Apathy Costs

There is none so gullible as the pew*,
Our apathy aided in our demise;
How silent we were while the carpers few
Wrested control; our work is paralyzed!
We raised no outcry as heroes went down,
And none when treasured beliefs were belied;
We yawned as false rumors were passed around:
"He doesn't believe the Bible!" was cried!
The rebels knew well how Baptists to gull---
That charge was enough; no proof was supplied;
Chosen voters were told which ones to cull;
Legalists won, the Convention to guide!
Southern Baptists were split, our input void,
When dissidents our unity destroyed!

Until 1979 the Southern Baptist Convention contained the largest number of Protestant Christians in America. In that year at the annual meeting in Houston the "fundamentalists" succeeded in electing their chosen candidate President. They had been working to overcome the traditional process of governance, which, in their opinion, had become too "liberal". The attack began in 1965, and the battle raged on until 1995, when the "moderates" (a code word for liberal) gave up. By then many individual members had sought and joined other denominational or independent Bible churches or quit churches, disgusted at the way fundamentalists controlled the mission boards, seminary trustees, college boards and other institutions. They adopted creeds and required missionaries and faculty members to solemnly swear to follow them, fired many dedicated administrators and faculty on trumped charges, and brought ridicule upon the Convention for boycotting DisneyWorld and declaring women subservient to men.

The reason they targeted the Presidency was because it was his privilege to nominate members to all boards and committees. When they succeeded in gaining the office, they began appointing like-minded members to those positions. It wasn't long until they had overhauled all boards. They caused the Women's Missionary Union to sever relations with the Convention. They established policies forbidding women and homosexual pastors in member churches, frowned upon the doctrine of the priesthood of every believer, supporting instead pastor-run churches. Any denominational employee who believed that the earth was older than 7,000 years, or that entertained the idea that evolution may have been God's way of creating man was in danger of being accused of unbelief in the Bible.

The method they used to gain supremacy was simple. Convention rules permits each church 10 "messengers" as voting delegates to each annual meeting. Most have difficulty in finding enough messengers to attend, for laypersons pay their own expenses; volunteers have to be solicited. The rebels canvassed church memberships and asked (by telephone) those willing to vote for the fundamentalist candidate to get their names on their church delegations. By 1979 they succeeded in getting the majority of delegates and were victorious.