Radical Christian nationalism is dividing the Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Protestant denomination in the US. At its annual convention, the delegates elected a moderate pastor as its president by 556 votes out of about 14,000. The split in the SBC is deep and increasingly bitter. The moderate, Ed Litton, defeated ultraconservative Mike Stone in a runoff after a first round of voting failed to elect a candidate. Unlike Stone, Litton tries to avoid culture wars. The radical conservatives are aggressive about culture war. Some delegates on either side may leave the SBC depending on how the conference plays out.

The New York Times writes: 

In Nashville, tempers were running high. Irate messengers [convention delegates] confronted at least two high-profile leaders in the halls of the convention center, accusing them of fomenting liberalism. Some leaders were provided with extra security.

“We are at a defining moment for our convention,” J.D. Greear, the departing president, told the assembly in a fiery speech hours before they would elect his successor. He excoriated the “Pharisees” within the denomination who placed ideological purity over its evangelistic mission, alienating Black and Latino pastors, sexual abuse survivors and others in their zeal.

“Are we primarily a cultural and political affinity group, or do we see our primary calling as being a gospel witness?” Mr. Greear asked. “What’s the more important part of our name: Southern or Baptist?”

Tuesday’s vote capped months of angry debate over race, gender and other cultural divides, as the denomination’s leaders and insurgents wrestled over whether their future hinged on wrenching the church even further to the right or broadening its reach.

The same plague of far right radicalism that has rotted the Republican Party and converted it to a fascist cult is now rotting Evangelical Christianity. 

The delegates passed a resolution to reaffirm the SBC 1995 apology for systemic racism. The SBC was founded before the Civil War to defend slavery. The convention rejected “any theory or worldview” claiming that racial discrimination is not sinful. At its 2019 meeting, delegates affirmed that critical race theory could be cited by faithful Baptists. That was seen by ultraconservatives as polarizing and alienating. Race is still dividing many Americans. 

In the months leading up to the convention there has been high-profile departures from the SBC and poisonous clashes. That comes despite a culture that used to be united about the essentials of Southern Baptist faith. It is not yet clear what the effects of this convention will be on the SBC.

Even with the election of a moderate, the SBC still sees liberalism as a threat. Outgoing president Greear warned of twin threats to Southern Baptists as the danger of liberalism and the danger of Phariseeism.

The ultraconservatives make clear that they are not going away. At a breakfast meeting hosted by the Conservative Baptist Network, an ultraconservative SBC executive committee member told attendees to not be discouraged if their candidate lost. “If we do not prevail today, we will come back next year and the next year and the next year. .... We are here to the death. We will not stop.” 

That sounds about like the apocalyptic political and religious far right radicalism that drives the fascist GOP today.