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The Baptist church isn't the most culturally conservative church. It is however, perhaps one of the most controlling denominations in terms of its political activism and its desire to impose itself on the non-believing world. While the Amish and certain sects of Mennonite, Church of Christ, and LDS make Baptists look quite liberal, those denominations are more inclined to keep their legalism to themselves and not try to impose it on society at large. Baptists on the other hand feel its their mission to control the morality of society and be the conscience of the culture. Most blue laws, such as alcohol laws and other Sunday commerce bans, were led by Baptists. Baptists are at the front lines of the fight against LGBT equality, gambling, and the fight against marijuana legalization. You don't hear as much about this today, but at one point the Baptists were proponents of laws banning dancing (which many municipalities in the Bible Belt had) and censorship of the airwaves.
Baptists are also at the forefront of breaking down separation of church and state, which is ironic given that historically the Baptists were among the most pro-church/state separation denominations. They will typically proclaim that separation of church and state is a myth and that the founders wanted a Christian (Baptist) nation, but that is part of their propaganda that they use to circumvent the First Amendment. Baptist dominated states, like Oklahoma and other Southern states, tend to be some of the most repressed, both in laws against activities perceived as sinful by Baptists and discrimination against non-Christians or the wrong types of Christians. Baptists are especially obsessed with things such as Christian monuments on government property and other displays of religiosity by government organizations or government officials.
Question is, why is this? How did the Baptists become so political and they do they, unlike other conservative denominations, feel that they should impose their morality on society at large and that it's their right to control the culture?
The Baptist church isn't the most culturally conservative church. It is however, perhaps one of the most controlling denominations in terms of its political activism and its desire to impose itself on the non-believing world. While the Amish and certain sects of Mennonite, Church of Christ, and LDS make Baptists look quite liberal, those denominations are more inclined to keep their legalism to themselves and not try to impose it on society at large. Baptists on the other hand feel its their mission to control the morality of society and be the conscience of the culture. Most blue laws, such as alcohol laws and other Sunday commerce bans, were led by Baptists. Baptists are at the front lines of the fight against LGBT equality, gambling, and the fight against marijuana legalization. You don't hear as much about this today, but at one point the Baptists were proponents of laws banning dancing (which many municipalities in the Bible Belt had) and censorship of the airwaves.
Baptists are also at the forefront of breaking down separation of church and state, which is ironic given that historically the Baptists were among the most pro-church/state separation denominations. They will typically proclaim that separation of church and state is a myth and that the founders wanted a Christian (Baptist) nation, but that is part of their propaganda that they use to circumvent the First Amendment. Baptist dominated states, like Oklahoma and other Southern states, tend to be some of the most repressed, both in laws against activities perceived as sinful by Baptists and discrimination against non-Christians or the wrong types of Christians. Baptists are especially obsessed with things such as Christian monuments on government property and other displays of religiosity by government organizations or government officials.
Question is, why is this? How did the Baptists become so political and they do they, unlike other conservative denominations, feel that they should impose their morality on society at large and that it's their right to control the culture?
The Baptists DO feel that they have every right to impose their morality on society by using their numbers to affect American politics. And the truth is that they have every legal right to do so. The irony is that the religious right is appalled and offended that those who do not believe as they do have been standing up in increasing numbers and shining the light of reason and fact on basic Christian claims and beliefs. Just as the opposition, mainly non believers, have every legal right to do. The result has been that the percentage of individuals in the US that do not subscribe to religion has shot up from about 5% in the 1990's, to roughly 25% today. A change of about 1% per year. At this rate religion will be a minority belief by the middle of the century.
And Christians will have the religious right to thank for it.
The Baptist church isn't the most culturally conservative church. It is however, perhaps one of the most controlling denominations in terms of its political activism and its desire to impose itself on the non-believing world. While the Amish and certain sects of Mennonite, Church of Christ, and LDS make Baptists look quite liberal, those denominations are more inclined to keep their legalism to themselves and not try to impose it on society at large. Baptists on the other hand feel its their mission to control the morality of society and be the conscience of the culture. Most blue laws, such as alcohol laws and other Sunday commerce bans, were led by Baptists. Baptists are at the front lines of the fight against LGBT equality, gambling, and the fight against marijuana legalization. You don't hear as much about this today, but at one point the Baptists were proponents of laws banning dancing (which many municipalities in the Bible Belt had) and censorship of the airwaves.
Which Baptists? In my town alone there are 3-4 varieties of Baptist church. We don't have a single authority other than God telling us what to do.
But yes, we do vote, and we do get to have a say in what our towns make legal or illegal. Sometimes, that goes against what the atheist or pagan crowd wants.
So I should ask...who gets to decide, if not the voters?
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Baptists are also at the forefront of breaking down separation of church and state, which is ironic given that historically the Baptists were among the most pro-church/state separation denominations. They will typically proclaim that separation of church and state is a myth and that the founders wanted a Christian (Baptist) nation, but that is part of their propaganda that they use to circumvent the First Amendment. Baptist dominated states, like Oklahoma and other Southern states, tend to be some of the most repressed, both in laws against activities perceived as sinful by Baptists and discrimination against non-Christians or the wrong types of Christians. Baptists are especially obsessed with things such as Christian monuments on government property and other displays of religiosity by government organizations or government officials.
It's interesting that this "Separation of church and state" you speak of is a mental construct in the minds of liberals. It does not exist in the Constitution. It's also interesting that most liberals that I personally know have very little use for the Constitution, but they sure can quote the idea of this "Separation" when they want to try to win an argument.
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Question is, why is this? How did the Baptists become so political and they do they, unlike other conservative denominations, feel that they should impose their morality on society at large and that it's their right to control the culture?
Again...we are voters. Why are atheists and pagans so political and why do they, unlike other people, feel they should impose their morality, or lack thereof, on society at large, and that it's right to control the culture?
It's not just the Baptists. My former sect of conservative Lutheranism was quite political as well. They just don't have the numbers like the Baptists do.
It's not just the Baptists. My former sect of conservative Lutheranism was quite political as well. They just don't have the numbers like the Baptists do.
I've also met some United Methodists, Evangelical Lutherans, and Presybterians that are VERY political....though they tend to lean to the left of the political spectrum, so the OP probably wouldn't have had issue with them.
They all teach a bit differently. One uses the KJV only. One tends to be a little bit less committed to the Bible, and they associate with less "fundamental" churches --and they're American Baptist. I have friends that go there, and they're fine people. We just believe differently on the non-important issues. Another is Southern Baptist, and they associate with the Southern Baptist Conference. My church is a pretty conservative Baptist church, but we do believe in using translations other than KJV. We are just a bit different than the others, and we are associated with a different conference. But we are not drastically different churches.
To be honest, my area is dominated by the "Christian Church", or "Church of Christ" -- the "Restoration Movement" of churches. But I have friends in several of them, and we all agree on the important stuff.
There are the Independent Fundamental Baptists which are the most extreme followed by the Southern Baptists. Those two groups are the most political and believe that their standard of morality should be enforced by the government and are seemingly always offended by popular culture. They are always throwing stones at those they perceive as "unrighteous" and "sinners," especially the LGBT community but that expands to anything typically associated with liberal politics. They also have numbers on their side, especially in rural Southern states like Oklahoma and Alabama.
You then have the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptists which are more moderate to liberal. You never hear about them because they aren't constantly trying to control everyone's private lives and they are also smaller denominations.
There are the Independent Fundamental Baptists which are the most extreme followed by the Southern Baptists.
Actually, that really varies according to the pastor. There are some SBC pastors that really are kind of liberal in their theology.
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Those two groups are the most political and believe that their standard of morality should be enforced by the government and are seemingly always offended by popular culture. They are always throwing stones at those they perceive as "unrighteous" and "sinners," especially the LGBT community but that expands to anything typically associated with liberal politics. They also have numbers on their side, especially in rural Southern states like Oklahoma and Alabama.
You then have the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptists which are more moderate to liberal. You never hear about them because they aren't constantly trying to control everyone's private lives and they are also smaller denominations.
And there are some that are quite poltically minded in the OPPOSITE direction, always tossing stones at those that don't agree with their social justice minded theology, or their liberal politics.
I don't know why people who subscribe to liberal politics want to tell the rest of us that Jesus and the Bible implies social justice from their perspective. It shows that both sides of religion want to be politically active when it best suits their ideology. Note: I'm a middle-of-the-road libertarian, not quite politically active about my religion in either direction and I was raised a Catholic but no longer practice.
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