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Tuesday, July 4th, 2023

The ‘Shrinking Baptist Convention’ Is Doubling Down on the Culture Wars

Author:     DAVID SIDERS
Source:     Politico Magazine
Publication Date:     07/03/2023 04:30 AM EDT
 Link: The ‘Shrinking Baptist Convention’ Is Doubling Down on the Culture Wars
Stephan:  

This is why I speak of christofascism. The evangelical Christian movement is one of the foundations of the MAGAt worldview, and melded with the Republican Party. From Reagan through Trump they have been a major force, but several other trends have come together, shrinking membership particularly amongst the young, women pastors, to create a schism in the church. The fundamentalists are a shrinking minority. But this shrinkage instead of dissuading a large percentage of the Southern Baptist Convention from their fundamentalism has made them double down, as this article describes very clearly. In my opinion this schism is a very important trend in the politics of the 2024 election.

Many messengers said they worry Trump is too much of a “lightning rod” to win a general election or are “disappointed” with his behavior on Jan. 6, 2021 – or with his blaming abortion for the GOP’s underperformance in the midterms.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — No one could accuse the Baptists of excessive cheeriness. Or underplaying their challenges.

Over the clanking of silverware and the smell of breakfast sausages on the sidelines of a major gathering of Southern Baptists here, several hundred pastors and other churchgoers welcomed a roster of speakers ruminating on a “teetering” nation, “sexual insanity,” “all this trans stuff” and the specter that the country’s largest Protestant denomination was on a “road to insignificance.”

At the evening get-together in the same hotel ballroom — where attendees sipped on bottles of water in this humid city better known for imbibing more intoxicating beverages — they used even more apocalyptic language.

“We are living in dark and perilous times in America,” read the billing for a night with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, “as our […]

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