|
The New York Times
U.S.
A Baptist Coalition
Aims for Moderate Image
By NEELA BANERJEE,
nytimes.com on the Web, January 27, 2008
For more than 150 years, Baptists in
the United States have splintered along political, theological and racial lines.
But this week, some of the country’s largest Baptist groups — representing about
20 million believers — will meet to try to mend the old fractures and, some
leaders say, present a more diverse and moderate image of their faith than the
one offered by the conservative Southern Baptist Convention.
The three-day meeting of more than 30 groups — known as the New Baptist Covenant
Celebration, which begins on Wednesday in Atlanta — is a result of efforts by
former President Jimmy Carter to draw together long-divided Baptists.
The meeting’s statement of shared purpose, known as its covenant, calls for
Baptists to focus on their traditional values, like “sharing the gospel of Jesus
Christ,” and to work together on social issues like fighting poverty. It does
not create a new denomination.
“I would like to see a demonstration that Christians who have different
backgrounds and different political and theological orientations and
geographical locations can come together in the spirit of unity,” Mr. Carter
said, “not just for Baptists, but for Christians all over the world.”
But for other Baptists and experts on the faith, a central aim of the gathering
seems to be to create a theological and political counterweight to the Southern
Baptist Convention, which many of the groups that plan to attend have left.
Politically and theologically conservative, the Southern Baptist Convention,
with 16 to 18 million members, is the largest denomination in the United States
after the Roman Catholic Church.
“The sense is that the public image is dominated by the Southern Baptist
Convention,” said the Rev. David W. Key, director of Baptist studies at the
Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. “It’s not that
the New Baptist Covenant will do the same things as the Southern Baptist
Convention does. But it’s about the brand name. ‘Can we create a
brand?’ ”
The meeting falls only days before the Super Tuesday primaries, and some
Southern Baptists who are critical of the gathering have said it could be part
of an effort by Democrats to court Christian voters. They cite the
participation of former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al
Gore.
Mr. Carter, who is a Democrat, and others said the meeting date was the earliest
one that could be arranged, and they point out that the roster of speakers
includes Republicans like Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Senator Lindsey
Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia.
Mike Huckabee, the Republican presidential candidate and a Southern Baptist
minister, had said he would attend but backed out last year because he said he
disagreed with comments Mr. Carter had made about President Bush. It is
unclear whether any presidential candidates will address the gathering.
Among the religious organizations in attendance will be the four major black
Baptist conventions, which three years ago came together to fashion their first
united stand in almost a century on social and economic issues and to bury past
differences.
Other groups include those that split with the Southern Baptist Convention over
slavery in the 1800s and those that departed more recently because of the
increasingly conservative slant of the denomination in modern times. That
shift ushered in a more conservative theology that focuses on issues like
abortion and gay rights. Southern Baptists also assert that only men can
be church pastors and leaders of the household, which was another issue that
alienated some adherents.
“The first thing to recognize is that the Southern Baptist Convention has moved
very much to the right, became very fundamentalist, embraced certain American
cultural values as though ordained by God and married the Religious Right,” said
the Rev. Tony Campolo, an American Baptist minister and a speaker at the
gathering.
Mr. Carter said Southern Baptist leaders had attended previous meetings he had
organized. While some Southern Baptists and state organizations will be at
the gathering, no leaders will attend.
The covenant’s association with Mr. Carter and Mr. Clinton, who are unpopular
with many Southern Baptists, is also keeping many away, said Richard Land, the
top public policy official of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“This is part of the continuing search for significance by those who lost in the
struggle for control of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Mr. Land said.
The challenge for those at the meeting will be to take concrete action on issues
identified as priorities, supporters and critics said. Mr. Carter said he hoped
to call a meeting after Easter to plan the next steps.
“If this meeting is about shaking a fist at evangelicals and the Southern
Baptist Convention, it will have a very short shelf life,” said Curtis W.
Freeman, director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, who
will be attending the gathering. “Then it becomes about anger and pride.
It becomes the negative motivation of trying to say what we are not. What
I like about this particular meeting is there are positive steps we as Baptists
can take together.”
|
