The SBC Executive Committee must have had an interesting couple of days, and they have shotgunned their Twitter feed with various seeming concessions ostensibly designed to placate infuriated conservatives.
After SBC President, JD Greear, and SBC Executive Committee President, Ronnie Floyd, both insisted yesterday that the denomination isn’t “going liberal,” the Executive Committee announced that they would launch a committee to look into the present and former actions of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Just today, the ERLC again ran a promotion of a Democrat operative and Obama staffer, Michael Wear, just in time to promote his new book on Obama’s faith.
Some conservatives have taken an optimistic view of the issue. However, Pulpit & Pen would like Southern Baptists to take a more cautious view, with Ronnie Floyd only yesterday insisting there was no liberal drift.
Southern Baptist leaders routinely choose committees to “look into” various matters only to appease complaints from the pew, but it is typically used to officially exonerate the accused and claim they took the matter seriously. Consider, for example, the Mickey Mouse court of Southwestern Baptist University in Missouri in light of the heresy taught by its (now former) dean. History has demonstrated, as it did with former Executive Committee president, Frank Page (also over the ERLC and its Democrat president, Russell Moore), several years ago that such committees accomplish little but dispelling criticism.
Likewise, the Executive Committee also announced that it would not permit the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference to be held at a facility previously rented by the Southern Baptist Convention on account of its speaker lineup that is filled with Egalitarians, charismatics and carnival barking entertainers.
Pulpit & Pen has repeatedly warned about the gay-friendly hucksterism of SBC Pastors Conference president, David Uth, but polemics ministries have been gravely ignored by Southern Baptist elitists content to kick against the pricks.
While we are pleased at this announcement (if for no other reason it’s “saddened” woke Company Blogs like SBC Voices who went all-in to defend the heterodox lineup), we are cautious and presume a few tweaks by Uth will end up with the conference progressing in one way or another.
