{"id":565178,"date":"2021-06-16T09:21:50","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=565178"},"modified":"2021-06-16T09:21:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:21:54","slug":"big-media-aligns-to-bend-largest-protestant-denomination-to-its-woke-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/big-media-aligns-to-bend-largest-protestant-denomination-to-its-woke-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Media Aligns To Bend Largest Protestant Denomination To Its Woke Will"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbig-media-aligns-to-bend-largest-protestant-denomination-to-its-woke-will%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=565178&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/A2F84862-86B2-4479-82F7-F08E8B44C664-scaled-e1623836393337.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Eighteenth-century satirist Jonathan Swift famously wrote, \u201cWhen a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A modern-day addendum might be: \u201cWhen the last redoubt of Christian cultural influence is revealed in America, you may know it by this sign \u2014 that the media are all in a confederacy to demolish it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., representing some 48,000 churches and 14 million members. But more importantly, to borrow a phrase from the great William F. Buckley, the SBC is one of the last American church bodies to stand athwart the country\u2019s swift and steady slide toward LGBT obeisance, feminism, and critical race theory, yelling, \u201cStop!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In contrast to other large Protestant denominations such as the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Presbyterian Church (USA), it does not permit women pastors, does not affirm gay or transgender lifestyles, and has been resistant to replacing biblical justice with social justice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In fact, last November, six SBC seminary presidents were so alarmed at CRT\u2019s influence on church culture, they<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baptistpress.com\/resource-library\/news\/seminary-presidents-reaffirm-bfm-declare-crt-incompatible\/\"><span>released a statement<\/span><\/a><span> making it clear that while their institutions condemn racism, any affirmation of CRT or Intersectionality is incompatible with Southern Baptists\u2019 statement of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the last few years, though, influences from within and without have begun to weaken the SBC\u2019s resolve to conform to Scripture rather than public opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rogue churches began\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/livegoodinc.com\/index.php\/interview-with-pastor-cynthia-petty\/\"><span>hiring<\/span><\/a><span> female preachers. Individual SBC professors and leaders<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baptistpress.com\/resource-library\/news\/lgbt-christians-conf-draws-sbts-erlc-responses\/\"><span>promoted<\/span><\/a><span> conferences that introduced compromising language on LGBT ethics. And the 2019 Resolutions Committee\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/baptistcourier.com\/2019\/06\/sbc-resolution-9-statement-on-critical-race-theory-intersectionality-point-of-controversy-and-disagreement\/\"><span>transformed<\/span><\/a><span> a local pastor\u2019s anti-CRT proposal into a declaration that explicitly endorses it as a \u201cuseful analytical tool\u201d for understanding \u201csystemic\u201d racism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s to say nothing of the former head of the SBC lobbying arm\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/09\/17\/opinion\/have-evangelicals-who-support-trump-lost-their-values.html?_r=0&#038;referrer=\"><span>routinely<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.russellmoore.com\/2021\/01\/11\/the-roman-road-from-insurrection\/\"> <span>politicizing<\/span><\/a><span> the organization by excoriating Trump voters before leaving last month in a storm of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2021\/06\/02\/leaked-russell-moore-letter-blasts-sbc-conservatives-sheds-light-on-his-resignation\/\"><span>leaks<\/span><\/a><span> and<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/religion\/2021\/06\/05\/russell-moore-southern-baptist-sex-abuse-allegations\/\"><span>intrigue<\/span><\/a><span> that would make the writers of \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d blush.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This struggle, that so mirrors our national divisions, has come to a head this week in Nashville. At the SBC\u2019s 2021 convention, the denomination is holding an election that will help decide which direction it will take \u2014 whether it will remain doctrinally conservative or move toward more progressive theology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What is in no doubt is that the country\u2019s largest, most influential media outlets have picked a side. And their coverage makes it plain they plan to do everything in their power to see the denomination transformed in their likeness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the last week alone, the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/06\/12\/us\/southern-baptists-conservatives.html\"> <span>New York Times<\/span><\/a><span>, the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/religion\/2021\/06\/14\/southern-baptist-reckoning-race-gender-abuse\/\"><span>Washington Post<\/span><\/a><span>, the<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/on-religion\/the-fight-for-the-heart-of-the-southern-baptist-convention\"><span>New Yorker<\/span><\/a><span>, the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2021\/06\/russell-moore-sbc\/619122\/\"> <span>Atlantic<\/span><\/a><span>,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/06\/15\/1006480632\/southern-baptists-meet-to-grapple-with-race-gender-equality-and-sexual-abuse\"> <span>NPR<\/span><\/a><span>,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/06\/15\/politics\/southern-baptist-convention-meeting\/index.html\"> <span>CNN<\/span><\/a><span>,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/southern-baptist-convention-2021-offers-trump-critical-race-theory-litmus-n1270825\"> <span>MSNBC<\/span><\/a><span>, and the left-wing\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2021\/06\/10\/russell-moore-phillip-bethancourt-southern-baptists-preserve-the-base-leaked-audio-of-sbc-leaders-shows-reluctance-on-dealing-with-sex-abuse\/\"><span>Religious News Service<\/span><\/a><span>, have all run extensive stories on the convention casting the conservative side as bigots and extremists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Even\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apple.news\/nowPlaying\/AUD8tF-VhQkrFjjVIWyPotg\"><span>Apple<\/span><\/a><span> got in on the act, making the SBC convention the top story on its daily news podcast Monday and labeling middle-way presidential candidate, Dr. Albert Mohler, \u201cultra conservative\u201d (I guess that would make the candidate to Mohler\u2019s right, ultra-ultra-conservative).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nor are these reports simply back-page, below-the-fold special interest coverage. Understanding the cultural importance of what happens in the SBC, the media is pulling out all the stops with front-page placement designed to apply maximum pressure on skittish, small-town convention voters unused to having the glaring light of the world\u2019s biggest media outlets pointed in their direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CNN\u2019s story, for instance, calls those who want to prevent CRT from influencing church teaching a \u201cright-wing revolt\u201d from a \u201chardcore vanguard of conservatives.\u201d NPR gave their coverage the sneering headline, \u201cAmerica\u2019s Top Evangelical Group Is Deciding If They\u2019re Further Right Than Trump.\u201d Meanwhile, the Washington Post quotes unnamed observers (always unnamed) saying the vote will \u201ctest the direction of White evangelicalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But perhaps no outlet made its intentions as clear as MSNBC. Until cooler heads evidently amended their headline to, \u201cSouthern Baptist Convention 2021 offers a Trump and critical race theory litmus test,\u201d it read, \u201cThe racist hypocrisy propping up the Southern Baptist war on critical race theory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The message telegraphed to SBC rank and file through all of this is unmistakable \u2014 vote the way we want you to or we will make sure the world sees you as racists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Perhaps in an effort to offset some of this onslaught, Allen Nelson IV, an Arkansas pastor from one of the conservative groups introducing an anti-CRT resolution, agreed to an interview with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/06\/12\/us\/southern-baptists-conservatives.html\">The\u00a0<span>New York Times<\/span><\/a><span>. While the larger facts of the story were correct, the descriptive details suggested he and those like him are the radical aggressors in a culture war. He was startled to see himself described as part of an \u201cultraconservative populist uprising.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMy issue with the NYT saying the conservative movement at this year\u2019s SBC is \u2018ultra conservative\u2019 is it makes it sound as though the conservative spectrum is very broad,\u201d he told me. \u201cIn reality, it\u2019s not as broad as some want to make it. Those in our convention promoting women preaching to men and the ideologies of CRT\/I want to claim they are still theological conservatives. But that\u2019s simply not true. They are progressives. They are the ones who have pushed to the left and we are the ones who have remained true to Baptist conservativism. Baptist = conservative. It\u2019s who we are. And we shouldn\u2019t be ashamed of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the convention began on Tuesday, the media pressure didn\u2019t let up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Live-tweeting during one vote, The Washington Post\u2019s religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/spulliam\/status\/1404495139423277059?s=20\"><span>noted<\/span><\/a><span> archly, \u201cThe executive committee just struggled to elect a prominent Black pastor to a chair position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Yet Bailey did not see fit to comment when voters overwhelmingly chose a white man over a black candidate for president of the Pastors Conference. Why not? Perhaps because in this case, the black candidate was known to be more theologically conservative than the white pastor who won the position.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Tom Ascol, pastor and president of the Founders Ministry, a group that has been organizing the conservatives, told me the attention big media is giving to the convention is indicative of at least two things. \u201cOne,\u201d he says, \u201cthey recognize the significance of the awakening of renewed conservatism in the convention for American religion and culture. Second, they understand that if they can impact the perception of the SBC to their readers that they might be able to offset some of that impact by slanting their reporting of events toward their usual leftist agendas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Or as Pastor Gabriel Hughes of Lindale, Texas, put it, \u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing is a worldly desire to burn this organization down.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Allen, Ascol, Hughes and the rest of the theological conservatives have no megaphones other than their small ministry broadcasts. They are, to use a biblical analogy, a band of Davids facing a behemoth media Goliath that knows if the SBC falls to the secular religion of social justice, no institution in America will be able to withstand them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eighteenth-century satirist Jonathan Swift famously wrote, \u201cWhen a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.\u201d\u00a0A &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280410,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/A2F84862-86B2-4479-82F7-F08E8B44C664-scaled-e1623836393337.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Big Media Aligns To Bend Largest Protestant Denomination To Its Woke Will","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/A2F84862-86B2-4479-82F7-F08E8B44C664-scaled-e1623836393337.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Big Media Aligns To Bend Largest Protestant Denomination To Its Woke Will","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}