GA Baptist Convention Has Done It Again: Stop Blogging . . . Or Else

First the good news: GA Baptists have just approved a record budget, added 62 new churches and missions & approved the distribution of money that used to go to Mercer University. Sadly, Mercer is no longer part of the GBC because of a separate fight, but that is another post.

Now the bad news: The voice of dissent is to be silenced by those who don't want open & honest discussion about basic philosophical differences.


The Associated Baptist Press article says:

Wayne Bray and William Harrell, pastors at Beulah Baptist Church in Douglasville, submitted an anti-blogging resolution, which said blogs are used by “certain people … for divisive and destructive rhetoric at the expense of peace among the brethren.”

The resolution states “the messengers of this convention oppose blogging when it is used to cause division and disharmony among the members of our Southern Baptist family…. All personal attacks should cease immediately … [we] call upon bloggers to cease the critical second-guessing of these elected leaders; and be it further resolved that all Georgia Baptists respectfully request and expect that individuals who disrupt the fellowship through blogging repent and immediately cease this activity and no longer cause disharmony for the advancement of their own personal opinions and agendas.”

So let's translate this, shall we:

"...for divisive and destructive rhetoric at the expense of peace among the brethren..." --- Don't say anything publicly that disagrees with the party line lest you meet the swift boot of a resolution.

"...the messengers of this convention oppose blogging when it is used to cause division and disharmony..." --- We don't want bloggers to talk about the abuses, the power grabs, the unethical politics, & the unChristian actions. Putting it out there in a blog allows the average Joe & Jane in the pew to know about it & they are the messengers with control of the purse strings.

"...All personal attacks should cease immediately..." --- Except ours, of course. No one should use their computers for communication with other Baptists because a movement may coalesce.

"...call upon bloggers to cease the critical second-guessing of these elected leaders..." --- We repeat: stop communicating & voicing an opinion different than ours.

...be it further resolved that all Georgia Baptists respectfully request and expect that individuals who disrupt the fellowship through blogging repent and immediately cease this activity and no longer cause disharmony for the advancement of their own personal opinions and agendas." --- Do it our way or you're not in God's Will, & our way is God's Will. Questioning us is sin.

Heard those before, haven't we? The Inquisition. Theocratic Colonial America that Roger Williams fled; the kind Isaac Backus & John Leland argued against.

When Baptist voices are silenced, so is the meaning of Baptist. I resent my denomination becoming a de facto political action committee where any questioning is met with charges of being unpatriotic & unchristian.

Sad, sad day.