Declining Southern Baptists Double Down on Homophobia

Albert Mohler - Hate Merchant

As noted in prior posts, the Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") has seen at least seven (7) years of steadily declining membership as the denomination's extremism drives more and more individuals  and member churches to simply walk away.  Yet, rather than recognize that the denomination's bigotry and unloving treatment of others, the leadership seeks to double down further on the SBC's homophobia and general modern day Pharisee like behavior.   Leading the effort to make the denomination even more toxic and opposed to modernity is the delusional Albert Mohler.   In someways the SBC's isn;t surprising when one remembers that it came into existence because of its support for slavery and later segregation.  A piece in Religion Dispatches looks at the SBC's effort to redouble its hatred towards LGBT individuals.  Here are excerpts:

Despite declining membership and growing acceptance of same-sex marriage around the country, the Southern Baptist Convention is getting ready to double down on its anti-gay message. As an added bonus, their condemnation has gone all inclusive as they take special aim at the transgender community, who, up until now, had been largely ignored by the conservative Protestant denomination.

As members gather this week in Baltimore, Md., for their annual meeting, Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has already fired the opening salvo, condemning New Hart Community Church near Los Angeles for changing its anti-gay stance after pastor (a word the Christian news puts in scare quotes) Danny Cortez's 15-year-old-son came out as gay. Instead of condemning his gay son and casting him out from the church and his family (which I suppose the SBC would have seen as the Christ-like thing to do), Cortez loved and accepted his son.

Mohler was further enraged by the church's move to, y'know, love and accept their pastor (or "pastor," as they write) and let him keep his job. The church has declared itself a "Third Way" congregation - open to LGBT people but not declaring itself either liberal or conservative.

On his blog, Mohler opined: "[T]he Convention's constitution states explicitly that any congregation that endorses homosexual behavior is 'not in cooperation with the Convention,' and thus excluded from its membership. [ ... ] there is no middle ground, and no 'third way.'"

One of its churches accepting gay people is just the tip of the controversy iceberg for SBC leaders during their meeting, however.   . . . . The SBC is taking direct aim at transgender people at their meeting, opposing the "normalization" of gender identity issues.

[B]ashing gays doesn't get people to the polls anymore.

While 30 percent of Americans say they strongly oppose gay marriage, if only half of them think it's even somewhat important to their vote, you can deduce that only about 15 percent of Americans feel passionately enough about the issue that it has any impact on their vote.

Fifteen percent. SBC, do you hear that? Your base of supporters these days—those who are willing to join you in doubling down against the rights of their fellow LGBT human beings—makes up about 15% of the population. Seems to me the end of your journey to the dustbin of history is closer than you might think.

The SBC definitely ranks among the denominations that has turned Christianity into something very ugly.  Thankfully, more and more people are walking away from its message of hate and bigotry.