Street Urges Baptists to ‘Find their Voice’
By Jim Newton

The coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi (CBF-MS) warned Southern Baptists of the dangers of fundamentalism, and urged them to “find their voice” in taking a stand for freedom and the love of Christ.

“The love of Christ cares enough to speak the truth to those living in fundamentalist bondage and is brave enough to protect the faith of our children from religious zealots,” said Steve Street in his first annual coordinator’s report during the annual Fall Assembly of CBF-MS. “I don’t want my twin boys to grow up under the influence of fundamentalism,” he explained.

Street compared the Fundamentalists in the Southern Baptist Convention today to the Pharisees and Sadducees Jesus encountered.

As Jesus went about his mission and ministry to people in need, the fundamentalists of his day hounded him with a series of test questions to determine his doctrinal legitimacy on such issues as divorce, payment of taxes, and marriage after the resurrection, Street said.

“Then in Matthew 23:23, Jesus lays it on the table and says what needs to be said,” observed Street. “‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites…’ Jesus said. ‘You give a tenth of your spices…but you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness.’”

Street said that the love of Christ not only motivates CBF to mission and ministry, but also is strong enough and willing to confront the legalism and bondage of fundamentalism. It is a love “that calls us to give up control and be embraced by the nurturing love of God.”

He said he had often heard Southern Baptist pastors say, “We have managed to stay above the fundamentalist fray in the SBC.” Then he observed: “So we go back into our cocoon and pretend the ravages of fundamentalism against our seminaries and institutions are nothing more than ‘preacher wars.’

“Then we righteously say, ‘Now if they ever start messing with our missionaries, then you will see the people in the pews rise up in protest,” Street said.

But this year, every SBC missionary serving in the International Mission Board is being required to sign the Baptist Faith and Message Statement, or be relieved of duty, said Street.

“As we sit here today, missionaries are leaving the field rather than surrender their historic Baptist freedom to creedalism.” But in Mississippi and most other states, Street said he had heard little more than a grunt in response. “In fact, our response has been to stick our heads in the sand and continue pretending the controversy does not affect us.”

Street compared the apathy among Southern Baptists toward fundamentalism to what marriage and family therapists often refer to “the big, invisible elephant sitting in the middle of the room.” Everyone involved in counseling knows the elephant exists, but they don’t want to talk about it and openly try to pretend it doesn’t exist. The elephant may be alcoholism, drug addiction, or an explosive temper.

In Baptist life, the big unseen elephant sitting in our living room is religious fundamentalism, Street said. “I guess it is our southern culture that says, ‘It is not polite to talk about it.’”

Street held up a cassette tape of a message by Frank Pollard, retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., and current president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. Pollard preached during chapel at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary last year.

“It looks as though,” said Pollard in that message, “that we are trying in our denomination to meet year by year and issue by issue to rewrite the Bible.”

Pollard recalled staying at a Marriott Hotel (owned by a Mormon) and seeing both a Holy Bible and a Book of Mormon that every Mormon must read to understand the Bible. “I fear,” said Pollard, “that we are getting to the place where we might have a Book of Baptist and we must read the Book of Baptist before we read the Holy Scripture.”

“We need courageous Baptist statesmen who tell it like it is,” Street said. He added he read a letter from a pastor to his congregation in which he called fundamentalism “a dangerous, anti-Gospel ideology.” Although the words are strong, they are true, said Street. “Somebody had found his voice and spoken the truth.”

The cause, he declared, is not fighting fundamentalism, but flying the flag of freedom and ministry to others with the love of Christ. “I don’t expect every freedom-loving Southern Baptist to fly the CBF flag, but at least fly the flag of freedom—Bible freedom, soul freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom.”

Street told of a personal experience in which he told a counselor he felt like a man who had grown up on a tree, but had been pushed out on a limb being sawed off by fundamentalist Baptists. “I had no desire to climb back on the branch, but I was fearful of the fall.”

After a long silence, the counselor told Street, “When you fall, you may find you have fallen into your true community of faith."

October 2002