EarthEden
12-28-2007, 05:05 PM
How Do You Like Your Sexism & Bigotry? Orthodox Or Non?
Southern Baptists- A History of Controversy
1. Baptist General Convention of Texas tells wives to "submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband."
2. In the 1830's Southern Baptists were embracing slavery because it was the core of their social and economic order.
3. In 1997 the Southern Baptists decides to boycott the Walt Disney Company for giving benefits to same sex partners and allowing a day when gays could come to their theme parks and bring their familes.
4. In the late 1990s the Southern Baptists go to Salt Lake City, and attack Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by pursuing an aggressive program of proselytizating during their convention.
5. New York, NY, September 28, 1999. Southern Baptists offend Jews by trying to convert them during their High Holidays.
Question: Is YOUR church sexist?
5,000 CHURCHES SEPERATE FROM SBs
In July 2000, the coordinator of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) has predicted that changes in the Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith will prompt as many as 5,000 churches to leave the SBC. Many observers consider CBF beliefs closer to traditional Baptist beliefs, while the SBC has become the primary inheritor of the American fundamentalist movement. (Source: Religion News Service/Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2000)
PAST RACISM
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS FOUGHT TO KEEP AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SLAVERY
Sociologically speaking, Landmarkism was a process and struggle which helped Southern Baptists to gain identity separate from the Northern Baptists. One of the greatest arguments for Landmarks was the church should be autonomous because they viewed organization beyond the local churches as unbiblical. This caused many churches not to contribute to the cause of the SBC and today some of these same churches still have nothing to do with the SBC. By the 1830's tension began to mount between the Northern and Southern Baptists. Baptists in the South were embracing slavery because it was the core of their social and economic order. Baptists of the North were saying that God would not condone treating one race as superior to another while Southerners said that God intended for races to be separate. In around 1835, the Southern states began complaining that they weren't receiving money for mission work. In 1844 the issues of missionary work and slavery came to a peak. The Home Mission Society gave a statement saying that a person could not be a missionary and wish to keep his slaves as property. This caused the Home Mission Society to separate northern and southern divisions. As a result of this the Baptists in the south met in May of 1845 and organized the Southern Baptist Convention .
After Reconstruction of the South the Southern Baptists began to thrive. Dr. I. T. Tichenor became head of the Home Mission Board. He dedicated his efforts to make the Home Mission Board as Southern as possible. Tichenor strongly urged Baptists in the south to reject alliances with Northern Boards and Support Southern causes. At this time many Baptist churches in the south called themselves southern but they still had ties to northern boards and alliances. Tichenor rallied support for the South and in Fort Monroe, Virginia in 1894 the Northern and Southern Baptists agreed to a territorial arrangement, that established the states of the south as exclusive territory for the Southern Baptist Convention. Thus did the Southern Baptists end their struggle with the north and gained their own identity and their separateness from the Northern Baptists.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST'S "GOD HATES GAYS!"...PROJECT
The fundamentalists have pursued a number of tactical programs that continue to generate internal conflict and keep the SBC in high profile the broader culture. One very controversial decision the Southern Baptists was the decision to boycott the Walt Disney Company in 1997. They objected to Disney's so-called anti-family and anti- Christian direction. They objected to Disney giving benefits to same sex partners and for having "Gay Days", where gays could come to their theme parks and celebrate openly.
SB ATTACK ON JEWS
Press Release Christian-Jewish Relations
ADL Outraged by Southern Baptist Statements Rooting Jewish Conversion Appeals in Theology New York, NY, September 28, 1999 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today was "offended and outraged" by a letter from the Rev. Paige Patterson, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, seeking to further validate the church’s recent prayer appeal to convert Jews despite a chorus of criticism.
"We are offended by your attempt to taint our High Holidays with prayer urging our community to convert," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in response to Rev. Patterson’s letter. "It was an act of theological arrogance that was followed by your arrogant response."
Mr. Foxman said Rev. Patterson and other Southern Baptist leaders have responded to the controversy by engaging in "theological confrontations" and arguments that essentially seek to avoid the issue of the prayer guide that has upset and offended so many in the Jewish religious and secular worlds.
"It is not in my spirit or the policy of the Anti-Defamation League to get into theological confrontations as was done in the Middle Ages," Mr. Foxman said. "We talk to other people of faith as equals, respecting the commitment of the other person of God and trying to avoid any prejudice that might hurt the relationship between Christians and Jews.
"Any prayer that invites us to abandon our faith is an attack on our integrity and commitment."
After publicly stating outrage over the prayer appeal earlier this month, the League made efforts to reach out to Southern Baptist leaders, calling on the church to put an end to the campaign in light of its offensive nature and the proximity of the High Holidays, the most sacred time in Jewish observance.
The letter from Rev. Patterson to ADL outlined evangelical Christian arguments for proselytization efforts among Jews. According to Foxman, "The letter expressed no remorse for the prayer appeal and contemptuously invited us to return the gesture and pray for them. Well, we say ..No thanks.’ We will not engage in this kind of base spiritual narrowness, as the Southern Baptist leaders have done."
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
....continued...
Southern Baptists- A History of Controversy
1. Baptist General Convention of Texas tells wives to "submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband."
2. In the 1830's Southern Baptists were embracing slavery because it was the core of their social and economic order.
3. In 1997 the Southern Baptists decides to boycott the Walt Disney Company for giving benefits to same sex partners and allowing a day when gays could come to their theme parks and bring their familes.
4. In the late 1990s the Southern Baptists go to Salt Lake City, and attack Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by pursuing an aggressive program of proselytizating during their convention.
5. New York, NY, September 28, 1999. Southern Baptists offend Jews by trying to convert them during their High Holidays.
Question: Is YOUR church sexist?
5,000 CHURCHES SEPERATE FROM SBs
In July 2000, the coordinator of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) has predicted that changes in the Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith will prompt as many as 5,000 churches to leave the SBC. Many observers consider CBF beliefs closer to traditional Baptist beliefs, while the SBC has become the primary inheritor of the American fundamentalist movement. (Source: Religion News Service/Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2000)
PAST RACISM
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS FOUGHT TO KEEP AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SLAVERY
Sociologically speaking, Landmarkism was a process and struggle which helped Southern Baptists to gain identity separate from the Northern Baptists. One of the greatest arguments for Landmarks was the church should be autonomous because they viewed organization beyond the local churches as unbiblical. This caused many churches not to contribute to the cause of the SBC and today some of these same churches still have nothing to do with the SBC. By the 1830's tension began to mount between the Northern and Southern Baptists. Baptists in the South were embracing slavery because it was the core of their social and economic order. Baptists of the North were saying that God would not condone treating one race as superior to another while Southerners said that God intended for races to be separate. In around 1835, the Southern states began complaining that they weren't receiving money for mission work. In 1844 the issues of missionary work and slavery came to a peak. The Home Mission Society gave a statement saying that a person could not be a missionary and wish to keep his slaves as property. This caused the Home Mission Society to separate northern and southern divisions. As a result of this the Baptists in the south met in May of 1845 and organized the Southern Baptist Convention .
After Reconstruction of the South the Southern Baptists began to thrive. Dr. I. T. Tichenor became head of the Home Mission Board. He dedicated his efforts to make the Home Mission Board as Southern as possible. Tichenor strongly urged Baptists in the south to reject alliances with Northern Boards and Support Southern causes. At this time many Baptist churches in the south called themselves southern but they still had ties to northern boards and alliances. Tichenor rallied support for the South and in Fort Monroe, Virginia in 1894 the Northern and Southern Baptists agreed to a territorial arrangement, that established the states of the south as exclusive territory for the Southern Baptist Convention. Thus did the Southern Baptists end their struggle with the north and gained their own identity and their separateness from the Northern Baptists.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST'S "GOD HATES GAYS!"...PROJECT
The fundamentalists have pursued a number of tactical programs that continue to generate internal conflict and keep the SBC in high profile the broader culture. One very controversial decision the Southern Baptists was the decision to boycott the Walt Disney Company in 1997. They objected to Disney's so-called anti-family and anti- Christian direction. They objected to Disney giving benefits to same sex partners and for having "Gay Days", where gays could come to their theme parks and celebrate openly.
SB ATTACK ON JEWS
Press Release Christian-Jewish Relations
ADL Outraged by Southern Baptist Statements Rooting Jewish Conversion Appeals in Theology New York, NY, September 28, 1999 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today was "offended and outraged" by a letter from the Rev. Paige Patterson, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, seeking to further validate the church’s recent prayer appeal to convert Jews despite a chorus of criticism.
"We are offended by your attempt to taint our High Holidays with prayer urging our community to convert," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in response to Rev. Patterson’s letter. "It was an act of theological arrogance that was followed by your arrogant response."
Mr. Foxman said Rev. Patterson and other Southern Baptist leaders have responded to the controversy by engaging in "theological confrontations" and arguments that essentially seek to avoid the issue of the prayer guide that has upset and offended so many in the Jewish religious and secular worlds.
"It is not in my spirit or the policy of the Anti-Defamation League to get into theological confrontations as was done in the Middle Ages," Mr. Foxman said. "We talk to other people of faith as equals, respecting the commitment of the other person of God and trying to avoid any prejudice that might hurt the relationship between Christians and Jews.
"Any prayer that invites us to abandon our faith is an attack on our integrity and commitment."
After publicly stating outrage over the prayer appeal earlier this month, the League made efforts to reach out to Southern Baptist leaders, calling on the church to put an end to the campaign in light of its offensive nature and the proximity of the High Holidays, the most sacred time in Jewish observance.
The letter from Rev. Patterson to ADL outlined evangelical Christian arguments for proselytization efforts among Jews. According to Foxman, "The letter expressed no remorse for the prayer appeal and contemptuously invited us to return the gesture and pray for them. Well, we say ..No thanks.’ We will not engage in this kind of base spiritual narrowness, as the Southern Baptist leaders have done."
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
....continued...