Thoughts on the SBC Meeting in New Orleans
By David R. Currie,
Coordinator

The 1996 SBC annual meeting held in New Orleans can best be summed up in one word — embarrassing! Resolutions were passed urging the violation of the Separation of Church and State and targeting Jews for evangelism in a most arrogant manner. A motion was passed urging the boycott of Walt Disney. Jim Henry, outgoing president, did make an excellent speech. I will share a few thoughts.

Thought #1: Jim Henry did good when he preached that “We, as Southern Baptists, are a diverse people. To succeed and be revitalized, we must have more than tolerance and sympathy. We must appreciate and appropriate this diversity for the common good.” He also stated that if the effort to steer the convention to the right goes too far, it will “cast suspicion on the original intent,” which was biblical authority.

This took courage on his part. He did not have to make this speech. Yet, he missed an opportunity to acknowledge that the “conservative resurgence” went too far in about 1982 and has only gotten worse. The original intent was never biblical authority, it was always control and political manipulation. Southern Baptists prior to 1979 never had a problem with biblical authority. They do have a problem with biblical authority now as they have made a nonexistent set of “original autographs” a higher authority than Jesus. Henry unknowingly acknowledged this when he said the center of the denomination is the belief in the authority, inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible. In 1979, when I worked in Nashville at the SBC building, the center of the denomination was Jesus and the Great Commission.

Thought #2: The boycott of Walt Disney and the resolution regarding Jews make me think of Luke 18, “Lord we thank you we are not like other men.” I was embarrassed by the way the resolutions were done.

Thought #3: The Southern Baptist Convention is now primarily a right-wing political organization. The SBC’s main agenda is a political agenda. The resolutions clearly spell this out.

August 1996