[gg188]

Political incorrectness exposed by the diversity police!

Someone sent this to me as an example of the egregious intolerance of Baptists. What say ye, Freepers? Or, rather, what do you think *I say in response to the person who sent this to me?

[ladyinred]

As a Baptist, although not Southern, I say I am not the least bit surprised by this, not even a little bit. Well, maybe that they are willing to pray with Pentacostalsdoes give me a bit of a raised eyebrow! :)
Would have expected them to be tabu also.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Whoa. Billy G. is Baptist, isn't he? Look, Southern Baptists are free to pray with whomever they want. It's called freedom of religion. They're just as patriotic as any other group--maybe more so. I'm not Baptist, but if this is an attempt by a lib journalist to slam them, it won't work.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If I take the biblical, "ye must be born again" a certain way, I will not feel comfortable agreeing in prayer with some others who consider themselves Christian--never mind with those who adhere to other faith traditions.

The First Amendment means that I don't have to believe your religion, and you are not required by law to believe mine. If necessary, we agree to disagree.

[RnMomof7]

Bump

[anniegetyourgun]

Ask them if they have been protesting the Amish for the same "narrow-mindedness" over these last many decades?

[alnick]

It doesn't really matter. I mean, everyone has the right to practice their religion any way they want to. This position is one of standing on principles.

That said, I know people who are Baptist who have prayed with me and others of other Christian denominations with no hesitation.

It's a matter of personal preference and I don't see any reason to criticize it.

[RnMomof7]

For the 15.7 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention, this means not only Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, but also Christian denominations they do not consider legitimate, including Roman Catholics, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. "We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven," said the Rev. Dwayne Mercer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Oviedo, explaining why he would not participate in interfaith gatherings, including one scheduled early next year for Central Florida congregations.

I say way to go SBC !

We have too much compromise today..all religious faiths have the right to worship as they please in this country..but there is no law (yet) that forces prayer with groups that are not Christian..and God's word is clear.He does not hear the prayer of those that are not His.

It may not be PC..but it is correct!

[Katie_Colic]

This is truly an example of Christianity. After all didn't Christ shun the sinners and hang out exclusively with the Pharisees? Let's see the Pharisees were self righteous, intloerant religious people. Who does that remind me of in this article?

[livius]

Tell Dwayne Mercer that his town, Oviedo, was named by Spanish colonists to honor their city in northern Spain, Oviedo, in the province of Asturias.

Florida and much of the South was first Christianized by Spanish (Catholic) missionaries, many of whom were killed by warring Indian tribes supported by the English. Many Christian Indians were also killed, mostly by non-Christian Indians, again encouraged or even paid by other foreign powers.

So give a little thought to history before you refuse to pray with other Christians.

[JD86]

It never ceases to amaze me how upset some people get about what other people believe. If the Southern Baptists don't want to pray with other people...what is the big deal? Let them pray by themselves. Let groups who want to pray together, pray together. To me, this is an example of allowing non-believers to stir the pot and create discension among believers. Don't fall for it.

[Columbo]

Of course, as a Catholic, I disagree with the S. Baptists on several major points and agree on many others (Christ is God, the only way to salvation is through Him and by His grace, the Trinity etc.) Its too bad they don't consider Catholics as Christians, when many of the mainline Protestant denominations they DO accept as Christian difer with them just as fundamentally if not more so. I do respect their steadfastness, however.

[SeaDragon]

I am so sick of the intolerance between some religions. The Southern Babtists are amongst the worst. Just where do they think their religion started......

All religion, no matter what you believe, started so long ago and in the same place that it doesn't even make sense. You believe what you believe and that is it.

Don't tell me that yours is better than mine or anyone else's. If you do, you are nothing but a hipocrite. Where do you get off telling anyone that?

For those of you that think that your religion is any better than others, just stuff it.......

[onyx]

Constitution --- freedom of religion --- freedom of association. SB's pray amongst themselves! So what! For the most part, they vote GOP don't they? <(;^)

[Cleburne]

Oh no, we must now establish a Ministry of Religion and Tolerant Discussion to encourage, ahem, greatly encourage the sharing of faiths in prayer to...some higher Being, or is that some higher Prescence, or perhaps we'll just meditate. We MUST all get along-no disension allowed!

[Delta 21]

I'm a baptist and I love this one.

How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?

CHANGE? Who said anything about change?!?!

[wwjdn]

As a Southern Babtist, I can say this is far from true at my church. The church is a family regardless of demonination, as long as you are Christian.

I have never seen our church reject open prayer or prayer with other Christians.

Sounds like another scam to me or at the least, not an opinion of the church as a body!

[Hank Kerchief]

It has been deeply rewarding to be sharing in prayers for peace and harmony with persons of a wide variety of faith traditions, and it is disappointing not having such an important group as the Southern Baptists sharing in this very rich experience.

Well maybe the Southern Baptists think prayer has some other purpose then to provide "rewarding" and "very rich" experiences to the participants. In fact, I would have thought the purose of prayer was to petition God for some particular blessing. How does a huge hodge-podge religious touchy-feely group grope accomplish that?

Since when is God more likely to reward prayer based on the number of attendants at the prayer meeting? (There are a number of Bible instructions about prayer that directly contradict this whole group prayer concept, like going into your closet to pray, and where two or three are gathered together.) Its not likely that most of the participants at these religious rallies are familiar with these, however.

Hank

[SoDak]

The greatest thing about America is that I don't have to give a hoot what the baptists think, and vice-versa.

[nmh]

I'm in agreement with Mohler since he conforms to God's word rather than the ignorant humanists parading around as "religious leaders." He is Biblically correct rather than politically correct.

"I draw the line with those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as their messiah," he said.

Me too! Sure many claim belief but worship another god or dead people. Thanks but I'll pass on the interfaith bowel movement. Outside of prayer, that's the time to convert to the true Judeo Christian God. My Bible tells me to seaparate from the unclean thing when it comes to worship so interfaith in not an option.

[Glenn]

Damn. Nothing warms my heart as much as seeing the religious douse each other with biblical lighter fluid and then ineptly try to light a match for one another.