When it comes to political partisanship in the 2016 presidential race, it might be said that Southern Baptists have taken one step forward and two steps back.
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the political arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), announced in a press release that its president Russell Moore would be interviewing Republican candidates Jeb Bush (live) and Marco Rubio (via video) before 13,000 attendees at the denominations’ missions conference on August 4. Leading candidates from each major party were invited, the release states, but only Rubio and Bush accepted.
But in April, denominational leaders disinvited Republican candidate Ben Carson from speaking at their annual pastor’s conference after a group of young leaders and bloggers decried his invitation. They raised theological concerns because Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, and said having him speak would send a message of partisanship that could compromise the denomination’s prophetic witness to both parties.
It’s difficult to understand how giving Bush and Rubio a voice at this conference is sufficiently different from allowing Carson to speak at the previous one. The Southern Baptist Convention has been a vocal ally of the Republican party in recent years, and this latest move indicates that they are having a difficult time breaking from their past behavior.
Given Southern Baptists’ strong support of Republican candidates in years past, many were surprised by the criticism to Carson’s invitation this past Spring. The denominations’ gatherings throughout the ‘90s and 2000’s often featured appearances or video messages from Republican politicians and even presidents. But times have changed, and some younger voices in the denomination seem to have less tolerance for using the denomination pulpit for politicking.
“Younger Southern Baptists…are less likely to be enthusiastic about a pastors’ conference lineup that may, in some way, communicate unity around a political platform rather than the gospel of Jesus,” Baptist blogger Trevin Wax wrote after Carson was removed from the program.
Wax added that “Younger Southern Baptists fear that a display of partisanship will sacrifice the meeting’s ability to be a prophetic voice in relation to both parties.”
After it was initially announced that Carson would be speaking, a group of young voices on the “Baptist21” blog led the movement opposing the invitation. They did not mince words: “Our suggestion is that we believe it would be prudent for future SBC leaders to stop inviting politicians to our meetings. Period.”
But were they really offering a period or was it more of an asterisk? Those bloggers have remained mum following the latest announcement that Moore, a figure these young Baptists consistently celebrate, would be doing the very thing they claimed would “mute our voice in this culture” and compromise their ability to “keep a prophetic voice with both parties.” (The original post at the “Baptist21” blog is not currently live, but it has been widely cited elsewhere.)
In conversations with multiple denominational employees, all said they felt varying degrees of discomfort with the decision to host Bush and Rubio but cited an unspoken policy against criticizing other denominational agencies and declined to comment publicly.
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