Erick Erickson is worried that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is falling apart:
A number of friends of mine have crossed a line that I think they should not have crossed and I am extremely disappointed. Given that their actions are causing public news, I should write about it publicly so they can subtweet me.
Their guy lost the Southern Baptist Convention presidency. Instead of acting with grace in a church setting, they’ve acted now with partisanship as if the winners and losers are political figures to be slimed in a never ending campaign. The perpetual campaign in a church setting is staggeringly gross. That they are doing it with half-truths and distortions makes it worse. That they have not one ounce of humility left to consider the sins of their own actions makes it damnable.
On top of it all, Ed Litton, the winner, is to my left and I’d have voted for the other guy were I Baptist. But what they are doing to Litton, who is a good man even as we might disagree on things, is beyond the pale.
I have two reactions. First, why is he surprised? The evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, twice, for President. Perhaps the first time there was an excuse, but four years later the mendacious nature and inferior character of the candidate was quite obvious.
That they approved of that candidate, even under the guise of the Cyrus excuse, should have been a big, red flag that they approve of his behavior and morals. When they then act like the former President in their religious politics, there’s no surprise, at least for me. The SBC may shatter into a thousand pieces because of the intemperate embrace of the former President, and even now they seem to be squeezing that much harder. Thus, they become more and more easily dismissed as kooks and fools. The SBC may be cracking up.
The second point is this: Erickson’s entire final quoted paragraph embodies a very important lost point of American civilization: tolerance. He wouldn’t have voted for Litton, but he wouldn’t treat him that way. Down that path lies the salvation of American civilization: the recognition that deviation of opinion does not constitute an irredeemable rift between people. Infallibility is not a property that anyone, progressive or conservative or far-right extremists like those taking over the SBC and GOP, possess, and those who pretend otherwise are the enemies of American civilization.
I don’t think Erickson, who has equated abortion to baby-killing, would recognize that as an important point, but I think it’s pivotal, foundational.
