I Was Wrong

In one sense, I am a classic Generation X’er. Among many characteristics we are purported to share is an anti-institutional bias, and there is good reason for that. We Generation X’ers have seen institutions fail at their basic missions, become inflexible, have a basic allergy to change, have no capacity for self-criticism, and lose their ideological moorings. One the worst failures of institutions, however, is their willingness to assume power over the people they were created to serve. Institutions, almost all of them, are created to be servants of the people or of the people’s mission. After a period of time, institutions often become powerful enough to assume power over the people and their mission. Worse, people can be sacrificed for the sake of the institution. So, unlike our Builder Generation grandparents, we Generation X’ers can treat institutions with a bit of disdain. Our basic hope is that they will do their jobs and manage not to embarrass us.

When it comes to the life of the Church, I have held institutions at arm’s length. I am always glad when missionaries are sent and pastors are trained. I am glad when orphanages are filled with supplies and hospitals are constructed. I am most gratified when the Gospel is shared. Believing institutions were necessary for the mission but had a tendency toward bad behavior, I tried to treat all institutions with something akin to benign neglect. As long as they did not do something embarrassing or out of the bounds of orthodoxy, I would leave them alone.

What I did not imagine was the events of the last few years. I could not imagine a world in which the Southern Baptist Convention would protect its own at the expense of the vulnerable. I am now utterly shaken by the response to the abuse of women in the SBC. Both Dorothy and Paige Patterson have demonstrated utter callousness toward the abuse of women. Knowing of Paige Patterson’s comments is one thing. Hearing Dorothy Patterson’s callousness in her own voice is eye-opening. Listen here: D. Patterson Recording

Allowing the Pattersons to be involved in the leadership of the denomination is completely unacceptable going forward. I do realize that the Pattersons are no longer in leadership in any formal way, but the Conservative Baptist Network, those who supported Mike Stone for SBC president, are Pattersonian in outlook and tactics. Patterson was there at the founding of the group and supports it publicly. Paige Patterson was among those who orchestrated the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 80s and 90s, and it looks like he was about 600 votes short of organizing a second takeover, the margin of Stone’s loss. My hunch is that Patterson is energized by the result not chagrined.

I also could not imagine the turn of events in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The CBF was founded as a moderate organization in response to the SBC. Moderate is an odd way to describe the original CBFers. Most of them were quite conservative. Consider Dan Vestal. Vestal was an early leader in the CBF, and were he a Methodist, he would be thought of as *very* conservative. In fact, virtually no other large protestant group would have thought of the CBF as anything other than quite conservative in its early days. When SBC leaders argued the CBF would fall into “denominational drift,” I pretty much scoffed. When conservatives asserted that the moderates were really progressives in disguise, well, I thought that was simply balderdash. All of that is changed now. The entire energy of the CBF is progressive. Many of the seminaries and divinity schools associated with CBF are ideologically indistinguishable from mainline progressive seminaries. The Illumination Project, while disappointing to many progressives, is simply a progressive document in slow-motion. Unstated in it is the vision that eventually the CBF will be “welcoming and affirming.” Is there room in the CBF for moderates? Perhaps. The future of the “denomi-network” is, however, progressive.

What I have learned is that being uninvolved in institutional affairs is a grave mistake. Holding institutions at arm’s length and hoping they would not embarrass me often was not helpful. Now, my participation would not guarantee anything. If I had participated in the process there is no guarantee the result would have been any different. What I do know is by not participating in the process, I had no voice in the result. All of this must change now. The issues are too big. The times are too grave. I’ll get involved at every level I can. It is my responsibility.