The New Baptists
by David Bartlett
For a few days earlier this month I divided my time between my official job in Decatur, Georgia and the New Baptist Covenant celebration in Atlanta. The celebration had been planned by President Jimmy Carter and several other distinguished Baptists as an attempt to bring many Baptists together across the usual lines of our “Conventions.” (These are not really “conventions” but alliances of churches that have conventions, very much like what other people call “denominations.”)
It was clear both from the attendees and from the agenda that the meetings attracted a certain kind of Baptist—those who found much that was persuasive in the traditional Social Gospel that was rooted in the theology of the Baptist Walter Rauschenbusch and flowered most powerfully in the action of the Baptist Martin Luther King, Jr.
We discovered that we were quite good at singing and praying together, and even at thinking about issues like poverty and AIDS, as long as we did not have to engage in arguments about scriptural inerrancy or local church autonomy.
I was particularly impressed by the speakers I heard or heard about. President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton I heard; Vice President Al Gore and Senator Charles Grassley I heard about.
What I noticed was this: at home, with other Baptists, these political leaders were perfectly comfortable talking about their faith. They did not talk about faith as a kind superficial add-on to their prior political commitments. They did not use their faith to try to con us into voting for them or their preferred candidates. It was clear that their social convictions were deeply grounded in their faith, and they could talk about that without shame, embarrassment, or guile.
I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, and I do not think we want the kind of public religious discourse that suggests that believers make better officials than unbelievers, or, God knows, that Baptists have a corner on public virtue.
But I do wish that the media and the public had some clue to the fact that for these people, of different political persuasions, who might or might not like each other very much, and for many other leaders, faith is a fundamental part of who they are.
I think many Americans don’t get that, to our loss.