Alan Cross posted a comment yesterday on my “sixty year decline” post. It made a point worthy of its own discussion. Here is the comment, in its entirety.
All of this begs the question of whether or not our expansive growth in the postwar decade of 1945-1955 was God’s work or simply a shift in culture – or perhaps a combination of the two? Everything that was stable and conservative exploded in American in those 10-15 years. Then, we had the great unraveling because the children of the “Greatest Generation” largely rejected their values and saw them as hypocritical.
We had our chance to transform America thoroughly in the mid 1950?s. We had the “Million More in ’54? movement with Baptists praying and recruiting all over. Brown vs. Board of Education came down in 1954 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott was in 1955-56. What if Southern Baptists had seen our error, repented, and used their incredible cultural power in the South to tear down the wall of segregation instead of standing in the schoolhouse door? Would the cultural upheaval of the 1960?s had ever happened if it would have been Southern Baptists leading the Civil Rights Movement alongside Black Baptist pastors? Now, homosexual activists have used our failures in the Civil Rights Movement against us and have used the tactics of oppressed minorities to advocate their position – with decisive effect.
What if we had stood for justice and righteousness instead of using our power to promote our own way of life at the expense of others? The Civil War with 600,000 dead and the division of a nation occurred 15 years after the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist denominations split along North-South sectional lines over the issue of slavery in 1844-45. John C. Calhoun, South Carolina Senator wondered aloud if the division among Christians would prophesy the division of the nation. He was right. Did our abject failure in the 1950?s on Civil Rights lead to the ultimate spiritual collapse of America, Roe vs. Wade in 1973, and a host of other maladies that we are now incapable of correcting? Did our great power used for ourselves become our undoing?
In the mid 1960?s, over 60% of white people in Alabama were members of Southern Baptist churches. We could have changed things if we would have repented. But, we didn’t and now we are reaping the whirlwind.
I have written a 300 page book with over 200 footnotes that details this entire story that I hope to publish in the next few months, so I am fairly dialed in on this perspective. I also explore where we go from here over the last third of the book – there is still a great deal of hope for us, but it does not come from going backward. It is found from moving forward into what God is doing right now. I am not saying that Baptists are to blame for everything wrong with America. I am simply saying that when we had the power to address injustice and evil in our midst we could not do it because it would have cost us our privileged position in society. We were given much power. To whom much is given, much is required. We buried our talents in the field and now they have been taken from us.
Worth thinking about.
Alan makes some points worth remembering and discussing. He says:
1) “What if Southern Baptists had seen our error, repented, and used their incredible cultural power in the South to tear down the wall of segregation instead of standing in the schoolhouse door? Would the cultural upheaval of the 1960?s had ever happened if it would have been Southern Baptists leading the Civil Rights Movement alongside Black Baptist pastors?”
We can only imagine what would have happened if Southern Baptists had stood against segregation instead of for it. That would be an interesting novel sometime – imagining the changes. Unfortunately we were “on the wrong side of history.” More than that, we were on the wrong side of scripture – way more important.
2) “Now, homosexual activists have used our failures in the Civil Rights Movement against us and have used the tactics of oppressed minorities to advocate their position – with decisive effect.”
Now, we stand on a different battlefield. We are arguing for biblical marriage and against a lifestyle the Scriptures clearly condemn. But it has been cast as a civil rights issue, and the church’s failure in the 60s is thrown back in our faces.
Then, he raises a question we can, perhaps, not answer definitively.
3) “Did our abject failure in the 1950?s on Civil Rights lead to the ultimate spiritual collapse of America, Roe vs. Wade in 1973, and a host of other maladies that we are now incapable of correcting? Did our great power used for ourselves become our undoing? In the mid 1960?s, over 60% of white people in Alabama were members of Southern Baptist churches. We could have changed things if we would have repented. But, we didn’t and now we are reaping the whirlwind.”
Contrary to a comment by William Thornton on my post, I am not saying, nor do I think Alan is saying, that “God is punishing us” for our racism. That is not the issue. The question is whether Southern Baptist’s racial failures at a time of great power led to our loss of power and influence and to the depravity of our culture.
Don’t blame the darkness because it is dark. It is the lack of light that causes that. The darkness is doing its job! And if culture rots, is it perhaps the fact that the salt has lost its saltiness?
Count me as one who hopes that Alan’s book is published soon!
