November 24, 1999
Reynolds urges fight against fundamentalism in states
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___OKLAHOMA CITY--Liberty-loving Baptists must act soon to preserve religious freedom before this legacy is lost to future generations, Herbert Reynolds warned a gathering of "mainstream" Baptists from 11 states.
___And a Baptist Convention of the Americas may be the mechanism for preserving that freedom, Reynolds declared at the annual meeting of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists Nov.15 in Oklahoma City. His declaration extended an idea he first presented in Texas.
HERBERT REYNOLDS
___The Oklahoma City meeting was attended by representatives from 10 other states, who met the previous day to discuss the status of their state Baptist conventions. That smaller meeting was convened by John Baugh, a business executive from Houston, and Reynolds, chancellor of Baylor University in Waco.
___The mainstream movement encompasses moderate Baptists who have opposed efforts to import the Southern Baptist Convention's "conservative resurgence"--what they call a "takeover"--into state conventions.
___Baptists have "received a marvelous legacy from our forebears in the form of Baptist distinctives or principles--filled with freedom, meaning and joy, which have made us the people we are today," Reynolds insisted.
___"The question that now confronts us is whether we will be good stewards of this legacy and strive to pass it on ... or whether through indifference, sloth and lack of determination we will not only leave the legacy sadly tarnished but maybe nonexistent."
___"Fundamentalism tears at the fabric of the gospel and our Baptist distinctives," threatening to rip apart freedom vital to people of faith, he said. "We should oppose it with all our might, not only for the sake of the gospel and for our particular way of propagating it, but very much as a matter of stewardship toward future generations.
___"What is more important to our progeny than freedom of conscience, religious liberty and the opportunity to participate in civil society?" he asked.
___"Soul freedom," or freedom of conscience, is a historic Baptist principle, Reynolds said. He cited 19th century historian John Bancroft, who said, "Freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom of mind, was from the first the trophy of Baptists."
___And he quoted Texas Baptist statesman George W. Truett, who proclaimed: "Baptists ... have forever been the unwavering champions of liberty, both religious and civil. ... It is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel men to conform to any religious creed or form of worship. ... God wants free worshippers and no other kind."
___Baptists' principles of freedom, Reynolds said, include "individual soul freedom and interpreting the Bible for ourselves, priesthood of all believers, accepting Christ freely and personally, following the will of Christ as we find it in the New Testament, the autonomy of the local church and the separation of church and state."
___ Unfortunately, leaders of the SBC in recent years have worked to "circumscribe, curtail or remove the freedom of others," Reynolds said. That trend will continue and even worsen, he added.
___For example, the committee revising the Baptist Faith & Message statement will more narrowly define the nature of Scripture, he predicted. Another example is the political strategy of the Missouri Baptist Laymen's Association and the Texas Baptist Laymen's Association, which uses "guilt by association" to "discredit and demean any group which opposes their fundamentalist takeover mentality and methods," he added.
___By 1990, the SBC had been changed, with "mainstream" Baptists disenfranchised, he said. "The Southern Baptist Convention is gone, probably for good or at least until the younger fundamentalists die off about mid-21st century. But mainstream Baptists at the state level, in collaboration with the large body of alumni and friends of our colleges and universities, can still redeem our great state conventions for new visions and goals for the cause of Christ. And surely it is worth our best effort to try to do so."
___However, about a dozen state conventions are "controlled or dominated by the fundamentalists," he lamented. "You are going to have to decide whether you are willing to spend the time, talent, efforts and financial resources to plan a strategy, organize your forces, direct the tactical events, coordinate everything to ensure coherence, cohesion and completeness, and to follow up to turn the tide of battle.
___"The fundamentalists declared early on that you, we, were the enemy, so we have to engage them--not using their methods of untruth, distortion, slander, libel and innuendo--but through education of the laity, persuasiveness and out-maneuvering them to the point of producing decisive votes at the annual state convention."
___He called upon like-minded Baptists to take "interim steps to bring us into a closer alliance."
___One such step is the possibility of forming a "council of Mainstream Baptists," Reynolds said. The smaller group of representatives from the various states discussed that possibility in their meeting the previous day, he reported.
___In that representative meeting, participants described the theological/political situations in their state conventions. They talked about forming a council for mutual support and creating a "center for Baptist principles" to provide resources. They also agreed to meet after the first of the year to discuss how they might proceed.
___Turning to a more comprehensive vision for mainstream Baptists, Reynolds described for the larger group his idea of creating a Baptist Convention of the Americas. He first surfaced the idea at a Texas Baptists Committed meeting in November 1998.
___In Oklahoma City, he announced he had secured articles of incorporation for the organization with the Texas secretary of state and filed federal papers to preserve the organization's trademark.
___The needs and challenges are huge, he said, noting North and South America are home to 800 million people, a population that is expected to rise to 1 billion in about a decade, he said.
___A Baptist Convention of the Americas could maintain "the autonomy and integrity of partnering states" while utilizing "a very lean staff where the outsourcing of many services and functions could maximize the use of financial resources," Reynolds said.
___Thinking and planning for the convention is propelled by "an urgency which grows out of ... concern for our freedoms and our future, which are threatened daily," Reynolds acknowledged. Those threats are posed "not only by the fundamentalists who control the Southern Baptist Convention, but by the whole of the fundamentalist Christian Right."
___"If we are to pass on to future generations our coveted freedoms, we must act and act now," Reynolds urged.
___"We can fret, fume and dream dreams from now until some or all of us pass from the scene, but if we really want to move beyond the Southern Baptist Convention--and move forward individually and collectively--in a larger endeavor or enterprise, then we must be willing to do at least four things," he said. They are:
___"We must discontinue sending funds to the SBC Executive Committee to produce more fundamentalist ministers, many of whom will end up occupying pulpits and serving on church staffs in Oklahoma, Texas and in sister states where there are a great many free and faithful Baptists," he said.
___He warned of supporting missionaries "who have essentially embraced the credo of the fundamentalists and who will win others to Christ around the world under the banner of a dispensationalist-driven theocracy." And he cautioned against spending money on literature and programs "antithetical to our stance on freedom of conscience, religious liberty and freedom resting in God's hands."
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