If that were true, people would be singling out Baptists for not breaking ties to the BSA, but giving other churches that do so a pass. In reality, all the church denominations that continue to support the BSA are getting just as much criticism on FR. There is no effort to solely "target" Baptists
On the other hand, you do see threads where Catholics are continually blasted for not withholding communion from pro-abortion politicians, while nobody says a word about all the other Christian denominations who do nothing about their pro-abortion politicians...
>> The substance of the attack is optional. <<
The questions being raised here are legitimate.
Why doesn't the SBC simply issue a more strongly worded statement denouncing the Boy Scouts of America? The replies are giving us straw man arguments, like "Southern Baptists can't be expected to expel churches from the SBC that sponsor the Boy Scouts, they don't operate that way", even though NOBODY has demanded the SBC take such a step, or even claimed the SBC has the ability to do so.
Why doesn't the SBC simply use its influence to pressure Southern Baptist pastors to sever ties with the Scouts? I'm currently getting two contradicting comments here. They claim the SBC "just doesn't operate that way" and can do absolutely nothing to ostracize a local pastor and church from saying and doing whatever they want. Then, on other hand, they claim if a Southern Baptist pastor showed up at a SBC meeting and said he didn't believe in Jesus' divinity, he wouldn't get two sentences out and they'd keep him out the meeting and swiftly move to marginalize his church within the SBC because "sometimes wolves get into the mix and have to be removed". Which is it? You can't have it both ways. Either they CAN ostracize local pastors who go against SBC beliefs, or they CAN'T.
“Why doesn’t the SBC simply issue a more strongly worded statement denouncing the Boy Scouts of America?”
Name any denomination that has reacted stronger.
“Why doesn’t the SBC simply use its influence to pressure Southern Baptist pastors to sever ties with the Scouts?...Then, on other hand, they claim if a Southern Baptist pastor showed up at a SBC meeting and said he didn’t believe in Jesus’ divinity, he wouldn’t get two sentences out and they’d keep him out the meeting and swiftly move to marginalize his church within the SBC “
Probably because it isn’t a theological matter. There is ZERO tolerance for homosexuality in the SBC, but the wisdom of how to respond to a secular organization isn’t so clear cut. Should the SBC condemn anyone who stays in the military? Should the SBC condemn any church that uses Apple computers, or withdraw fellowship from any Baptist congregation in states that have approved homosexual marriage?
The SBC has rejected congregations that say practicing homosexuality is OK. That is a clear, theological choice. But how to live in the world, but not be OF the world - that is a challenge.
This thread was posted, not about the BSA, but about sexual abuse claims. Since the SBC can’t even get member churches to fill out an annual survey on how many members they have, determining who is a sexual predator is going to be tough. Most Baptist congregations will turn any predator over to the cops. Those that don’t...could be disciplined (rejected) at the next annual convention, IF someone reports it. But the SBC, unlike the Catholic Church, doesn’t have a top down organization capable of HIDING predators in the system - because there IS no system.