Dayton, Ohio, was fired recently because he refused to allow his paper to accept advertising from a local homosexual group. The action prompted widespread demonstrations of support for the publisher from the Dayton Christian community.
Dennis Shere, who served as publisher of the Dayton Daily News, had previously banned advertising for escort services, and severely restricted advertising for adult movie theaters. But when homosexuals demonstrated to protest his ban of their advertisement, David E. Easterly, president of Cox Newspapers Chain, decided Shere had gone too far.
“In this case, Dennis discriminated against a group of people,” said Easterly. “He has every right to judge the content of an ad, but we cannot ban certain people from advertising.”
Shere believes homosexual activity is “contrary to the lifestyle God has ordained and society upholds,” and that running the ad would suggest the newspaper promotes unacceptable behavior.
Shere was given the option of remaining as publisher if he would change his position. “My conscience and concern for this community would not allow me to compromise on this issue,” he said.
MEDICAL ETHICS
Doctors Weigh Euthanasia
A recent survey found that Catholic physicians in Colorado are less willing to aid in euthanasia than their Protestant or Jewish colleagues. Among physicians who have cared for patients whom they believed were candidates for euthanasia, 48 percent of Catholic doctors said they would administer a lethal drug in such cases if it were legal, according to a study by the Center for Health Ethics and Policy of the University of Colorado at Denver. Fifty-eight percent of Protestant doctors and 62 percent of Jewish doctors said they would.
Four percent of the 2,218 doctors who responded (all 7,095 Colorado physicians were sent questionnaires) said they have assisted patients in stockpiling lethal doses of medication, aware that it might be used to commit suicide.
“Euthanasia is being practiced by decent professionals and supported by the affected patients,” said Fredrick Adams, an ethicist and one of the study’s researchers. “Yet, it is opposed by large numbers of good people.”
TELEVANGELISM
Fire Levels Tv Station
A Christian television station founded by Pentecostal evangelist Lester Sumrall sustained more than $3 million in damage in a fire last month. Yet within seven hours the South Bend, Indiana, station was back on the air using equipment stored at another church as well as other equipment loaned by local CBS and NBC affiliates.
“We are especially thankful that everyone who was at the studios got out of the building safely and that there were no injuries,” said Steven Sumrall, son of the evangelist and president of LeSEA Broadcasting. Firefighters from 21 companies fought the middle-of-the-night blaze. The elder Sumrall was en route to South Bend from Poland where his ministry is distributing 70 tons of food.
The station’s annual telethon was scheduled to begin the day of the fire. It went on the air as scheduled.
ECUMENISM
No Injuries At “Gathering”
Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals set aside their differences to meet in Arlington, Texas, for a “Gathering of Christians.” The 1,500 participants explored one another’s worship styles and cultural distinctions in an attempt to break down barriers that have traditionally separated the Christian faith.
“The fact that evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and members of the National Council of Churches’ (NCC) communions are here together is something to celebrate,” said Robert W. Neff, who chaired the special NCC panel that called for the Gathering three years ago.
Expressions of worship in music, dance, and sermons were offered from groups and individuals representing a cross section of Christian belief. Eastern College President Roberta Hestenes reminded participants that “the cross is God’s power for our powerlessness,” while sociologist Anthony Campolo warned against the misuse of power. “Nothing is more dangerous than religious people who exercise power and claim they are doing it for God,” he said.
NCC General Secretary Arie Brouwer commented on Texas as the site for such a gathering: “It was big enough for the Holy Spirit to blow through.”
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Briefly Noted
Died: Daniel Fuchs, 76, chairman of the board of Chosen People Ministries, formerly the American Board of Missions to the Jews. Fuchs, who served with Chosen People Ministries for over 50 years, helped pioneer the use of mass media to reach Jews with the gospel. Under his leadership, the ministry launched Jews for Jesus.
Olive Bertha Smith, one of the most-celebrated Southern Baptist missionaries, barely five months before her one-hundredth birthday. “Miss Bertha” served for 42 years in China and Taiwan, enduring wars, revolution, imprisonment, and poverty. After retirement in 1958, she began a nearly 30-year career as a speaker and conference leader.
World Scene
GREAT BRITAIN
Christians Stage Faith March
More than 55,000 Christians—twice the number expected—marched through London to demonstrate their faith in Christ. The May 21 “March for Jesus” began with a rally, then proceeded along a route past Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and Downing Street.
“God exceeded all our expectations, numerically and spiritually,” said Gerald Coates of the Pioneer Team, one of the march’s sponsoring organizations. “This day has given a lift to the spiritual state of the capital and the nation,” added British musician Graham Kendrick.
According to the organizers, the sole purpose of the march was to affirm faith in Christ. “It was literally a march proclaiming what Christians are for,” noted press officer Colin Moreton.
At 10 Downing Street, residence of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, organizers delivered a letter to Thatcher, pledging to continue working with the poor, the elderly, and AIDS victims.
Joining The Pioneer Team in planning the event were Ichthus Christian Fellowship and Youth With a Mission.
MIDDLE EAST
Israel Deports Awad
Mubarak Awad, the Palestinian-American Christian who has advocated nonviolent resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (CT, June 17, 1988, p. 72), was deported from Israel June 13. He says he will return to his homeland, however, even if it means converting to Judaism. Under the Israeli Law of Return, all Jews, including converted Jews, have the right to immigrate to Israel.
“If everything failed, I am willing to change my religion to become a Jew to prove that I want to go back to Jerusalem,” Awad told reporters at a June 14 press conference, adding that such a “conversion” would be no more than a political maneuver.
Awad is a naturalized American citizen born in Jerusalem. He and his wife, Ruth, attended the Friends Meeting (Quakers) in Ramallah, a city on the West Bank. Prior to being deported, he was held in jail without bond for 40 days after being arrested on an expired visa charge.
Before trying to find a rabbi who would help him in a conversion to Judaism, Awad will meet with congressional officials in Washington, D.C., to convince the U.S. to pressure Israel into allowing him to return.
WORLD HEALTH
Nations Address Aids
After five days in Stockholm discussing ways to combat AIDS, the 7,500 persons who gathered from around the world stood in silent tribute to the victims of the disease. “We owe a debt to our patients, our most important teachers,” Dr. Anthony J. Pinching, an AIDS expert, told the New York Times.
The meeting, considered the largest international gathering held on AIDS, produced no breakthroughs in treatment or cure. Instead, it focused on ways to consolidate the large amount of data accumulated since the first AIDS case was diagnosed in 1981. “This Stockholm conference stands as a symbol of the global will to solve the HIV/AIDS problems,” said Gertrude Sigurdsen, Swedish Health Minister.
A Belgian AIDS expert reported he has found what may be a third human AIDS virus. Most of the world’s AIDS cases are attributed to either HIV-1 or HIV-2. If further tests confirm the virus as a third strain, new AIDS tests might need to be developed to detect it.
NICARAGUA
Pastor Works For Peace
In spite of the on-again, off-again nature of peace talks in Nicaragua, a number of churches and individual Christians are trying to reconcile segments of that fractured Central American nation. United Methodist missionary Paul Jeffrey, in a report to the Religious News Service, says some of these efforts have met with success.
For example, Pedro Pablo Castillo, a former pastor from Managua, has been working with imprisoned national guardsmen of the former military dictator, Anastasio Somoza. A former lieutenant in Somoza’s regime, Castillo says about 1,500 prisoners have become Christians as a result of his efforts.
Other religious leaders are working through the local “peace committees” in rural areas. The commissions, organized in 1987 after the historic peace accord was signed by five Central American presidents, ceased to function later that year. With the signing of a cease-fire earlier this year, Baptist pastor Gustavo Parajón, one of four clergy members of a National Reconciliation Commission, challenged churches to reactivate the commissions. Earlier this year Parajón reported that 18 commissions had persuaded both sides to make concessions.
HAITI
Churches Face Voodoo
Christians in Haiti are not sure how the recent military coup will affect their work, but one thing is certain: They do not need another challenge. In addition to being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, about 40 percent of Haiti’s population practices voodoo.
After dictator Jean Claude Duvalier was ousted in 1986, a National Council of Reconciliation tried running the country. One of its actions was to grant voodoo official recognition. This allowed voodoo to be included in religious instruction in secondary schools.
According to a report issued by the World Evangelical Fellowship, evangelical pastors in Haiti have faced various forms of intimidation from voodoo practitioners during the past several months. Several have received threats by mail. One found gasoline and matches next to his car, along with a note warning him to stop opposing voodoo.
Evangelicals have been targeted because they insist that converts renounce all spiritist practices.
