Thread by @bartbarber

After having posted something sarcastic about @drmoore and George Soros and what-not, and in the context of all-things-SBC (it being June), I'm going to just go there and give something like my full, unabridged thoughts about the man himself and the current state of the @ERLC.

First off, I swear fealty to no leader of the SBC. I believe in congregational church polity and I believe in cooperative inter-congregational polity in which the churches are above the entities. I have differed in opinion with @drmoore in the past, and I'm ever ready to do so.

In my experience, @drmoore knows that this is the deal with me, and he has always respected that in our interaction with one another.

Second, there are a few ways that I think I'm a little more to the right than @drmoore. It's possible (given the Q&A at #sbc19) that I'm stricter about my complementarianism than he is today, but I'm not sure I understood from his answer exactly where he is today.

But here's the deal—and I've yet to see any strong case to the contrary—all of the leaders in the SBC (and a good number of the followers like me) occupy basically the same space on the political issues of our day.

I don't know a single involved SBCer who isn't abolish-Roe-today Pro-life.

I don't know a single involved SBCer who isn't in favor of border enforcement. Most don't support mass deportation (neither do I), but I don't know a single supporter of open borders in the SBC.

I don't know any SBC leaders who aren't capitalists. I haven't polled other SBCers about this question, but I get the sense that SBC support for socialism approaches zero.

Every SBC leader and pastor that I know is 100% in we-shall-not-be-moved mode when it comes to agreement that the Christian sexual ethic is strictly limited to one man and one women within the confines of marriage.

Every SBC leader I know is worried about and opposed to the active campaigns on the ground right now determined to erode away religious liberty in our country.

We're all anti-porn (publicly, at least). We're all anti-sex-abuse (publicly, at least). We're all inerrantists. We're all nervous about Russia and Iran and Afghanistan and North Korea.

So, the same liberty that I retain for myself to disagree and disagree publicly with @drmoore whenever it suits me is the liberty I want to invoke right now to say this.

When you suggest that @drmoore or ANYONE in leadership at @ERLC or in any other spot in the Southern Baptist Convention occupies a spot anywhere near the views of George Soros, or even @JonathanMerritt for that matter, the only thing you've proved is that you aren't worth reading

So, keep on with your "He's a DEMOCRAT!!!!!" tinfoil-hat nonsense if you like. But you're not ever going to persuade me with your hyperbolic nonsense. And, just going by the best available metric—votes on the floor of the SBC Annual Meeting—it doesn't look to me like I'm alone.

On the other hand, to those of you who have made calm, rational, evenhanded cases against this position or that position, my hat is off to you, I read carefully what you write and I give it good consideration, and I think folks like you make the SBC better.

I never want to be a part of an SBC in which I can't openly disagree with any SBC leader and articulate my case to the fullest extent. That's an important freedom that comes with being a Southern Baptist. But with great freedom comes great responsibility.

I don't want to be a fanboy.

Except for @ilovebluebell. For important things like that, I'm a fanboy.

But there's a sweet spot between making this SBC leader or that one our liege lord on the one hand and character assassination on the other. Let occupy that space.

Carry on.