Feelings toward Trump tear open religious rifts
Politics engages the pulpit in Southern Baptist Convention
Ask a historian about the newest tensions in the Southern Baptist Convention, and you’ll hear words such as theology, polity and methodology.
Dig a little deeper into those tensions, closer to the congregational level, and you’ll hear words such as evangelism, missions and morality.
Should there be an altar call after every service?
Should the congregation be led by a dominant CEO-type pastor or a clergy-lay partnership?
Should a presidential candidate’s party affiliation or political views take precedence over flaws in his or her moral character?
Those are some of the pulpitand-pew tensions straining the faith, fellowship and funding in the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the USA.
Those tensions — racial, sectional, but mostly generational — have been forming for more than a decade, thanks in large part to the rise of social media and Millennials, and will be on full display Tuesday and Wednesday when the convention holds its annual meeting in Phoenix.
They flared considerably — and publicly — during last year’s presidential campaign when old guard Southern Baptist leaders such as Richard Land and new generation leaders such as Russell Moore clashed over Donald Trump.
It was the first time that had happened since conservative, non-denominational Ronald Reagan faced moderate Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter in 1980.
“Barack Obama didn’t divide us,” said Nathan Finn, dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University, a Southern Baptist college in Jackson, Tenn. “Donald Trump divided us. His personal behavior, his policy views, his temperament and character, his religious values, all were highly questionable.”
Some think Trump deserves a chance, Finn said. His policy views, especially on abortion, are close enough to those Southern Baptists hold. Plus, supporting Trump lets Southern Baptists keep their seat at the table.
Others believe they don’t need to be at the table, Finn said.
“Trump’s candidacy, and now his presidency, are causing us to consider whether we are just a chaplain for the Republican Party, or do we have a prophetic role to play for both parties?” Finn said.
Moore, president of the convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the public face of the network of churches, emerged as a consistent critic of Trump, even sparring with the candidate on Twitter. Moore issued post-election apologies for his approach but not his positions.
Land, Moore’s predecessor and the president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, joined Trump’s evangelical advisory board and marveled at the access to the incoming administration.
Calls for unity rose after the presidential election, as did criticism of Moore’s posture toward Trump.
Questions were raised about whether Moore’s job was at risk. Moore said that it wasn’t and that he had the support of his trustees.
“The Southern Baptist Convention is ultimately a close-knit family,” Moore said. “We love each other, and we work together. We don’t always agree on everything.”
The disagreements are serious, have the attention of leadership and could pose a financial threat to the Southern Baptist Convention, a network of independent churches.
Several Southern Baptist churches across the country pulled or threatened to withhold contributions to the denomination’s Cooperative Program, the convention’s funding mechanism for state and national initiatives.
A Tennessee church continues to withhold funds after the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the International Mission Board signed a legal brief supporting construction of a New Jersey mosque.