Southern Baptists Define Key Voting Issues
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Wed Sep 03, 2008 at 02:46:40 PM EST
In Kenneth Bailey's SOUTHERN WHITE PROTESTANTISM, Bailey reminds the reader about historic ethical stances taken in the South among Baptists.  In l920 the Southern Baptist Convention's Social Service Commission condemned teen dancing as a grave social evil.  The Convention also had a chance to take a stand on the abuse of child labor practiced by many industrialists in the region.  They declined to take a stand but instead passed several resolutions against tobacco and alcohol.  Living in the midst of  a two tier social system based on Jim Crow social justice. the convention was strangely silent.  That is until people like Foy Valentine led the Convention to think in terms of a deeper Christian ethic. Richard Land took Foy's place and drug the Conventon back into an ethical system of justice limited to below-the -belt social concerns.
 The recent SBC Life, which is mailed out to all the churches, carries an article about the key social issues in the McCain /Obama election. The story can be found at www.sbclife.net and carries an article by Michael Foust, who works for the official press of the Convention.  Foust lists the key social issues as basically abortion and gay marriages.  Global warming is given a few paragraphs however Richard Land has gone on record as doubting that there is any scientific evidence for such.<