Anatomy of an Illness:
Fundamentalism in the Southern Baptist Convention
by Herbert H. Reynolds
President Emeritus, 
Baylor University and TBC Board Chair

As a lifelong Baptist and president and chancellor of an institution that was targeted from the inception of this unholy crusade, I have been passionate in my opposition to the forces that have ruthlessly torn the Southern Baptist Convention apart.

On the other hand, as a trained observer of human behavior, I have dispassionately studied the personalities, goals and methods of the fundamentalists or Presslerites, because I do not know of any trained professional who has examined these phenomena as characteristics of a mass movement, I have sought to do so succinctly within an historical and psychological context.

A 20-year-old illness in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) exists. It is not characterized by physical symptoms on the part of Southern Baptist people, although some have been so afflicted. Rather it is a disease of the spirit which has so debilitated the convention as an entity that what has been a significant ministry to a lost world is being systematically decimated.

I want to describe this illness as a psychologist, however, I want to make it clear from the start that I am not making individual clinical diagnoses, however appealing that might be.

Rather, I am seeking to portray the characteristics of yet another mass movement in history in which there is significant sociopathology. A good lay definition of the term is "one who knows that what he is doing is wrong but he does not care." I use he rather than he or she or they since women have been intentionally excluded from leadership in the present movement.

A mass movement appeals basically to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. They seek a new life, a rebirth or a chance to acquire new elements of self-esteem, confidence, hope and a sense of worth by identification with a holy (read unholy) cause.

As with most mass movements throughout history, this one was begun in 1978 by ambitious malcontents who would never have achieved significant personal visibility had it not been for their vision of creating a milieu and structure in Southern Baptist life that would allow them to control and manipulate a large mass of people to satisfy their own unhealthy personality needs.

The renowned longshoreman philosopher, Eric Hoffer stated that such persons "see their lives and strivings beyond remedy and ...they crave to dissolve their spoiled, meaningless selves in some soul-stirring spectacular communal undertaking."

Once the organizers of a mass movement are committed to changing their world since they cannot effectively modify their own personality characteristics and shortcomings, then they must identify both an issue and a worthy adversary in order to rally the masses to their cause.

As Adolf Hitler said in the early days of the organization of the third Reich "the masses do not want freedom of choice, they want a simple doctrine and an enemy, preferably just one enemy... truth is irrelevant; emotional appeals are better than intellectual arguments..."

With his propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, he made it clear that if the Jew had not existed, they would have had to invent him. They also understood all too well that "any lie, frequently repeated, will gradually gain acceptance," e.g. that "liberals" have infested SBC institutions and agencies and are ruining the unsuspecting with heretical teachings. The Hitlers and Goebbels of all time eras know that "the big lie" will work because most people are innately trusting and therefore have a limited capacity to fathom deception on a grand scale.

In keeping with their understanding of the two critical ingredients of mass movements, which were probably both bibliographically and intuitively derived, the fundamentalists concocted the Bible as the issue and resurrected the liberal label to create a worthy adversary. While this strategy surfaced in 1978-79, the historical roots go back at least to 1887 and the English Baptist battles of the downgrade controversy, followed in America by the nationwide fundamentalist movement of the 1920s with the Reverend J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth, Texas, as a prime mover and propagandist in the south.

Present day fundamentalist leadership was incensed when, in their opinion, the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message statement did not go far enough in correcting what they perceived as the shortcomings of the 1925 Baptist Faith & Message statement formulated in the heat of the Norris era. They wanted no less than a creed or instrument of doctrinal accountability so that the body of Baptist cardinals and bishops could enforce what they believe every Baptist must believe to be a proper Baptist.

A few years later, when Harold Lindsell, former editor of Christianity Today, published The Battle for the Bible (1976) and The Bible in the Balance (1979) through the Zondervan Publishing House, the fundamentalists in the SBC were ecstatic with the accusations and name-calling and the battle was on with the winning of the SBC presidency in 1979 by the Reverend Adrian Rogers of Memphis, Tennessee.

In Texas, the Reverend W.A. Criswell insisted that the faculty and staff of Dallas Baptist College sign a creedal statement containing the two points he and others believed should have been included in the 1925 and1963 statements. Indeed, he was quoted as saying of those at Dallas Baptist or at other Baptist institutions who were unwilling to sign the revised statement and creedal position that "there are plenty of other places where the infidels can teach."

The fundamentalists knew, of course, that they had to focus primarily on our seminaries, colleges, universities, trustees, administrations and faculties since these institutions and individuals have intimate and lengthy contact with many of the future leaders of our denomination.

Thus, the total control and power sought by the fundamentalists could be achieved only if the vast majority of Southern Baptist teachers and leaders believed the same way and taught students to do likewise until everyone is properly indoctrinated, particularly pulpit ministers who then could and would articulate the theology "approved" by the theocracy.

Soon after Rogers' June 1979 election as president of the SBC, Paul Pressler, a Houston, Texas layman and the key fundamentalist strategist, made it quite clear that they were "going for the jugular" in gaining control of institutional and agency boards. The fundamentalist college of cardinals (a term which I first used, along with Baptist bishops, in 1984) began to raise up some victims among our teachers and institutional and agency heads.

These actions were entirely consonant with mass movement strategy since individuals must be identified and victimized from time to time to keep the hatred and fires burning in the bellies of the mass movement members. In other words, they have to see live evidence of the demeaning, punishment and even destruction, physical or psychological, of the worthy adversary.

As Eric Hoffer has discerned, "hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents." Heinrich Heine has suggested that "what Christian love cannot do is effected by a common hatred." Finally, it has been said that "mass movements can rise and spread without a belief in a god but never without a belief in a devil. The strength of a mass movement is proportionate to the vividness and tangibility of its devil," in our case, the liberals in Southern Baptist life had to be created and tormented to give birth and continuing impetus to the fundamentalist movement.

The SBC fundamentalist movement, like all its predecessors, had to develop early on a cohesive corporate organization and a capacity to absorb and integrate all comers. the strength of the fundamentalists has been in their ability to quickly recruit and totally absorb the many in the SBC seeking absolute answers and affirmation in a rapidly changing, highly technological world where they felt that everything that once seemed to be "nailed down" is coming loose. Hitler was a master in recognizing that a mass movement can never go too far in advocating and promoting collective cohesion and meeting the need to belong, the post-world war I era in Germany and the vast changes in our society since world war II, and particularly since the early 1960s, provided the environment and atmosphere essential for the fundamentalist demagogic takeover.

The leaders of the fundamentalist movement possess classical mass movement personality characteristics in that they have demonstrated time and again that they have an unfulfilled craving for power, recognition and goals that cannot be found in their ordinary pursuits.

They require separation from self and something they view as more creative and fulfilling than that of a servant role in a lost world filled with travail. A blemished self that manifests itself in bibliolatry and hot pursuit of the worthy adversary motivates them. The personality structure involves the proclivities and behavior indigenous to a frustrated mind.

All active mass movements, and the fundamentalist movement is no exception, claim that "the ultimate and absolute truth is embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it." As Henri Bergson said in his 1935 book, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, "so tenaciously should he cling to the world revealed by the gospel, that were I to see all the angels in heaven coming down to tell me something different, not only would I not be tempted to doubt a single syllable, but I would shut my eyes and stop my ears, for they would not deserve to be either seen or heard."

This is the source of the fundamentalist's constancy. He is "not frightened by danger nor disheartened by obstacles nor baffled by contradictions because he denies their existence." Strength of faith in such personalities, as Bergson pointed out, manifests itself not in moving mountains but in not seeing mountains to move.

Since it is doubtful that the involved mass movement extremist who deserts his holy cause or is suddenly left without one can adjust himself once again to an autonomous individual existence without incurring much self-hatred, then it is also doubtful that the leaders and most followers of the fundamentalist camp will change their behavior any time soon. It would be like the loss of life itself to those who are the most psychologically afflicted.

In view of the preceding statements, what will we continue to see in the fundamentalist mass movement in Southern Baptist life? First, the fanatical orthodoxy will continue as long as the movement leadership is in possession of power and can impose its faith by force and by coercive persuasion.

Persistent coercion is of nonpareil effectiveness, not only with those who lead a less complex existence but also with those who consider themselves leaders and intellectuals. At some point, even those among us who consider themselves strong and resilient may compromise and capitulate if they are not constantly unyielding to such ungodly tactics. We must therefore accept the fact that innocent people will continue to be deliberately accused and sacrificed in order to keep suspicion and hatred alive.

Second, there will be a continuation of doctrinal purifying, slogans and an interpretation of "historic new days in Southern Baptist life" to try to reinvigorate those involved in the fundamentalist movement and to attract new adherents. Attempts to discredit traditional conservative Baptist leadership and institutions also will continue.

Furthermore, it is a fact of history that when a mass movement attracts and rewards people who are primarily ambitious in their personal careers, that it has passed its most viable stages and is committed to preserving the power of the present.

Hoffer has said, "It ceases then to be a movement and becomes an enterprise." Hitler said "the more posts and offices a movement has to hand out, the more inferior stuff it will attract, and in the end these political hangers-on overwhelm a successful movement in such numbers that the honest fighter of former days no longer recognizes the old movement...." For example, Al Mohler, Roger Moran and Bill Streich, present day highly vocal critics, do not possess the political and theological acumen of the early day Presslers and Pattersons who unleashed the unholy war.

Let me conclude by commending one of our former pastors who exhibited great insight back in 1974 in a Broadman Press book entitled, The Church Christ Approves, he stated:

"Fundamentalism is more dangerous than liberalism because everything is done in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, the fundamentalist condemns all who disagree with him... he uses the Bible as a club with which to beat people over the head, rather than a means of personal strength and a revealer of God, to the fundamentalist, the test of fellowship is correct doctrine. If you do not agree with his doctrinal position, he writes you off and will not have fellowship with you.

"There is no room in his world for those who have a different persuasion. He feels threatened by diverse convictions and writes them off as sinister and heretical. As long as you support his position, he is with you. Cross him, and he has no use whatever for you... the fundamentalist tactic is simple: hatred, bitterness and condemnation of all whom they despise... in the name of the Lord they will launch vehement attacks on individuals and churches, in the name of the Lord they attempt to assassinate the character of those whom they oppose, they direct their attack most often on other Christian leaders with whom they find disagreement...."

Thank you former SBC president, and now SBC new Lifeway president (a reward!) Jimmy Draper for such a vivid description of the heart, mind and soul of the fundamentalist, that unholy element which has given us the destructive mass movement of the past 20 years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, Henri L. Bergson, Henry Holt & Co., NY, 1935.

The Origins and Destiny of Imperial Britain, J.A, Cramb, John Murray Co., London, 1915, p. 216.

The Church Christ Approves, Broadman Press, Nashville, TN 1974, pp. 38-43. James T. Draper, Jr.

Religion and Philosophy in Germany, Heinrich Heine, Trubner & Co., London, 1882, p. 89.

Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1943, p. 105.

The True Believer, Eric Hoffer, Harper And Row Publishers Ny, 1966 (Originally Published By Harper & Brothers, 1951), exact and inexact quotes from throughout the book, pp.1-151.

The Third Reich: The New Order, Editor's of Time-Life Books, Time-Life, Alexandria, Va, 1989, pp. 53-97.

The Third Reich: Storming To Power, Editors Of Time-Life Books, Time-Life, Alexandria, Va, 1989. pp. 7-60