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Jimmy Carter Disagreed with Southern Baptist Convention


Howl

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I didn't think I could love and respect Mr. Jimmy Carter more that I already do, BUT, Jimmy Carter severed all ties with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2009 after 6 decades of loyalty.  It not that he did this, it's the REASON he did this.  It is worth revisiting his essay for it's timeless truth and relevance to the rise of  toxic patriarchy in the U.S.. 

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I HAVE been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service....

....At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

Full text here: Losing my religion for equality

I don't know how many more years we'll be blessed with Jimmy Carter among us.  Each year is precious. 

April 15, 2016: Jimmy Carter's message: the fight continues against male-sanctioned female submissionWhat do Southern Baptists in the United States have in common with the Anglican Diocese of Sydney? They both require women to submit to their husbands.

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Of all the US presidents during my lifetime, Jimmy Carter may likely be (IMO, of course) the one with the most personal integrity.

A fine man.

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What an interesting essay, and what a great man for continuing to speak out against injustice! (I know the article is from years ago but he still has continued his work for positive change in the world.) This sentence in particular seems very relevant to FJ topics: 

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The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. 

 

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I'm neither Democrat nor Republican. I don't know what I am, to be honest. But I do know that I am very proud that Jimmy Carter was the first president I voted for in 1976. I liked him when I was 18, and I love him now that I'm almost 60. Many blessings, President Carter.

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He's still teaching Sunday School classes at the same Baptist church he's always attended.  I'm changing the title from severs to disagreed. I'm proud of what he did, but it isn't the same as leaving.

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He recently said something else about it being okay to not believe in the divinity of Jesus and one of the conservative commentators on my thread said something like "Sad he's making his own Jesus."  I had to stop myself from resorting with oh so you don't make your faith or understanding of Jesus based on your interpretations of the Bible.  This is okay for you to do, but if it doesn't line up with your rigid basis of understanding than the person deserves to be called sad and his faith impugned.  Honestly, I wonder if Jimmy Carter had lived in a different time if he may have just ended up identifying as a secular humanist, because to my mind he is much closer to a secular humanist.    He is a man of humility, integrity and just seems to comport himself in a respectable manner. 

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1 hour ago, Coconut Flan said:

He's still teaching Sunday School classes at the same Baptist church he's always attended.  I'm changing the title from severs to disagreed. I'm proud of what he did, but it isn't the same as leaving.

Sorry, but I strongly, very strongly disagree and I hope you'll change it back to the original title.  He severed his ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, he did not cut ties with his home church.  Two different things.  Member churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are autonomous, while the national denomination runs seminaries, missionary boards and a religious publishing house.

In his own words: "So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult."  

Many people and individual churches have disagreed with the radically conservative direction of leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and made the decision to  bail out (disaffiliate) as SBC it has:

  • declared opposition to women pastors
  • advocated a literal interpretation of the Bible
  • called for wives to be submissive to their husbands

This more recent 2012 WaPo article discusses how Washington D.C.'s 150-year-old Calvary Church decided to disaffiliate from the SBC.  The came to the hard decision that the SBC no longer reflected their values, although they are still a strongly Baptist church. 

Calvary Baptist pastor: Why we severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention

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Calvary’s decision this week to disaffiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention, then, was an action of shared conviction and identity, a positive defining of who we are and who we want to be.

We’re not Southern Baptists anymore, but we’re still Baptists; we wouldn’t give those historic principles up for anything. With this new declaration of affiliation, we are freer to declare to the world our shared belief that God is a welcoming, inclusive, transformational God in whose service we are called to live lives of deep, authentic and committed response.

 

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Individuals aren't members of the SBC.  His church still is.  His severance is in effect merely words.  They may be important words, but if he were truly cutting ties with the SBC, he'd be a Methodist or a Presbyterian, etc. 

The church he attends still is a member of the SBC and if he gives to his church, he's indirectly supporting and possibly directly supporting the SBC. 

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Sorry, I still disagree.  I'm interested in how Jimmy Carter sees things and he says that he has severed ties.  

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He can say that all day and possibly he refuses to do speaking engagements and such for them.  I can't get around that he attends a Southern Baptist Convention church.  That is not severing all ties.  If my next door neighbors told me the same line and they do attend an SBC church, I'd see it the same way.  Part of their offering goes to the SBC.  If he's contributing to that local church, part of his offering ends up at the SBC.  He can have stopped any personal dealings with the SBC, but he's still participating in the way other congregants of SBC churches do.  Just as my neighbors do.  You can't help it if you're a member of a participating church.  That, however, does not invalidate what he says about the SBC and his criticisms that I have read are quite valid. 

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Do we know that his church is still affiliated to the SBC? My understanding is that not all Baptist churches are.

And total agreement that President Carter had the most integrity, genuine humility and compassion of any president in my (more than 60 year) lifetime.

ETA Just checked, and the Maranatha Baptist church in Plains where he still teaches Sunday School IS affiliated to the SBC.

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As time as gone on, I respect Mr. Carter more and more and I had a lot of respect for him to begin with.   A genuinely good and compassionate man.

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If his church is still affiliated with the SBC, I'm surprised they continue to allow him to teach Sunday School there. Either way, I respect him more and more since he's actually more Christian than the asshole who is a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

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