SBC Watching
Baptism Sunday: Evaluating Christian Claims
Today, let’s check out the SBC’s success claims regarding this most recent Baptism Sunday — and see what might be going on there in reality.
SBC Watching
The SBC’s Big Plan: Sowing Division to Poach New Members
Yesterday, we talked about how strange Ronnie Floyd’s VISION 2025 initiative seems. He wants the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to put into place all this expanded room for more members, but doesn’t include any specific plans to get more members. I theorized at the time that maybe he planned to poach regressive evangelicals from other, more sensible denominations during this pandemic. Well, today we’ll see that this does indeed appear to be exactly what the SBC’s top leaders are counting on. They’re deliberately sowing division to bring vaccine denialists and QAnon- and Trump-addled Christians to their very regressive banner.
From Patreon
Ronnie Floyd is Still Pushing ‘Vision 2025’ For Some Reason
Today, let’s check out Vision 2025 — and see why Ronnie Floyd just can’t let go of what he really hopes will prove to be his legacy to the entire SBC denomination.
Analyzing Christianity
The Southern Baptist Convention Faced Serious Declines Everywhere in 2020
Today, let’s go over the declines that the SBC faced all over in 2020, and talk about why those declines likely happened.
From Patreon
The SBC’s 2021 Book of Reports Is Out!
As is our wont each year, we now turn our gaze to the 2021 Annual Report of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). These reports — as biased, uneven, and spin-doctored as they always are — are of great importance to anybody keeping tabs on evangelical Christians. They give us a great deal of information. Not only do these reports cover the previous year, but they also give us hints about evangelicals’ strategies for the year(s) ahead. They even reveal the various stresses on evangelical leaders’ minds! So today, let’s check out this year’s report for some basic stats.
From Patreon
Sermongate: The Seriously Misplaced Priorities of the Evangelical Old Guard
In the various reactions to this mini-scandal that we’ve seen, possibly the worst hot takes of all come from his political enemies in evangelicalism: the Old Guard, whose members work to make the SBC even more regressive, racist, misogynistic, and cruel than it already is. Indeed, their reaction to Sermongate reveals a seriously misplaced set of priorities. Today, let’s check out their reaction — and see how they destroy their own claims to possessing a superior set of morals and ethics over all other flavors of Christianity.
From Patreon
Ed Litton: Evangelicals React to His Plagiarism Scandal
Hi and welcome back! Last week, we heard about a minor scandal brewing in evangelicalism (and for once, it’s not a sex scandal). Ed Litton, the newly-elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), plagiarized a series of sermons from the previous SBC president, J.D. Greear. As one might expect, Read more
From Patreon
#SBC21: Meet Randy Adams, the FOURTH SBC Candidate
I’m sure Randy Adams thought the SBC’s election this week would run along similar lines — or at least give him a chance to publicize his accusations against the main leaders of his denomination. Make no mistake: he’s got a lot of those accusations.
From Patreon
Ed Litton Just Became the New President of the SBC
Today, let’s look at the SBC meeting, the election of Ed Litton, and just the sheer audacious state of these guys.
SBC Watching
Russell Moore Wants Authoritarianism, Just Without Scandals
I had not yet learned that authoritarianism itself precludes sincerity or faithfulness in Christianity. Individual Christians might cultivate these traits, but there is no way to have a whole group of them reliably doing the same thing. Sooner or later, a bad-faith actor gets into that group — and wrecks it, often before it’s even really gotten off the ground.