Common Sense

The new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Rev. Frank Page, says he wants to warm the image of the country’s largest Protestant denomination. It is going to be all puppy dogs, kitty kats and smiles.

But he cautions that does not represent a move toward the political middle for a group fervently opposed to abortion and gay sex.

Was that up for debate?

Really, if they want to warm their image, they should stop boycotting everything. Picketing Mickey Mouse does not endear you to the population. Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers didn’t promote homosexuality. It promoted the idea that chipmunks could fly airships made out of toothpaste tubes and wear clothes (except for pants).

The real problem with the SBC isn’t a PR one, it’s that they are all Nazis. I’m not one to bandy that about so much, but I know these people. They are Nazis!

I’ve never seen people so intent on cleansing the earth of people who disagree with them and controlling every aspect of everyone’s life. Fascists the whole lot of them. If Hitler had won the war, we would all be Southern Baptist.

There is progress, though.

Wade Burleson, a 44-year-old pastor from Enid, Okla., was one of Page’s most outspoken supporters. A conservative like Page, he was nonetheless dismayed at the way SBC leaders handled dissent within the powerful International Missions Board after he joined the panel.

Burleson was publicly reprimanded by board members for writing about the board’s internal debates on his Internet blog and threatened with removal, which stoked his desire for change.

Burleson and other dissenting bloggers were given part of the credit for carrying the little-known Page to victory…

So, bloggers finally won an election? Hooray for us!

A lot of people feel that this is the start of a new era for the SBC.

He said Page’s election sends an important message about Southern Baptists to the rest of America.

“What they (other Americans) can say is that Southern Baptists are concerned about the good news getting out to people in need,” Burleson said. “They can say of Southern Baptists, ’Man, those folks love people.’ That’s what I hope they hear, loud and clear.”

He then added, “as long as those people aren’t Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, non-denominational, gay, an unmarried parent, employees of the Walt Disney Company, someone who has ever even thought about having an abortion, the parent of a gay son or daughter who has not denounced them, a Democrat and are willing to submit to us in every way.”

It could be the dawn of a new day.