The Tennessee Liberal

This gets me mad as hell. I fail to compute how anything about this event comports with Christ's teachings. There are so many issues to address that it is overwhelming. Here is what made me the most enraged, though:

The last speaker— - her pastor, the Rev. Jerry Sutton - challenged church pastors nationwide to recognize that they have a place in this effort.

"You are the leaders," Sutton said. "You speak for God. We care about our country."

Sutton, first vice president of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant body, closed with five sentences: "It's a new day. Liberalism is dead. The majority of Americans are conservative. You can count on us for showing up and speaking out. And ... let the church rise."

Where in the hell does this guy get off? This is lunacy, utter lunacy. As a Biblbelievingng Baptist, I can say not only does this man not speak for me, but these people do not speak for God. In fact, that is conceivably the least Baptist ideology this guy could espouse. Baptists believe that the Bible is the Word of God, plain and simple. Where there are conflicts in the Bible, wbelieveve that Jesus' teaching is preeminent. No Earthly voice can speak for God.

A press release from the completely-excellent Baptist Joint Committee hit the nail on the head:

"Christians have the right, and in fact the responsibility, to weigh in on important policy issues," said K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee. "But the exploitation of religion for partisan ends damages both religion and politics."

In the midst of participating in this event, the SBC representative made a statement that throws out hundreds of years of Baptist tradition. As a Baptist and a Christian, my faith drives me to find ways to better educate our children, to feed the hungry and to be a good steward of God's creation. Events like this distract from our charge to make the world a better place for people.