12 How so? The organization is still strongly conservative.
Already covered by Freepers - (1) amnesty for illegal aliens, (2) and sharia law for U.S. Muslims among themselves.
Richard Land was formerly the president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the moral and ethics concern entity of the Southern Baptist Convention in the U.S., a post he held from 1988 to 2013. It is arguably the denomination's committee with the highest profile on theology/policy commentary. Land retired from this position effective Oct. 23, 2013, at age 67. He is currently the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary (non-denominational) in Charlotte, NC.
Land got into hot water with the SBC on 3/31/2012 during his radio broadcast, "Richard Land Live!" Land accused the Obama administration and civil rights leaders of using the Trayvon Martin case to deliberately stir up racial tension and "gin up the black vote" for Obama in the 2012 election. His comments were criticized by several black Southern Baptist pastors, who felt they reversed a long effort by the SBC to distance itself from a past history of racism. Among those black pastors was the newly elected president of the SBC, Fred Luter (from New Orleans). Luter had earlier said on his watch that he wanted to bring more blacks into the SBC's administration.
The SBC has had an ongoing committee working to find a new name for the denomination. The church's leadership thinks "Southern" is not representative of today's church, especially with its past history over slavery prior to the Civil War.
Richard Land led the way and fought the good fight against the Boy Scouts of America in 2013 when it announced it intended to change its membership policy to admit open homosexuals. He acquitted himself with honor in that fight, which sadly, the BSA won.
The new president of the ERLC is 43 year-old Russell D. Moore. He succeeded Land. He is still new on his watch. I was not encouraged with his comments/tone regarding the BSA accepting homosexual youth as members. He came across as wishy washy. Time will tell.
All of those were personal opinions of those who had a microphone in front of them and held an office within the SBC organization. NONE reflects the attitudes of SBC churches as a whole. I never cease to be amazed at the complete lack of understanding the news media (and others) have of the way in which the SBC works. The ONLY issues on which SBC churches agree is the Gospel of Christ and adherence to the Word of God. Apart from that, even SBC “leaders” are allowed freedom of conscience — even if some Freepers have forgotten what that means. Their views and opinions are not reflected in the local body, or even on the SBC as a whole. Where other religions are now allowing that there are “multiple ways to Heaven”, the SBC maintains the Gospel of Christ. As I said, conservative.
The decision to allow the Boy Scouts to continue to use facilities is a local one. Each congregation has had to weigh the matter and decide whether to allow, as a way in which to potentially reach the lost, or disallow. I think you will find that the SBC is most concerned with spreading the Gospel of Christ. They do not dictate to churches what to believe, or how to conduct their internal affairs. If that now gets them labeled as “liberal”, so be it. Strange times in which we live.