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Friday, June 16, 2006

Christian Dominionism, public schools and gays

The Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) national meeting this week got quite a bit of attention in the blogosphere. Including some here at The Blue Voice.

This post at the Talk to Action blog caught my eye, especially after the discussion in the comments to one of my earlier posts about what kind of influence the Christian Dominionist ideology has in the SBC: Southern Baptists Pause in the Face of Dominionism by Mainstream Baptist 06/14/06.

"Mainstream Baptist" shares my skepticism about how "moderate" the newly-elected SBC president Frank Page is likely to be:

While the new president of the SBC is more moderate than past leaders, he is not a "Mainstream" Baptist. He an "irenic conservative" that professes to be an "inerrantist" who is not mad about it. It is entirely possible that he will merely put a friendlier face and a smile on the ongoing efforts of Southern Baptists to dominate the secular political processes of this country.

He uses the terms "Dominionists" and "Christian Nationalists" and focuses on two of the issues they are likely to emphasize in the coming months:

To the extent that Frank Page rekindles Baptist memory of their traditional support for church-state separation, he will be a threat to the Dominionists and Christian Nationalists leading the agencies and institutions of the SBC and will be attacked by them.

... Baptists have consistently refused to approve resolutions for an "exit strategy" from public schools. They have, however, endorsed resolutions calling for public schools to be investigated for promoting a "homosexual agenda." In their mind, tolerance education and sex education are part of a "homosexual agenda." Calls to exit the public schools will not gain traction until the Supreme Court rules that private religious schools can receive vouchers. That possibility is no longer remote. It is nearly a certainty in the not too distant future.

... While Southern Baptists don't mind their women's mission agency being independent, they still expect wives to be "graciously submissive" to their husbands. Strong, independent women have little place in Baptist life unless they are promoting the doctrine of male supremacy.

For more on the anti-public schools campaign in the SBC,

see Baptists Divided Over Public School 'Exodus Mandate' Christian Post 05/23/06 and Southern Baptists Consider Public School Exodus Christian Post 06/14/06.

Brother Al Mohler, who we've visited numerous times here at The Blue Voice, is already gearing up for more "public schools are full of homos" campaigning. In Courage and Compassion [sic] on Homosexuality 06/16/06. (The original is from 07/23/04; he just thought a reprint was in order.)

The homosexual rights movement understands that the evangelical church is one of the last resistance movements committed to a biblical morality.

Well, you know, instead of all that "blessed are the peacemakers" and "blessed are the poor" crap. You have to be pretty much a limp-wristed wuss to say stuff like that. Reading the Bible literally only goes so far.

Because of this, the movement has adopted a strategy of isolating Christian opposition, and forcing change by political action and cultural pressure. Can we count on evangelicals to remain steadfastly biblical on this issue?

Not hardly. Scientific surveys and informal observation reveal that we have experienced a significant loss of conviction among youth and young adults. No moral revolution can succeed without shaping and changing the minds of young people and children. Inevitably, the schools have become crucial battlegrounds for the culture war. The Christian worldview has been undermined by pervasive curricula that teach moral relativism, reduce moral commandments to personal values, and promote homosexuality as a legitimate and attractive lifestyle option.

This is a loving, ministerial way of saying, "Them public schools is turning your kids into queers!"

Our churches must teach the basics of biblical morality to Christians who will otherwise never know that the Bible prescribes a model for sexual relationships. Young people must be told the truth about homosexuality - and taught to esteem marriage as God's intention for human sexual relatedness.

But not, you know, gay marriage.

The times demand Christian courage. These days, courage means that preachers and Christian leaders must set an agenda for biblical confrontation, and not shrink from dealing with the full range of issues related to homosexuality. We must talk about what the Bible teaches about gender--what it means to be a man or a woman. We must talk about God's gift of sex and the covenant of marriage. And we must talk honestly about what homosexuality is, and why God has condemned this sin as an abomination in His sight.

Maybe they should start by teaching honestly about abortion, birth control, condoms and sexually transmitted diseases, instead of the phony medical misinformation pimped by so many fundamentalist abstinence-only programs and fake "abortion counseling" centers.

Brother Al gives us some idea of what he thinks Christian compassion is about:

Liberal churches have redefined compassion to mean that the church changes its message to meet modern demands. They argue that to tell a homosexual he is a sinner is uncompassionate and intolerant. This is like arguing that a physician is intolerant because he tells a patient she has cancer.

Gays=cancer. He spares us any quotes from people on the anti-gay side that he considers not compassionate enough.

Biblical Christians know that compassion requires telling the truth, and refusing to call sin something sinless. To hide or deny the sinfulness of sin is to lie, and there is no compassion in such a deadly deception. True compassion demands speaking the truth in love - and there is the problem. Far too often, our courage is more evident than our compassion.

We saw during Condi-Condi's visit as the SBC delegates gave repeated standing ovations to her as she mouthed dishonest propaganda about the freedom Bush the Mighty has brought to Afghanistan and Iraq. Does manufacturing evidence to go to war and kill tens of thousands of people count as a sin in Brother Al's holy book? (Yeah, right.)

Brother Al says:

Why is it that we have been so ineffective in reaching persons trapped in this particular pattern of sin?

Because anyone can see the dishonesty and rank demogoguery behind the fundis' anti-gay crusade? Just a thought.

posted at 12:25:00 PM by Bruce Miller

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