Posted on 07/20/2009 12:49:32 PM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church -- and he's decided it's time they go their separate ways. Via Feministing, the former president called the decision "unavoidable" after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be "subservient to their husbands." Said Carter in an essay in The Age:
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.
And, later:
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. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at politicsdaily.com ...
But he’s okay w/ Moose-limbs cutting off their daughter’s genitalia, stoning women when they get raped & killing them to maintain family honor.
Okay then.
http://js.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quiziframe.php?poll_id=47046
FReep this please.
It is being ACORNed to death
Yes. The plan will save lives and money in the long-term. 63%
Somewhat. It’s not perfect but it’s something. 2%
No. It will burden us with debt and won’t fix anything. 34%
Not sure/No opinion. 1%
268909 votes
I am sure the Lord loves this man rewriting Scripture...
Baptists withhold education, jobs, and healthcare from women??? He’s a liar as well as stupid
Ah, so if Christ isn’t the only way to heaven,
I guess He was lying, for one, and the whole deal
about God himself coming to earth in human form
to suffer and die as substitutional atonement
wasn’t necessary.
Good “Christian” you are, there, Jimmy (and all other leftist/liberals that ascribe to the “many ways to God” philosophy).
There was an article years ago about him leaving the SBC, I think for the same reason. Did he return so that he could leave again?
In he old days the church would have kicked him out.
Like politics, I guess he expects his religion to also be progressive.
See post #24.
As I'm a little cynical let me suggest the he, like Barrack Obama, chose a church to attend that he thought would help him politically.
I attend a Baptist church, and I resent the suggestion that we would treat our women the way the Muzzies do. I put my wife on a pedestal - flowers every week, etc.
At his age, it's time to get serious about his relationship with his maker 'cause he's going to meet him before too long, and he'll have some serious 'splainin' to do.
BS! He left the SBC and joined up with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship when the liberals split in 1993. He then “left” the SBC in 2000 when he wrote 75,000 pastors and leaders over the change in the Baptist Faith & Message and he left the SBC once again in 2005.
I just wish he would leave already.
http://www.baptiststandard.com/2000/10_23/pages/carter.html
Jimmy Carter left the Southern Baptust church, the largest church in America except for the Catholic church in the year 2000.
It has been 9 years already and he is still milking it.
“Jimmy Carter Leaves Southern Baptists
1/7/06, 9:52 AM EST”
“Former President Carter Leaves Southern Baptist Convention
Oct 28, 2000
The New York Times”
That's a bit of stretch Jimmy.
A spokesman for the SBC said “We force out a Jimmy Carter every morning.”
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By Al Mohler The Tie No Longer Binds Former President Jimmy Carters resignation from the Southern Baptist Convention was intended to draw public attentionand it did. After all, it isnt every day that one of the worlds most famous citizens denounces his denomination. Mr. Carter, now 76, has been Americas most active former president. His efforts at peacemaking, international negotiation, home construction for the impoverished, and the eradication of diseases in Africa have earned him the worlds respect. Twenty years after leaving office, Mr. Carter remains an actor on the world scene and at home. News of Mr. Carters denunciation of the Southern Baptist Convention made headlines because the former president has been publicly identified with the SBC ever since the man from Plains ran for president in 1976. He had joined a Southern Baptist congregation as a boy, and became the denominations most famous Sunday School teacher, even as President of the United States. What is going on here? Mr. Carter cited several reasons for leaving the SBC. All are related to one central fact. The former President is solidly identified with the liberal wing of the SBC and has stalwartly opposed the conservative leadership elected by the convention for the last two decades. On an entire spectrum of theological and moral issues, Mr. Carter has been estranged from the SBC. On issues ranging from homosexuality and abortion to the nature of the gospel and the authority of Scripture, the former president is out of step with the majority of Southern Baptists. The breaking point in Mr. Carters relationship to the SBC came with the denominations adoption of a revised statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message. Approved overwhelmingly by messengers to the Convention, the statement clarified the SBCs convictions on theological issues such as the total truthfulness of the Bible and the sinfulness of abortion and homosexuality. The statement also affirms the nuclear family as the foundation of the civilization. Mr. Carter, whose favorite theologians are drawn from the left wing of Christianity, claims that the Baptist Faith and Message is now "an increasingly rigid SBC creed" that violates "The basic premises of my Christian faith." Thus, the Carters have shifted their allegiance to the liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. But this is not news. Mr. Carter made a similar announcement in 1993, declaring his identification with the CBF. "I pray that as Rosalyn and I cast our lot with this fellowship for the rest of our lives, we can be a part of a transcendent movement." The Carters have played no meaningful part in the SBC in the last twenty years. Without question, denominationalism is not what it used to be. Every major denomination has experienced controversy and division over critical issues. American Protestantism is now divided into conservative and liberal movements. Unique among major denominations, the SBC has come under conservative leadership as grassroots Southern Baptists demanded doctrinal accountability and championed biblical inerrancy. President Carter, on the other hand, is an advocate for more liberalized positions on the Bible, the gospel, and crucial moral issues. In recent years he has stated that he doubts the validity of some of the miracles recorded in Scripture. "But I now believe that, even if some of the more dramatic miracles recounted in the Gospels could be untrue, my faith in [Christ] would still be equally precious and unshaken." He has also denied that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. "I cannot imagine an innocent person being deprived of Gods eternal blessing because they dont have a chance to accept Christ." Mr. Carter has been unclear concerning other religions as avenues to salvation. In a startling affront to the SBC, Mr. Carter criticized "witnessing to Mormons" but seemed not to know that Mormons do not accept the Christian gospel. The issue of women as pastors also drew Mr. Carters ire. The SBC has stated its conviction that the office of pastor is limited by Scripture to men. This is the position shared by the vast majority of Christians throughout the world. Mr. Carter, whose pastor is a man, is outraged by this restriction and blames the "fallible human beings" who were the human authors of Scripture for this restriction. The chasm between Mr. Carter and the Southern Baptist mainstream is most clear on moral issues. As President, Mr. Carter made abortion rights a priority and organized the infamous 1979 White House Conference on Families now recognized as a watershed event. Evangelical outrage prompted by the conference contributed to Mr. Carters electoral defeat in 1980. In his post-presidential years, Mr. Carter has supported the cause of homosexual rights and raised money for gay-rights groups. All this is in direct conflict with the beliefs of Southern Baptists, who refuse to compromise clear biblical teachings on these controversial issues. The sad reality is that Jimmy Carter has been estranged from the Southern Baptist Convention for decades. He shifted his identification to another denominational fellowship years ago. His much-trumpeted denunciation of the SBC is a post-presidential publicity stunt, apparently timed for maximum assistance to the Baptist General Convention of Texas in its break with the SBC Cooperative Program. In the end, it says far more about Mr. Carter than about the Southern Baptist Convention. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |
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