NPR, contrary to its custom, put a smile on my face this morning with this story. The Southern Baptist Convention has expelled five Baptist churches for having female pastors, and Morning Edition's Leila Fadel spoke to Linda Barnes Popham, one of the deposed pastors. Barnes Popham was indignant:
Why us? We've been - we consider ourselves very Southern Baptist. We would be more Southern Baptist than many of the other churches - like I said, conservative, evangelistic, mission-minded. Now, of course, there are many other emotions that the congregants share with each other. Yeah, we are not happy about their decision.
I would love to ask Barnes Popham just how "conservative," how "very Southern Baptist" she and her congregation really are. The Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845 in a break with other US Baptists in support of slavery, a little detail this story not-so-strangely neglects to mention, and continued to uphold white supremacy until the 1990s. Does she still support slavery, the Lost Cause, and Jim Crow? If not, how can she call herself a conservative Southern Baptist? Or is she really just another stealth woke [sarcasm alert] liberal working against the SBC from within?
Fadel was very sympathetic, though.
BARNES POPHAM: That Southern Baptists no longer adhere to the priesthood of the believers and no longer believe in the autonomy of the local church and that those in power in SBC life do not value churches who are truly doing the work of the gospel.
FADEL: Wow. Pastor Linda Barnes Popham of the Fern Creek Baptist Church, thank you so much for your time.
I have no sympathy whatsoever for these pastors, and it's a pleasure to see them hoist on their own petard. I'm reminded of the late antigay crusader Anita Bryant (Cthulhu, I'm old) who wanted to become vice-president of the SBC in 1978. She was rejected, of course, on Biblical grounds, and she promptly griped about "Bible-beating literalists" who wouldn't let her do what she wanted to do. This contemporary New York Times article doesn't mention the gender issue, but says that Bryant's lack of experience in church administration was also a factor. But details, details: Who needs experience? The Holy Spirit would surely have guided her at the helm of the world's largest Baptist denomination. Conservatism for thee but not for me!
