Fountain of Praise

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Old Southern Baptist stereotypes? Journalists need to update some information

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Old Southern Baptist stereotypes? Journalists need to update some information

Anyone looking for Baptists should head to Greenville, S.C.

"People here say you can throw a rock in one direction and hit a Southern Baptist church and if you throw a rock in the other direction you'll hit an independent Baptist church," said Nathan A. Finn, provost of North Greenville University.

Finn's school -- with strong Southern Baptist ties -- isn't the only brand of "Baptist" life in town. There's the progressive Furman University, as well as the independent Bob Jones University, known for its rock-ribbed Baptist defense of fundamentalism.

The Baptist world is extremely complex and hard for many outsiders to navigate. Some of this confusion, said Finn, affects life inside the most prominent Baptist flock -- the Southern Baptist Convention -- and perceptions of SBC conflicts.

"Lots of people need to understand that Southern Baptists are far more diverse, ethnically and culturally, than they think we are," he said, in a telephone interview. "At the same time, we're more uniformly conservative that we often appear, especially since we spend so much time fighting with each other over some of the small points of theology on which we differ."

With some of these stereotypes in mind, Finn recently fired off a dozen Twitter messages describing different images of real "Southern Baptist" churches that are common today. The goal, he said, was to create "composites of what different kinds of SBC congregations look like" and he gave them "names that are common with certain types of real churches."

There is, of course, a "First Baptist Church" which Finn described as "a downtown church that runs 500 in worship. The church is affluent, which is reflected in their beautiful building. The worship service is traditional. There are lots of programs & committees" and the congregation is known for big donations to the SBC's shared "Cooperative Program" budget.

Then there is one of the megachurches that have dominated the American religious marketplace in recent decades. While the word "Baptist" is missing in its name, Finn noted: "CrossWay Church is a suburban church that runs 1400 in two services. The 'feel' of each service is laid back & contemporary. CrossWay has excellent recreational facilities" and its leaders are "considering launching a second campus."

These big churches frequently make headlines.


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Just a church-business story? Black pastor is new chairman of top Southern Baptist board

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In this coronavirus age, religion-beat reporters are, along with their newsroom colleagues, being deluged with invitations to attend virtual news events.

In some cases, these are “gatherings” that major newspapers would have staffed in the past, even if it meant shelling out travel-budget dollars for airplane tickets and hotel rooms. Those days are long gone, for 99% of reporters.

The problem now, of course, is that reporters have a limited amount of time and, in some cases, the decline in newsroom personnel is a problem. So which virtual-meeting URLs get clicked and which ones do not?

I thought about this because of an event that happened yesterday (June 17) linked to the biggest story in America, right now — #BlackLivesMatter protests and attempts by major American institutions to respond to them.

So this discussion of race and the church (Facebook Live archive here) involved the leader of America’s largest Protestant flock, the new chairman of its powerful executive committee and black church leaders from Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore-Washington, D.C. and Nashville.

Newsworthy? Maybe, maybe not. It is interesting to note that all of the participants were affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Rev. Ronnie Floyd, the CEO of the SBC’s executive committee, was the only white evangelical in the circle.

The other clergy participants: Rolland Slade, senior pastor of Meridian Baptist Church of El Cajon, Calif., and newly elected chairman of the SBC executive committee; Charlie Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago; Kevin Smith, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware; and Willie McLaurin, vice president of Great Commission relations and mobilization of the executive committee; and K. Marshall Williams of Nazarene Baptist Church of Philadelphia.

As you would imagine, lots of the discussion focused on the hurt and anger that is fueling protests across America.


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That question again: Where is the familiar faith theme in news about these civil rights events?

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Coverage continues of protests and other events linked to the life and death of George Floyd.

It’s impossible, of course, to read all of this material. But while reading what I can, I have continued to look for facts and images linked to what I think is one of the most interesting elements of this story — an angle readers might expect to be seeing, in light of the history of civil rights work of this kind.

The big question: Where are the African-American clergy in these news stories? I doubt they are sitting on the sidelines during this historic moment. This question is, of course, central to discussions of press coverage of religion in these events.

Did you see this material in Julia Duin’s fascinating first-person visit into CHAZ territory? See this post: “Seattle's de-policed CHAZ district is a religion-free zone, even in mainstream press.”

As my friends and I were arriving at CHAZ, there was a meeting of black pastors south of us who were trying to support the local police — who’ve taken a beating in all this. The police were forced to vacate CHAZ, even though the chief, a black female, told the media she has not wanted to leave. Mayor Jenny Durkan, who calls CHAZ a place with “a block party atmosphere,” overruled her. …

These black clergy clearly resent how the white Social Justice Warriors are taking over the debate. Wish a reporter could explore that angle more.

Once again, here is the question: Are black clergy attempting to play a leadership role in some of these discussions and (a) being shunned by other leaders? Or are the clergy there, as usual, but (b) not receiving any coverage? What’s going on?

In a way, this is a hard-news angle linked to questions that I raised the other day in this post: “Dramatic funeral service for George Floyd: Was there Gospel in it, or only politics?”

It is interesting that some reporters — in religious publications — took the time to dig into the live-streamed video of this funeral and note the Christian themes and content, especially in the music and biblical images.

Here is a must-read on that, care of Kate Shellnutt at Christianity Today: “The Songs and Scriptures of George Floyd’s Houston Funeral.” Here is a crucial passage from this feature:


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