SBC Voices

The similarities are striking. Both men were in their early fifties with high profile jobs and strong ties to the state of Arkansas. Both were involved in extramarital affairs with women in their early twenties. Both brought enormous pain and shame upon their families and the institutions they represented. Both scandals received national attention from the news media and led to serious investigations of misconduct. Both men initially denied any wrongdoing and attempted a coverup to avoid having the relationship exposed. Both investigations clearly revealed an adulterous relationship … [Read more...] about A Sad State of Affairs

Yes, I just used the cliched line from Apollo 13. It's a good cliche: it states the situation without sounding panicked. That's where we are right now as the Southern Baptist Convention: we have a problem and we need state the situation without panicking but still looking into it. The problem is this: after we have roasted, toasted, and flamed one another since back in September over a name-change proposal to hopefully break from our past, especially the times we have embarrassingly embraced racism, we just blew that whole plan. All of the hope of moving past that issue originating from our … [Read more...] about Nashville (and Marietta), We Have a Problem

Richard Land’s racial remarks against the backdrop of the Trayvon Martin tragedy are the most damaging, alienating, and offensive words about race that I’ve read or heard, rendered by a SBC personality, in the twenty-eight years that I’ve served as a SBC church planter/pastor. The pain that Richard Land inflicted upon Blacks in the SBC is a pain that would be only felt greater by the pain inflicted upon Trayvon Martin’s family by George Zimmerman. In his non apology—apology, he blames those of us who responded to his racial views, for the pain we felt. The opening line in his letter of … [Read more...] about WHY THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION NEEDS TO GO ON RECORD REPUDIATING THE LAND RACIAL REMARKS By William Dwight McKissic, Sr.

Apologies and offenses notwithstanding, at least one profound underlying issue lies at the heart of the recent conflict over remarks made by Dr. Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and it is not the false notion that Dr. Land is a racist. A fair reading of his record on this issue going back several decades clearly demonstrates otherwise. No, the question I wonder about concerns whether there exists, in the area of racial reconciliation, a level playing field for the sharing of concerns and demanding of apologies among those of every ethnic … [Read more...] about Beyond the Southern Baptist Land War

“Men may try; but they will try in vain, when they attempt to convert the weapons for defending against infidelity, into bread to feed God’s hungry children.”  -(Ichabod Spencer, Pastors Sketches, 59) In the context of this quote Spencer is lamenting the overabundance of speculations about faith and the continual labor to defend and explain the faith against those that do not believe.  The problem, says Spencer, is that “speculations about faith have no tendency to invite faith”.  Rather they tend to do just the opposite.  “Many of our treatises on the subjects of faith…are so filled up with … [Read more...] about Don’t Starve the Sheep to Fight the Wolves

I have noticed a disturbing occurring that happens far too often.  I have noticed most in the Calvinist/non-Calvinist argument, but it seems to pop up all over the place.  It's the shoot out using the supporting Bible Verse.  We disagree, we quote scripture and then someone else trumps out scripture with one of their own.  For a denomination that claims to believe in inerrency, i can't help but wonder what we are thinking about. As believers, can we really use scripture to contradict scripture when we say that scripture never contradicts?  What example are we showing people who visit the … [Read more...] about The Battle of Scripture

BETHANY (AP) - Reports from the Jordan River today indicate that John the Baptist, a religious leader known for immersing repentant sinners in water, will no longer allow himself to be called the "Baptist," as described in one written account by a former tax collector known as Matthew. When asked why the name removal was necessary, John replied, "Our focus groups have indicated that people are rather turned off by the whole 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand' idea. We want to remove any hindrance to their acceptance of our message. Thus, we are also considering changing our diet from … [Read more...] about An Alternate History of the Baptist Name

Dr. Richard Land of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission may have become an impediment to the trend toward racial reconciliation in the SBC. As the SBC was steaming toward the NOLA Annual Meeting with high hopes of racial harmony and excitement about the election of our first black SBC president, Dr. Land made himself the iceberg that could sink that ship. Land, on his radio show, made some comments about the Trayvon Martin tragedy, accusing people of playing politics and being especially critical of those like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who tend to infuse themselves into … [Read more...] about Richard Land, Racial Harmony, and Plagiarism