LMAO!!
I'm not kidding! ;-)
Posted on 01/11/2007 8:59:58 AM PST by presidio9
Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have proposed the establishment of a broadly inclusive alternative Baptist movement to counter what they called a negative image of Baptists and to address poverty, the environment and global conflicts.
Carter and Clinton kicked off their plans with a news conference Jan. 9 at the Carter Center in Atlanta, flanked by leaders of moderate Baptist groups including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a breakaway group of an unverified number of churches that objected to the election of conservative leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention. Carter and Clinton announced a “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant,” tentatively set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2008, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, which they hope will attract 20,000 Baptists.
“This is a historic event for the Baptists in this country and perhaps for Christianity,” Carter said at the news conference.
About 80 leaders of 40 moderate Baptist organizations claiming to represent 20 million Baptists in the United States, Canada and Mexico met at the Carter Center for the announcement. Leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention were not invited to attend.
“This is an attempt to bring people together and say, ‘What would our Christian witness require of us in the 21st century?’” Clinton said, adding that his goal is to be a “cheerleader” for the group.
Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University in Georgia, said at the news conference that the 2008 meeting is meant to draw attention away from “the Baptists who have the microphone,” meaning conservative leaders who frequently appear in the media voicing conservative views.
“North America desperately needs a true Baptist witness,” Underwood said.
Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., took issue with Underwood’s assertion and Carter’s and Clinton’s remarks apparently aimed at Southern Baptists.
“Instead of engaging in a war of words, let’s do a reality check,” Page told Baptist Press. “Word games are fine, but reality says Southern Baptists are presenting a positive life-changing message, impacting our culture with our ministries and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Carter and Clinton “said they want to counter concerns that Baptists have been ‘negative’ and ‘exclusionary’ and promised an inclusive organization willing to debate openly on all issues.”
Morris H. Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said that Carter’s concerns about negative perceptions of Baptists ring hollow.
“He has been one of the most vocal critics of Southern Baptists, using ‘fundamentalist’ as a pejorative and drawing a caustic comparison between Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to power in Iran and the resurgence of conservative leadership being elected in the SBC,” Chapman wrote to Baptist Press.
Chapman also disputed Carter’s and Clinton’s notion about a negative perception of Baptists.
“Research shows this premise is false,” he said. “Zogby International conducted a survey for the SBC that showed adults view Southern Baptists favorably, equally to their views about Catholics and United Methodists. Not surprisingly, we fared best in areas where we have a strong presence and the community at large experiences our ministries and is familiar with our beliefs."
Tentative themes for plenary sessions at the 2008 meeting in Atlanta, according to a CBF communications report, are: Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, Unity in Bringing Good News to the Poor, Unity in Respecting Religious Diversity, Unity in Seeking Peace with Justice and Unity in Welcoming the Stranger and Healing the Broken-Hearted.
Both Page and Chapman addressed Clinton’s and Carter’s statements that the gathered group offered something new for Baptists.
Page pointed out that although Southern Baptists are painted as a white denomination, “It was not long ago that the Saturday Evening Post described the Southern Baptist Convention as 'the most ethnically diverse of all U.S. Protestant denominations.'”
According to SBC data for 2002, 4,742 out of 43,071 churches identified themselves as predominately ethnic, with 2,085 describing themselves as African-American. The SBC does not keep demographic information on individuals, so churches identified as predominately one race may have diversity among their members not reported in the data.
Chapman defended Southern Baptists’ record of ministering to the poor.
"Southern Baptists address world hunger in many ways, but a good example this past year was their giving $5.8 million, collected by the SBC Executive Committee, with every penny going solely to combat this global tragedy," Chapman said.
According to budget allocations, about 20 percent of funds collected for the SBC’s World Hunger Fund are used in the United States and 80 percent overseas.
“In the U.S. alone, Southern Baptists provided over 5 million meals,” he said. “The great difference in our approach from liberals is that in ministering to the body, we do not neglect the needs of the soul, and the Gospel was shared with over 500,000 people with over 32,000 professions of faith resulting.
“When we offer a loaf of bread, no strings attached, we also present Jesus as the Living Bread and lives are changed both physically and spiritually,” Chapman told BP.
The 2008 confabulation Clinton and Carter propose will coincide with a U.S. presidential election year. Clinton's wife, U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is a possible candidate and has hired a consultant to advise her on religion. Democrats have made winning over "faith voters" a major election strategy. --30--
LMAO!!
I thought Bubba was a Seven-Day Adventurist...
Let's hope they never do.
Bill Clinton's definitions of sin:
-NOT oogling an attractive co-ed passing by.
-NOT making a pass at any old hag given the opportunity.
-NOT taking the opportunity to sell-out your fellow Americans or your country for $$$ or power.
You get the idea.
One that antisemitic and claiming that "Jesus is the son of God" will depend on what the meaning of the word 'is' is!
[Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have proposed the establishment of a broadly inclusive alternative Baptist movement to counter what they called a negative image of Baptists and to address poverty, the environment and global conflicts.]
It's already been done. They call themselves "Unitarians"
Bill Clinton, Holy Man.
The endorsement of Bill Clinton is enough to completely discredit any religious organization. The same applies to Jesse "Love Child" Jackson.
I am not a Baptist, Southern or otherwise, but I'm laughing hysterically at Bubba trying to use his "moral authority" to define a religious organization. I think if I was a Southern Baptist I'd be laughing just as much.
As for JC the Carpenter, any man who would sit next to Michael Moore on national TV is not a man to take seriesly. I don't think many people are fooled these days by his Elmer Gantry routine.
LMAO!!
I'm not kidding! ;-)
Just guessing, but upholding the commandment not to bear false witness might just be included, ya think?
AND.... “This is an attempt to bring people together...Clinton said,
Don't you just loathe lying hypocrites?
The Unitarians are the nuballs who talk about the "moral authority" (but definitely not "divinity") of Jesus of Nazareth, right?
Morris H. Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said that Carter’s concerns about negative perceptions of Baptists ring hollow.
“He has been one of the most vocal critics of Southern Baptists, using ‘fundamentalist’ as a pejorative and drawing a caustic comparison between Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to power in Iran and the resurgence of conservative leadership being elected in the SBC,” Chapman wrote to Baptist Press.
___________________________
Yeah, Jimmah would know all about THAT, now wouldn't he? :p
It is the Welfare State that prohibits the Body of Christ to give in Christs Name.
If a person can take drugs, sleep around, not work for a living, yet still be fed and clothed, where is the need to come to Crist or be taught about Christ?
The Church was giving freely, while teaching Gods Word to those in need. The Welfare State TOOK AWAY those in need.
This is just part of their "divide and conquer" strategy. They know that the demoncrats hold on power is tenuous, why? Because people of faith unite to try to keep a moral order in this country, and it ain't with them. They know of the power we wield at the ballot box and whatever they have to do to keep congress and gain the white house, they will do. Check out what they are trying to do to grass-roots issue advocacy by proposing the new law (Reid) These groups would have to "register" with the fed. govt. before they started their grass-roots efforts on anything (ie., miles and miles of red-tape, govt. monitoring of their activites--all in the name of stamping out "corruption")
These power hungry bastards DO NOT care about anyone but themselves
Come to think of it, there isn't any commandment that Clinton didn't ignore repeatedly except 5. By all accounts, his father was a scumbag, so he gets a pass on honoring him.
One senile and one bastard, bastardizing a "religion".
I thought liberals believed in Separation of Church and STATE. I guess they have been lying all along. Imagine that.
...or Purpose Driven.
Um, there's already an "inclusive", ultra-liberal Baptist group: they're called the American Baptists. If they're not "inclusive enough, go join the Unitarian Universalists, as already suggested.
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