{"id":1996,"date":"2011-05-11T10:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2011-05-11T10:00:57","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:00:57","slug":"the-sbc-a-collapsing-big-tent-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1996","title":{"rendered":"The SBC & a Collapsing Big Tent Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advocates of a big tent believe that people with a broad variety of political approaches and viewpoints can unite within a single party to advance shared core issues, even if they disagree in other areas. This way the party can attract a large base of support at the polls. (full article here<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The “Big Tent” political philosophy remains alive and well in our nation today.\u00a0 We are beginning to see some Republicans — particularly supporters of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels — advocate for the Big Tent.\u00a0 What these people seem to forget is that the philosophy espoused by Daniels and his supporters\u00a0— as Rush Limbaugh rightly points out <\/a>—\u00a0always leads to the collapse — not the expansion — of the tent.\u00a0 And it leads to electoral defeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But,\u00a0why should that be the case?\u00a0 Because the Big Tent philosophy, while sounding magnanimous, is never enough to unify disparate Republican factions whose political\/governing philosophies are fundamentally different.\u00a0 Folks who are pro-life and pro-abortion cannot long coexist in a Big Tent, at least if both groups are vying for power and control.\u00a0 Only one main group can be in the driver’s seat at any given time.\u00a0 The Democrats realized that principle early on and either purged (Bob Casey)\u00a0or re-indoctrinated (Clinton, Gore,\u00a0Gephardt\u00a0— Baptists all)\u00a0their pro-life politicians to a pro-abortion<\/del> choice position.<\/p>\n

Even with decisive defeats (Dole, McCain)\u00a0at the polls for\u00a0Big Tent Republicans, there are still those who insist on beating their heads against a wall.\u00a0 Perhaps, as Rush\u00a0opined, it’s the elites’ arrogance and conceit that “blinds them to reality.”<\/a>\u00a0 These days, that arrogance is in no short supply with Mitch Daniels, who openly states that he can beat President Obama in 2012.\u00a0<\/a> Not gonna happen!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the Big Tent philosophy is not confined to politicians in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 Even religious organizations can fall prey to the Big Tent philosophy.\u00a0 Take the Southern Baptist Convention, for example.\u00a0 There are many competing philosophies that have arisen within the nation’s largest Protestant body.\u00a0 Dave Miller at SBCVoices has clearly identified\u00a0at least\u00a012\u00a0groups within the SBC\u00a0whose philosophies\u00a0may lead to\u00a0the splintering\u00a0<\/a>of the 45,000+ churches that comprise the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the issues confronting Southern Baptists today\u00a0—\u00a0Calvinists\u00a0vs. non-Calvinists, Megachurch\u00a0vs. non-Megachurch,\u00a0Contemporary vs. Traditionalist, or Great Commission Giving vs. Cooperative Program Giving\u00a0— we are witnessing what I believe is a struggle between\u00a0“Big Tent” Baptists and “Smaller Tent” Baptists.<\/p>\n

This new Big\u00a0Tent philosophy is not\u00a0like the old one that sought to include so-called theological moderates in the tent (although there are some who still advocate for that).\u00a0 This Big Tent philosophy — which is theologically conservative —\u00a0can be summed up by this statement from Dave Miller:<\/p>\n

“We must, as a denomination, define the lowest common denominator of our fellowship.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Big Tent Baptists would use a church’s\u00a0general agreement with\u00a0the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as\u00a0the lowest common denominator\u00a0for whether or not one is welcome in the SBC tent.\u00a0 Some will\u00a0have very low denominators while others will just have low ones.\u00a0 However, a church’s general agreement with the\u00a0BF&M2000 (and at least nominal CP contributions and\u00a0non-endorsement of homosexuality)\u00a0becomes\u00a0the\u00a0only price of admission into the SBC’s\u00a0Big Tent.\u00a0 With this type of Big Tent philosophy, just about everyone\u00a0who calls themselves a\u00a0theological<\/strong> conservative (whatever that means) will be welcome in the SBC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let me state for the record that I do not believe that the Big Tent philosophy is evil or morally reprehensible.\u00a0 It is a respectable position to take and many, including Dave Miller and others, are to be commended for their willingness to find a solution — in this case, the Big Tent — to that which is causing division within our ranks.\u00a0 For Dave, the Big Tent philosophy is rooted in God’s command to walk in love.\u00a0 I would commend to you his latest post, “The More Excellent Way: Paul’s Solution for a Splintered SBC,”\u00a0<\/a>so that you can better understand the basis for his approach.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the Big Tent Baptists, Smaller Tent Baptists would\u00a0raise the price of admission to include not only general agreement\u00a0with the BF&M2000, but also some type of agreement with an overarching Southern Baptist culture or identity.\u00a0 There are multiple issues which affect our culture or identity, but Smaller Tent Baptists\u00a0seek to conserve (where we get the word “conservative”)\u00a0those core values that they\u00a0believe are integral\u00a0to what it means to be a cooperating Southern Baptist.\u00a0 Perhaps at the heart (some would say the glue which holds us together)\u00a0of that culture or identity is the grassroots cooperative spirit embodied in and through the Cooperative Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As much as I admire Dave Miller’s passion to see the SBC avoid splintering, I believe that a splintering — in some form or fashion — is inevitable.\u00a0 We are already witnessing this on the State\u00a0Convention and local association level<\/a>.\u00a0 And, contra Dave, I do not think that “walking in love” will prevent\u00a0further splintering.\u00a0 That’s because love cannot erase the fundamental differences in philosophy that Big Tent and Smaller Tent Baptists have.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day,\u00a0theology and methodology — while different — are wedded together in such a fashion so as to form a cohesive ministry philosophy.\u00a0 When philosophies of groups become so divergent that we no longer are walking in the same direction, cooperation and partnership become difficult if not impossible.\u00a0 As Amos clearly states:<\/p>\n

“Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” (Amos 3:3 NLT)<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0While there are some within the SBC who appear not to want to walk in love, I believe that the overwhelming\u00a0majority of Southern Baptists\u00a0exhibit love (albeit imperfectly at times).\u00a0 However, I also believe that love — which can cover a multitude of sins — cannot paper over fundamental differences in our philosophy of ministry.\u00a0 We can still love one another, but at the end of the day, our\u00a0philosophy of ministry may be so\u00a0divergent that we find ourselves walking in different directions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1980, Ronald Reagan began what came to be known as the Reagan Revolution.\u00a0 Thoroughly conservative, the Republican Party was transformed from the party of Rockefeller and the moderate Republicans to the\u00a0party of Reagan and conservative Republicans (which it still is today).\u00a0 Are there still moderates in the Republican Party?\u00a0 Yes, but they are not the base.\u00a0 The Republican Party is a tent, but it is not a Big Tent where all beliefs are equally embraced.\u00a0 Big Tent politics, while it sounds promising, always leads to defeat.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Southern Baptist Convention could be that organization that believes in and practices a Big Tent philosophy successfully.\u00a0 While I am generally an optimist, my realism tells me that the SBC — like political parties —\u00a0will not be able to build a Big Tent.\u00a0 One need only read posts and\u00a0comments at SBCVoices, SBCToday\u00a0and other blogs to realize that the SBC Tent can only be so big.\u00a0 How big?\u00a0 That is an open question.\u00a0\u00a0The Big Tent of the SBC is beginning to sag.\u00a0 At some point,\u00a0the Big\u00a0Tent will collapse.\u00a0\u00a0The new tent that replaces it may\u00a0or may not be\u00a0better than the old one.\u00a0 But, it will never be the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advocates of a big tent believe that people with a broad variety of political approaches and viewpoints can unite within a single party to advance shared core issues, even if they disagree in other areas. This way the party can attract a large base of support at the polls. (full article here) The “Big Tent”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,34,35,37],"tags":[116,149,250,3372,3373,285,548,666,671,780,3391,3392,853,859,868,878,3393],"class_list":["post-1996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-politics","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-baptist-faith-and-message-2000","tag-big-tent-politics","tag-conservatives","tag-cooperative-program","tag-culture","tag-dave-miller","tag-jerry-nash","tag-mitch-daniels","tag-moderates","tag-philosophy-of-ministry","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-ronald-reagan","tag-rush-limbaugh","tag-sbc","tag-sbcvoices","tag-southern-baptist-convention"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-wc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}