Moderate Baptists

I believe that the political pendulum is swinging, that we are moving away from the conservatives and towards moderatism. The recent elections nationally and statewide support that. I found another sign of that in an article in the Washington Post article about Presidents Carter and Clinton helping organize moderate Baptists into a coalition to rival the conservative Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)

This would consist of a "coalition of four historically black Baptist churches -- including the 7.5-million-member National Baptist Convention USA and the 2.5-million-member Progressive National Baptist Convention -- and several predominantly white Baptist groups, including the 1.4-million-member American Baptist Churches USA and the 500,000-member Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Together, they have more than 20 million members, outnumbering the SBC"

". . . broadcast evangelists such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson, along with the Southern Baptist Convention, have "downsized the moral message" of the Bible "so that the dominant question has to do with sexuality."

Black Baptist churches, he said, are saying that "sexuality is not the only dimension of morality. The whole business of social justice, of a fair prosecution of offenders, caring for the environment, immigration, even the morality of our foreign policy, are things that really need to be put into the debate."