by Sandy » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:19 am
While Richard Land and many SBC leaders leave the impression that Southern Baptists are largely conservative Republicans, and that the denomination's "16 million members" generally support GOP causes, and that may very well be causing obstacles to evangelism, by observation, I don't think that's necessarily so. I wouldn't disagree that in the typical Southern Baptist church, the proverbial congregation with 120 people in attendance, median age 55, lily white, that a majority of those who are openly politically active would side with the GOP and its candidates, though I don't think it would necessarily be a large majority. And among the minority there are still plenty of Baptists who think that the church's primary mission is evangelism, not politics.
The SBC is working very hard to include African Americans, because their churches represent one of the segments of the SBC that is growing rapidly and where a lot of the baptisms can be found these days. Sometimes, I wonder if the motivation to help African American churches isn't, at least in part, to try to convert them politically. I have several African American friends who are quite high up the ladder in SBC life, and if that's been the expectation, then the effort isn't working very well. Likewise, the political rhetoric is missing in SBC Hispanic churches, which are also keeping the baptistry waters stirring and the church membership rolls growing. There are probably more politically conservative Hispanics than African Americans, though they are not anywhere close to a plurality, much less a majority.
Prior to the 80's, the political perspective of most Southern Baptist was simple silence, and for many, non-participation altogether. That still seems to be part of the fabric, regardless of the political rhetoric of the day.