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.
SBC Watching
Russell Moore: Not really a hero
In these two letters, Moore tries very hard to portray himself as a man of deep principles and great morality: a hero in every sense of the word, fighting hard against the enemies of good in the halls of power in his denomination. Alas, his actual behavior doesn’t quite support that portrayal. Today, we’ll see how Russell Moore fits into his own self-presentation as a big damn hero.
Analyzing Christianity
Church Plants: Making Awful Lemonade Out of SBC Lemons
Yes, the SBC ended up with a small net positive in church additions to their denomination. Much of it seems to have come from church plants, meaning brand-new churches. But that number isn’t one to celebrate, as we’ll see today.
From Patreon
Why SBC Leaders Lied for Jesus About the 2021 Annual Report
Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, we took our first sneak peek at various statistics that will be formally released in the 2021 Annual Report of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) (archive link here). And oh boy, their numbers were not good. Not at all, nope. But then, various SBC leaders tried their darndest, Read more
From Patreon
How the SBC Lied for Jesus With Their 2021 Annual Report Sneak Peek
It’s fascinating to me to see how the SBC’s Dear Leaders spin-doctor their decline to the flocks, not to mention how they keep trying to reverse (or at least bottom out) their decline. And friends, they outdid themselves with a shockingly-dishonest press release about their 2020 numbers. Today, I want to show you how the SBC’s leaders misrepresented the truth about last year’s numbers with their 2021 Annual Report sneak peek.
SBC Watching
How and Why Al Mohler Changed His Mind About Women Pastors
Hi and welcome back! We’ve been talking lately about the re-erupting squabble in evangelicalism about women pastors. In particular, the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) hate the idea. And in most particular, Al Mohler hates the idea. Long ago, he fully supported women pastors. But now he’s 100% against Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Gaslighting: How Dare We Expect Evangelicals to Fulfill Their Promises!
Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, I alluded to the mistreatment evangelicals heap upon people who express disappointment with their experiences in the religion. To be sure, it does happen. It happened to me, in fact! Yes, people join these evangelical groups on the basis of a whole bunch of marketing Read more
Analyzing Christianity
Evangelicals’ birthrate strategies reveal very dark covert goals
Yesterday, we checked out some evangelicals’ reactions to the pandemic-related declines in birthrates around the world. These evangelicals’ general approach to increasing birthrates in general interested me. Instead of helping to make life easier for the women having these babies, evangelical leaders instead sought to shame, gaslight, scare, and strong-arm Read more
Analyzing Christianity
The new low birthrate moral panic evangelicals are stirring up
In the wake of the pandemic, many countries are experiencing a drop in their birthrate. That won’t be surprising or big news to most of us. Nor would most of us be surprised to learn that American evangelicals themselves aren’t immune to the social forces that influence everyone else’s family planning decisions. But evangelical leaders are certainly upset about all of this. They’re trying to blame the decreasing birthrate on sin and evil ickie straw feminism, instead of taking responsibility for what’s probably actually happening. Today, let me show you the story itself — and then show you how evangelicals are freaking out about it for all the wrong reasons.