In its heyday, the
Christian Life Commission (CLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was an
outstanding organization, and its annual meetings were excellent. During my
last several years as a Southern Baptist, I was “proud” to be so largely
because of the CLC.
The CLC was
founded in 1913, and from 1960 to 1987 it was admirably led by Foy Valentine
(1923-2006), for whom I had great respect and appreciation.
The situation
changed greatly in 1988: the CLC became the Ethics & Religious Liberty
Commission (ERLC) of the SBC. And Richard Land, who was selected as the first head of
the reshaped Commission, fit in well with the new
fundamentalist-leaning posture of the SBC, .
Under Land, the forward-looking,
tradition-challenging CLC became a conservative, reactionary accomplice of the
Religious Right.
In June 2013,
Russell Moore became the new president of the ERLC, and while he was not as
combative as Land, there was considerable continuity with right-wing concerns
and support of theological and political conservatism.
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| Russell Moore (b. 1971) |
Recently,
though, I began to like Moore better. I was impressed with what he said about
the current immigration crisis and how he is showing solidarity with the persecuted
Christians in Iraq.
In his blog
called “Moore to the Point,” he wrote about “Immigration and the Gospel” on
June 17 and “The Road to Jericho and the Border Crisis” on July 13. I recommend
both of those articles.
Then, the
headline in a July 23 article in the
conservative Christian Post declares, “Illegal Immigrant Children Are 'Created
in the Image of God,' Issue Is Not Just Political, Says Russell Moore After
Touring Texas Facilities.”
I wish Baptists
such as Rep. Louie Gohmert would read and heed Moore’s ideas about the children
seeking help on our southern border. Gohmert, the U.S. Representative from the
First District of Texas, is a Southern Baptist deacon and Sunday School
teacher.
In a July 11 speech on the House
floor, Gohmert called on Congress to act in order to stop the current invasion
by illegal immigrants. He also criticized the President’s request for Congress
to provide $3.7 billion in emergency funds to deal with the current crisis.
Gohmert then went
on to say that “the State of Texas would appear to have the right to use
whatever means, whether it is troops, even using ships of war, even exacting a
tax on interstate commerce . . . in order to pay to stop the invasion.”
Moore’s position
is much better, much more suitable for a follower of Jesus.
In another area
I have recently been impressed with Russell Moore and the ERLC. As you know,
there has been extensive persecution of Christians (and others) in north
central Iraq. (I mention this in my 6/25 blog article.)
Christians have
been marked as targets with the Arabic letter for N, standing for Nazarene.
Last Moore and his staff began using that letter on the ERLC logo (see the
image on the right) in solidarity with the Iraqi Christians. I was impressed by
that.
All this doesn’t
mean that I agree with Moore on everything. Statements I have seen just this past
week make me realize that he holds and forwards ethical positions that seem
questionable to me. I am also leery of the upcoming ERLC conference in October.
But just because we disagree
with someone over some issues, we should affirm them where there is agreement. And
especially with regard to the current immigration crisis, Moore’s position is much better
than that of many other Southern Baptist, and other, conservatives.
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