Two things happened during the first introduction of miscellaneous business that were sad.
First, there was NOT a SINGLE motion from Wiley Drake. Not one. I have called for an investigation and a search party to be organized. Where is Wiley?
The second is more serious.
At a Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, two men stood and offered motions that would shock our Baptist forebears who have been committed to the principles of religious liberty. The first motion called for the firing of anyone who advocated for freedom for Muslims. The second excoriated those who supported the religious freedom of Muslims in court cases.
Folks, we are Baptist. Baptists have ALWAYS supported religious freedom. Religious freedom is the belief that ALL religions should have the freedom to operate. If you only support freedom for Christians, you are AGAINST religious freedom.
The two men who brought those motions are opponents of religious freedom. They are NOT Baptists in the historic sense. They may be members of Baptist churches, but they stand against the historic Baptist faith and our belief in religious freedom.
People, I understand that Islam is scary. And I get that a lot of you do not like Dr. Moore. But turning our backs on who we are, on the Baptist Faith and Message, on our historic support of religious liberty – that is not the way to go. At the core of our identity is the belief in soul freedom and religious liberty. We must fight this attempt by the new anti-Baptists who made the motions.
Religious freedom REQUIRES that we support and fight for liberty for law-abiding Muslims. If we win the right to withhold religious liberty from Muslims today we may find one day that others will have the right to withhold religious liberty from us. Unless we support liberty for all, we are OPPONENTS of liberty.
Those men who made those motions today – make no mistake about it — were OPPONENTS of religious liberty.
