FOX TO BE IN ACTUAL LEGIT PUBLICATION

[KeithE]

Well I got the book yesterday and just now read “Twenty-First Churchin’ in Alabama” by Stephen M Fox.

It held my attention. Guess it proves what one says online at BL.com can upset some sensitive people who want all their church cohorts to think in something close to mono-think. Guess it also proves that talking up too much at SS, etc. can get oneself banned from church attendance - Stephen had been told in writing not to speak and if he wanted to make a comment bring it in written form to a deacon who would pre-clear it.

Stephen - I am sorry this happened to you.

Stephen's chapter verbiage about it all is classical Foxian.

When can we meet to get an autograph?

[Stephen Fox]

Thanks for reading. I understand a more professional reviewer with a wider audience in North Alabama will be reviewing the book soon. Maybe she will have a better appreciation for Fox "verbiage" than KeithE; at same time I appreciate him reading the book.

For at least a year I had continued to engage the conversation in Sunday School while honoring the Deacon's clearing on any Divine Utterance I considered in the sanctuary. So Keith's misunderstands a little there. The Pastor(the SS taeacher) and the chair deacons, then a late 30 something, willy nilly invoked the Sanctuary rules for Sunday School when I challenged his Francis Schaeffer garbage on abortion in Sunday school.

Was not Pasto Morgan's best moment. Some folks in the room who count the BJC and planned parenthood among their christian network stayed silent that day.

So maybe all was not in vain other than I'm still off the grounds of the church where my Mother was baptized.

[Stephen Fox]

Rather my comment at MJones in reference to a piece that went up today.

Mother Jones should follow up on this story. Hugh Taylor was swept into office on a GOP landslide concocted by Bama House Chair Mike Hubbard, subject of a Jason Zengerle cover story in the New Republic, The New Racism of last October. Bleaching strategy designed to weaken the political input of Hispanics and blacks across the state. Collinsville is about a third blac, third Hispanic and third white. Supe Taylor is likely more a Rube than a racist, but his Baptist church and extended family on close to Lilly White Sand Mtn is the driving force in a so called "christian' Academy, Cornerstone in Rainsville.....Previously Taylor has been in a struggle over a well loved HS basketball coach....Taylor's stepmother is rumored to be a Miss Auburn, or a sister of a near Miss Alabama in the 60s......Mikke Hubbard's son is now a Freshman at Furman University, alma mater of Marshall Frady, who many consider the greatest social justice journalist of the latter half of the 20th Century, who hit Lowndes County running for Newsweek right after Selma in 65 to cover the trial of the murderer of Jonathan Daniels

[Stephen Fox]

The Exiled Generations is a collection of poignant testimonials by individuals whose parents and relatives were purged from or left the Southern Baptist Convention in the wake of the fundamentalist takeover beginning in 1980. Building upon Professor Kell’s earlier work, Exiled, which revealed the stories of those who were themselves expurgated, this new book details the experiences of their relations—the sons and daughters who saw their moderate-leaning parents lose pastoral positions, administrative posts, missionary appointments, or seminary professorships, and who faced their own often fraught relationships with their church home.
Until now, the stories of this “lost generation” have never been fully told. In this collection, Professor Kell presents a diverse and wide range of voices. Some are well-known Baptist leaders, while others are ordinary people caught up in the remarkable changes in Baptist life over the past few decades. Here, they recount their feelings of loss as they were severed from youth fellowships and removed from church rolls. Many describe the lingering emotional effects of the heartbreaking conflict that dominated their childhood and adolescence. Their recollections reveal the full range of responses—anger, sadness, pathos, humor, intense inner reflection—to these enormous shifts. This volume shows the extent to which this group has struggled and wandered in emotional and religious exile.
The Exiled Generations comprises rich primary sources for scholars and students who are exploring the profound strife that has rocked the Southern Baptist Convention. These deeply moving accounts will offer invaluable assistance to researchers analyzing the impact of the seismic changes within the denomination over the past thirty-five years.

[William Thornton]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

I plan on reading the book, and am looking forward to Stephen's section of it.

If I owned a business, I'd sure want whoever wrote that puff piece for Amazon to promote it. Great terminology there, "poignant testimonials," "purged from", and particularly the term "exiled." Oh, and "lost generation." That's a good one.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

[William Thornton]

You do remember that mods once discussed how to handle the budding CR and thought tossing a few jobs, trusteeships, and positions to them would mollify them? Pre-CR mods controlled the machinery to the exclusion of cons. No purge was necessary.

[KeithE]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Sandy]

The key to understanding the whole thing from a moderate perspective is, as far as I am concerned, wrapped up in their continued use of the term "takeover" to describe the CR. The arrogance and sense of entitlement that implies is elitist. The entrenchment of a particular "class" of denominational leaders prior to 1979 and the way the denominational apparatus was structured made it virtually impossible for anyone not in the closed circle of friends and relatives to be involved in leadership. The use of the term "takeover" indicates an attitude that those in leadership felt entitled, by virtue of their connections, influence, and level of "prominence" and prestige within the denomination, to determine who was part of the leadership class, and who didn't belong. There was considerable resentment when conservative leaders figured out how to use the backward system to make a change of direction, and consternation when the realization set in that their following was large enough to sustain the necessary support to bring about complete change.

For some reason, moderates feel compelled to keep producing this kind of literature, rehashing their own perspective of why Southern Baptists, when offered the chance, moved away from the direction of their leadership. It's like some sort of collective inferiority complex has developed, and they're still seeking legitimacy for a cause that's never attracted more than a handful of supporters and followers, and never materialized according to expectations. In this particular genre of moderate Baptist literature, there's a lot of emphasis on "why we were right", and on finding reasons for the lack of success in forming an effective opposition, or in gathering much of a following, including everything but the real reason for the success of the conservative resurgence. An honest analysis is rare.

I have a pretty fair collection of books of this type by now, most of them gathering dust. My attraction to this one in particular is due to Stephen's presence among its authors. After reading much of what he writes here, I'm interested in seeing how that gets incorporated into this particular book.

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

I recall "going for the jugular," from Pressler. But I think early on the term "conservative resurgence" was their characterization of choice.

It would have been difficult to block Criswell's path when he chose to run, given his stature, and the popularity of his ministry and church at the time. I'd speculate that the leadership probably felt if there were some kind of effort to put up opposition, it might trigger a conservative push. I don't think the bylaws provided the kind of appointive power at that time that they did later on.

[Neil Heath]

[Ed Pettibone]

[David Flick]

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Stephen Fox]

President Obama will be in Selma March 7. There is a good chance he will mention Collinsville in his speech there for this story on the HS History club

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/alab ... ing-selma/

Watch the video. Mr Stanton is a good friend of mine, his son's hs basketball standouts in the 90s, Solomon the best of the bunch.

I am working toward a thorough piece on the Birch Society and the "Takeover" with pretty much a greenlight from an editor of a well respected publication. The focus will be the Oct 9 nybooks.com print issue by Thomas Powers on the takeover, with a strong reference to Lee Atwater's "n I g g e r" memo in the book reviewed Rough Country by Princeton's Robert Wuthnow if any of you want to get a head start; with a little Molly Worthen and Balmer scattered in.

Right now I got local fish to fry with a letter to the Ft Payne paper over local school supe tayor, his Warren's Graveyard Baptist church and the "Christian" academy his extended family runs; Furman and the Governor of Alabama, the state School office and Auburn Living Democracy Project are on notice.

The Movie Selma has inspired me. Hope all yall go see it soon.. It leaves the earth at the end after the chat between Wallace and LBJ and ascends into Heaven and ain't nobody gonna turn me around!

[Stephen Fox]

I've been there and seen it with my own eyes. The Exiled Generation should bring it right up once you're own facebook

www.facebook.com/sbcexiles

[KeithE]