|
Note: This essay first appeared in the
May 2007 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
Yesterday
Jerry Falwell died. Few in the Western world do not know who Falwell
was. News of his death quickly appeared on the Internet and was
carried on radio and television news broadcasts yesterday. Newspapers
across the country and perhaps even the world have made his death
front page news.
The numerous commentaries about Falwell's death are
telling. Most of the tributes to his life highlight his influence on
American politics on behalf of (variously) "conservative,"
"evangelical" and/or "fundamentalist" Christians. Few radio and
television stories yesterday highlighted his role as pastor, and fewer
still his role as a "Baptist" pastor. Today's newspaper stories
mention the Baptist pastor, but also cast Falwell, founder of the
Moral Majority (launched in 1979 and the beginning of the Religious
Right movement in America) within the context of his role in leading
conservative (evangelical or fundamentalist) Christians into
re-shaping the Republican Party into a party of God that opposes
abortion and homosexuality, two of the primary causes to which Falwell
devoted his own time and energies.
Yet the very fact that Falwell's Baptist identity, in death,
is publicly subsumed by his successes in the political realm, reveals
much about the kind of Baptist he was and his influence among Baptists
at large.
Prior to Falwell, virtually all Baptists in America, even the
most conservative (and perhaps especially the most
conservative, who were most suspicious of secular politics, as was
Falwell in his early days) were firm believers in religious liberty
for all and separation of church and state.
Prior to Falwell, Baptists refrained from publicly and
politically engaging in what we now know as the "culture wars," that
is, personal moral issues that revolve around human sexuality
(abortion, homosexuality, abstinence). By way of contrast, perhaps
the only modern public moral issue that united most Baptists prior to
the late 20th century was that of alcohol.
Prior to Falwell, most Baptists had never heard of the
concept of "inerrancy."
Prior to Falwell, attempts to impose fundamentalism upon the
nation's historical Baptist groups had been firmly and publicly
repelled, and fundamentalism in Baptist life was largely confined to
independent Baptist churches and organizations who wore with pride
their independence from denominational entities. Jerry Falwell began
his own ministry as an independent Baptist pastor, and only became a
Southern Baptist later in life when the new fundamentalist Southern
Baptist Convention leadership, looking to him for guidance and
approval, had thoroughly transformed the denomination into a
fundamentalist organization.
Today, in the wake of Falwell's death, the SBC leadership and
many Baptists in America at large now reject the separation of church
and state, and instead insist that Christians (or at least certain
Christians) should receive favoritism from the government and
privileges in the public square over and above people of other
faiths.
Today, Baptists are more defined, both in the public eye and
in many Baptist congregations, by fundamentalist stances on abortion
and homosexuality than they are by historical Baptist doctrines and
beliefs.
Today, probably the majority of Baptists claim to believe in
an "inerrant" Bible, although few can define what the term means and
the definitions that do exist are many and contradictory.
And today, the Southern Baptist Convention is a
fundamentalist denomination with close ties to the Republican Party.
In short, Falwell played a critical role in transforming
Baptists in America into something they had never before been. His
life work is now lauded by many Baptists (among others) who want
fundamentalist Christian religious beliefs to define and shape
politics in America. Falwell's legacy as a Baptist lies in his
rejection of key historical Baptist beliefs and his success in
convincing many Baptists to forsake their faith roots in a quest for
political power and privilege. And although Falwell's soul may now
rest in peace, he leaves behind a Baptist soul tormented and
conflicted.
Note: For more about Falwell's political
legacy,
read this commentary by Don Wilkey.
|
