[Capstone Report] The rift in the Southern Baptist Convention became clearly defined as a political battle today. Evangelical elites in the Southern Baptist Convention attacked conservative critics of Identity Politics. They alleged that conservatives opposed to Identity Politics were tools of the Republican Party working to re-elect Donald Trump by creating division in the church. The theme of division over politics was even promoted by Social Justice-minded Beth Moore.

Beth Moore responded to a tweet by saying she never doubted for a minute that opposition to her preaching and Bible teaching was driven by political calculations—calculations driven by a desire to re-elect Donald Trump.

A Southern Baptist writer with op-eds in the New York Times and the anti-Trump SBC Voices, which recently published by another writer the discredited lie that President Donald Trump is a racist, alleged that all the anti-Social Justice people are doing it only for political reasons.

He tweeted, “If you want to know what’s been driving fear in Evangelical world, ie, the Founders doc, Sovereign Nations, trying to silence @drmoore, going after @BethMooreLPM, etc, this is it. If 80%+ white evangelicals don’t turn out and vote for Trump, he can’t win. Politics as theology.”

Conveniently, in this tweet, the writer reveals what is on his mind—evangelical voter turnout.

Why is that on his mind?

He and his ilk are trying to reduce or suppress Southern Baptist and other evangelical Christian voters. They don’t want you going to the polls to vote for pro-life, pro-religious liberty candidates. They want to convince you to stay home rather than vote to re-elect Donald Trump.

That is why so many Baptist and other church elites are busy now—that is why SBC Voices published the lie that the president is a racist.

This is the tweet Beth Moore responded to in agreement.

In her tweets, she agreed completely, “ONE HUNDRED PER CENT,” and, “I have not been confused about this for 10 minutes.”

So, there you have it. Opposition to Beth Moore isn’t theological but driven by partisan politics. At least according to her.

According to the SBC insider crowd, opposition to Identity Politics isn’t because those ideologies are godless, but because of partisan politics.

If you need more proof of the partisan interests of so many of these denominational insiders, then, here you have it. All they are thinking about at this point is the 2020 election.

And more specifically, how to continue their Never Trump campaign from 2016.

Maryland-Delaware Southern Baptist leader attacks conservative Christians

Conservative Christians worried about the rise of Identity Politics within the evangelical churches are sinful, divisive, ethnocentric and politically motivated, according to the prominent executive director of the Maryland-Delaware Baptist Convention.

“‘At least half of what’s going on among Christians is not even about the content and the disagreement of the matter, but is about sinful, divisive personality, ethnocentrism, political convictions, and overzealous arrogance,’” Kevin Smith said in an article published by Christianity Today. “‘Another half is disagreeing over how we apply loving our neighbor.’”

So, there you go. That’s the typical denominational elite response to any legitimate concerns.

The previous executive director of the Maryland-Delaware Convention was a solid conservative but was fired at the behest of denominational bureaucrats, an explosive lawsuit now on appeal alleges.

The common theme from Beth Moore to Maryland-Delaware is that Southern Baptist insiders and denominational elites are working to fight conservative voices in the church.

Don’t let them.

[Editor’s Note: This article was written and published first at Capstone Report]