Memo From Middle America: It’s Time For The Southern Baptist Convention To Dissolve

06/22/2017

See, earlier, by Allan Wall: Southern Baptists–Worry Less About “Diversity” a.k.a. Bashing Whites, More About Saving Souls!

I’m not a Southern Baptist, but I am an evangelical Christian, a church deacon and a Bible class teacher. And I believe my National Question activism is perfectly compatible with Christianity. I respect the Southern Baptist denomination for the good work it’s done. But since the 1990s, its national leadership (=parasitical bureaucracy) has been on a crusade to remake the SBC, atone for its past and generally become more acceptable to the Political Class. My suggestion: the SBC is past its sell-by date. It should dissolve.

The SBC, representing the country’s largest Protestant denomination, faux-heroically condemned the Alt Right in a special resolution at its recent annual convention. The delegates (called “messengers”) got to feel good about themselves, although many didn’t know what the Alt Right was before they arrived.

It’s tempting to dismiss this as clueless virtue-signaling. But the internal politics of this effort and previous resolutions show a denomination in crisis — hopelessly unaware it will never be forgiven for its existence by the Main Stream Media and the multicultural Left.

As we are continuously reminded, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was formed in 1845 when southern Baptists separated from northern Baptists over the issue of whether slaveholders could be missionaries. Slavery was, of course, a common social arrangement of the time and could not have been abolished immediately without chaos.

Note that, although they permitted slavery, the Southern Baptists in 1845 did explicitly defend the humanity of nonwhites. Resolutions from 1845 state:

“That the Board of Domestic Missions be instructed to take all prudent measures, for the religious instruction of our colored population”. (Resolution on Colored Population)

and

“That the Aborigines of America, have strong claims on American Christians for the Gospel, and as the Indian Mission Association has been organized with special reference to their spiritual benefit, we recommend the churches to sustain that body with zeal and liberality”. (Resolution on Indians, SBC 1845)

Of course, the Southern Baptists of 1845 didn’t conform to current morality. Neither did many Christians of any stripe back then. Yet it is Southern Baptists who are told they must continuously grovel.

In 1995, the SBC observed its 150^th anniversary by apologizing with a resolution entitled “Resolution On Racial Reconciliation On The 150th Anniversary Of The Southern Baptist Convention.”

Though it didn’t totally condemn the denomination’s forebears, the SBC denounced “racism, in all its forms, as deplorable sin.” The SBC apologized to all African-Americans, lamented “historic acts of evil such as slavery,” and committed to “to eradicate racism in all its forms from Southern Baptist life and ministry.”

Of course, the resolution didn’t “resolve” anything. Instead, apologies kept coming.:

In 2007, the Southern Baptists denounced the Dred Scott Decision of 1857. It’s never too late for virtue-signaling!
In 2014, the SBC issued “On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act,” which “lament[ed] and repudiate[d] this nation’s long history of racial segregation as well as the complicity of Southern Baptists who resisted or opposed the dismantling of the evil of racial hierarchy in our churches or society.”
In 2015, a resolution grieved “over the presence of racism and the recent escalation of racial tension in our nation.”
In 2016, the SBC urged its members not to fly the Confederate Battle Flag. After all, Dylann Roof had one! “We call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African American brothers and sisters.”

You can see the pattern. But, needless to say, the MSM still negatively covers the SBC. For example, after the SBC condemned the Battle Flag, Salon still snarled, “The Southern Baptist Convention strikes a blow against racism, but still reaffirms anti-LGBT bigotry” [by Amanda Marcotte, June 16, 2016].

Honoring the now-yearly tradition, this year’s Alt-Right resolution was submitted by William Dwight McKissic, a black preacher from Arlington, Texas. McKissic (right) also submitted last year’s Confederate flag resolution — and supported Hillary Clinton for President.

McKissic’s original version called “white nationalism” a “growing menace” in the United States, which must be “opposed for the totalitarian impulses, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that infect the minds and actions of its violent disciples.”

One wonders if McKissic condemns violence in the black community.

Somewhat surprisingly, the committee dealing with resolutions originally rejected the measure for being poorly written and containing inappropriate language. But that wasn’t the end of it. During the two-day Annual Meeting, McKissic continued to campaign and received the help of Soros Evangelical Russell Moore.

Quoth Moore: "The alt-right isn’t just some sociological movement. The alt-right is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ and Satanic to the core. We need to be very clear on that.”

And Moore was quoted in The New York Times as declaring “a special responsibility to be aware of racial injustice because the SBC was founded on the basis of a defense of slaveholding”. [In Quick Reversal, Southern Baptists Denounce White Nationalists, by Jacey Fortin, June 15, 2017]

By the end of the Annual Meeting, the anti-Alt-Right proposal was overwhelmingly passed on the floor.

And how did the Mainstream Media respond?

With open contempt:

[A Major Christian Denomination Almost Passed Up An Opportunity To Condemn White Supremacy, by Antonia Blumberg, Huffington Post, June 15, 2017]
[Southern Baptists — once an overtly racist, pro-slavery group — declare war on white supremacy and the alt-right (subtitled “After 172 years, anti-racists appear to be winning the battle for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention”), Matthew Sheffield, Salon, June 16, 2017]
[A Resolution Condemning White Supremacy Causes Chaos at the Southern Baptist Convention Emma Green, The Atlantic June 14, 2017]
[After high drama, Southern Baptists denounce the 'Alt-Right',by Chris Moody, CNN, June 15,2017]
[Southern Baptist Convention Votes To Condemn White Supremacy, by Nathan Rott, NPR, June 14, 2017].
[Amid uproar, Southern Baptists condemn 'alt-right' movement by Rachel Zoll and Angie Wang, ABC, June 15, 2017]
[In Quick Reversal, Southern Baptists Denounce White Nationalists, By Jacey Fortin, New York Times, June 15, 2017]
[The Southern Baptist blowup over white supremacy, explained (Subtitled “Racism is hard to condemn, apparently”), by Jack Jenkins, Think Progress, June 15, 2017]

This last article ends:

“For now, though, at least the SBC leadership publicly agrees on one thing: white nationalism should be condemned. Well, eventually.”

Let’s look at this year’s SBC resolution, “On The Anti-Gospel Of Alt-Right White Supremacy,” in more detail. It began:

WHEREAS, Scripture teaches, “From one man [God] has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live” (Acts 17:26);

This verse is from St. Paul’s Address on Mars Hill in Athens, Acts 17:15-34. The Greek word in Acts 17:26 here translated “nationality,” is ἔθνος (ethnos), from which we derive our word “ethnic”.

But the verse says that God made all the ethnic groups and “determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.” It recognizes ethnic differentiation and borders. It’s thus curious the writers chose it.

Other Scriptures cited: two verses from Revelation which speak of the redeemed hailing “from every tribe and language and people and nation,” affirming there are “tribes, languages, peoples and nations.”

Again, curious the SBC Leftists chose these verses and missed the irony.

The SBC resolution alludes to the 1995 resolution repudiating slavery and racism, as well as other previous resolutions. After a whole list of whereases we get:

WHEREAS, Racism and white supremacy are, sadly, not extinct but present all over the world in various white supremacist movements, sometimes known as “white nationalism” or “alt-right”;

Typical of Leftists, the drafters are unscrupulously lumping many groups and movements together.

The drafters go on to say it’s impossible for anyone to be Alt Right and a Christian:

…the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 13–14, 2017, decry every form of racism, including alt-right white supremacy, as antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ;
and be it further RESOLVED, That we denounce and repudiate white supremacy and every form of racial and ethnic hatred as a scheme of the devil intended to bring suffering and division to our society;

(Needless to say, we never hear about anti-white hatred).

and be it further RESOLVED, That we acknowledge that we still must make progress in rooting out any remaining forms of intentional or unintentional racism in our midst;

This is out of the Leftist multicultural social engineering handbook. No matter how much “progress,” the social engineering never ends, and claims become ever more extreme. “Racism” used to mean concrete things like school segregation, but today it’s “structural racism,” “disparate impact,” “white privilege,” and “microaggressions.”

And it’s always white folks’ fault. Is this Christian?

and be it further RESOLVED, That we earnestly pray, both for those who advocate racist ideologies and those who are thereby deceived, that they may see their error through the light of the Gospel, repent of these hatreds, and come to know the peace and love of Christ through redeemed fellowship in the Kingdom of God, which is established from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

Again is cited the Biblical concept of “nations, tribes, peoples and languages” — which actually indicates that such divisions exist and have meaning.

Which the SBC already knows. After all, the schedule included conferences for the following:

The Asian-American Fellowship
Chinese Baptist Fellowship
Fellowship of Native American Christians
Hispanic Avance Meeting
Korean-American English-Speaking Pastors’ Conference
National African-American Fellowship (a Business Meeting and a Banquet)
National Hispanic Fellowship
Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship (Jewish Baptists and Gentiles who worship with them)

They’re all Southern Baptists. Why do they need their own special meetings? Because they are of a particular ethnicity and like to meet others of that ethnicity.

The SBC bureaucrats think this is fine — unless whites want it too. Then it becomes evil.

So can a Christian be in the “Alt Right?” Of course! The Alt Right is not a group, but an orientation, one still in development. But we can predict if current demographic and ideological trends continue in the West, ever more whites (including Christians) will adopt some form of it, whatever the SBC says. There are already many Alt Right writers who are Christian, including:

Faith and Heritage
Christianity and Race, run by Christian Talour. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he identifies three strains of the Christian Alt Right. [‘Rolling Stone’ Interview on Alt-Right Christianity, September 6, 2017]
Damian Michael identifies 21 Theses of Alt-Christianity.
The AltRightChristian Reddit

If you don’t follow globalist multiculturalism, check out the above — and don’t let Russell Moore call you Satanic.

As for the Southern Baptist Convention, my suggestion is this: dissolve!

Your church’s slaveholding past is going to be a constant stumbling block for you. The Left has made clear you’ll never be rid of it. It will always be used to push you to the Left. So why not just regroup?

Fortunately, the parasitic Leftist SBC bureaucracy neither owns nor controls the autonomous local churches. (Which is not the case with VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow’s wretched ECUSA). Local SBC churches will continue as independent Baptist churches. But e.g. Russell Moore’s Amnesty-supporting Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission etc. etc. will be gone.

Moore can either find honest work or go work for the DNC or Black Lives Matter. Maybe he’ll skip the middleman and labor directly for Soros!

Sounds like a great idea to me.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008after many years residing in Mexico. Allan’s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.

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