At the Southern Baptist Convention meeting last
June (2016), an Arkansas pastor addressed ERLC President Russell Moore: “Yes.
My name is John Wofford. I pastor Armorel Baptist Church in Armorel, Arkansas
and I have a question for Dr. Moore. I would like to know how in the world
someone within the Southern Baptist Convention can support the defending of
rights for Muslims to construct mosques in the United States when these people
threaten our very way of existence as Christians and Americans. They are
murdering Christians, beheading Christians, imprisoning Christians all over the
world. Do you actually believe that if Jesus Christ were here today that He
would support this and that He would stand up and say, ‘Well, let us protect
the rights of those Baal worshipers to erect temples to Baal?’ Do you believe
that Dr. Moore?”
Moore replied, in part, “Sometimes we have to deal
with questions that are really complicated and we have to spend a lot of time
thinking them through...sometimes we have really hard decisions to make. This
isn’t one of those things. What it means to be a Baptist is to support soul
freedom for everybody...The answer to Islam is not government power. The answer
is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the new birth that comes from that.”
Following up later in the Arkansas Baptist News, Pastor Wofford complained that this is a ‘spiritual
issue’ – an issue of unequally yoking together with unbelievers and bidding
them God speed – and that Moore did not answer his question. There is a fine
line for Christians to walk between supporting freedom of religious views and
actions while not bidding Godspeed to those who do not hold the true doctrine
of Christ. Perhaps both Pastor Wofford and President Moore both missed the
mark.
Pastor Wofford said that he was addressing a
spiritual issue of yoking with unbelievers and bidding them God speed – rather
than the issue of religious liberty. We ought to accept his explanation,
whether or not one agrees with his position. On the other hand, Wofford and
others on his side are too hard on Russell Moore about not answering the
question. Yes, Moore promoted religious liberty and didn’t really address the
“spiritual issue” put forth at the end of the question. Wofford’s “set-up” to his
question was somewhat distracting from the point. In the beginning Pastor
Wofford apparently alludes to the brief filed by ERLC. Then he goes into the
fact of Muslims threatening “our very way of existence,” not only as Christians
but also as Americans. When we bring “Americans” into it, it is no longer just
a spiritual question, but a temporal one as well. If Pastor Wofford wanted to
know about the spiritual issue aspect he didn’t give the best introduction he
could have. He must take some responsibility for getting the answer he got and
not just blame that on Russell Moore. Moore addressed religious liberty, soul freedom
and the right to build – more than specifically whether the ERLC including
their name (and that of the SBC) on an amicus brief was a spiritual issue, some
kind of unequal yoking with unbelievers. Moore was wrong, and even comes off a
bit flippant, when he says “sometimes we have really hard decisions to make.
This isn’t one of those things.” But avoiding spiritual adultery while
supporting religious liberty is an issue with which many are
struggling, and they need “hard” answers that address the entire scope of what
they are asking. Some seem to backing into the corner of religious liberty
without dealing with spiritual adultery.
I think a sane mind must realize that a major part
of the problem is the word “Muslim”. There have been no previous outcries over
the ERLC (or IMB for that matter) signing amicus briefs[i]
that support or ally with some other religion (for example, the amicus brief in
the Little
Sisters of the Poor case).[ii]
The government should/must recognize the same kind
of religious rights for Muslims as everyone else; I would not go on a crusade
to help them get mosques. I agree with the thrust of the brief, which is that
“A Muslim mosque cannot be subjected to a different land-use approval process
than a Christian church simply because local protesters oppose the mosque.” I
believe in our American judicial system. For it to work every person must be
given a fair trial with the best legal counsel available. I could not defend
someone I knew was guilty. I would support their having someone else do so, because
that’s necessary for our system to work. Supporting religious liberty from both
a biblical and civil standpoint can be like that.
[i] When you get into issues
like the IMB and ERLC filing amicus briefs you also get into an issue of Southern
Baptist people feeling like “you are taking my money to further a cause I don’t
believe in.” That is always a source of frustration.
[ii] “Revolting as the pagan
religion is, it is no better, nor is it any worse than any other worldly
religion. It possesses the essential
elements of the religion of Cain, delusion and bloodshed. It is doubtful whether the human sacrifices
made to their idols would suffer by comparison with the religion of the world
which in this day claims the Christian name, either papal or Protestant.” –
Gilbert
Beebe, Signs of the Times,
January, 1871
No comments:
Post a Comment