Simon Cox Blog: Here’s a Resolution: Denominations Should Stop Shooting Themselves in the Foot

Friday, 23 June 2017

Here’s a Resolution: Denominations Should Stop Shooting Themselves in the Foot—Or At Least Try Harder

The world is watching.

Dwight McKissic called the most recent SBC drama a “24-hour roller coaster ride.”

I called it shooting yourself in the foot. Again. Publicly.

What could have been a Tuesday condemnation of racism became a Wednesday mea culpa.

So, what really happened on Tuesday when the Southern Baptist Convention Committee on Resolutions offered nine resolutions on various topics but passed over Pastor McKissic’s resolution condemning the alt-right? As I conversed Tuesday night with some of the players, everyone knew that Dwight McKissic had brought a resolution, as he often does. With him regularly bringing resolutions, perhaps the Resolutions Committee had been predisposed to pass this one by—and some of the language in the resolution may have added to that.

But it’s time we see that decisions like this are more than just what happens in a room in Phoenix.

The Context

Let’s step back and look at what it means to exegete the national cultural context.

Here comes a well-publicized resolution on racism (of the alt-right, in this case). It had similarities to resolutions overwhelmingly approved in years past. But a national context is not built on the doctrine of “once-passed, always-passed.”

The number of resolutions passed on the issue of abortion (or alcohol!) testify to this. Things happen in culture that lead us to discern that we may need to speak up again.

A lot has changed in the last 12 months. The public (rightly) now sees the alt-right as a pressing topic since President Trump’s election. (Regardless of your vote, we cannot deny that the alt-right has been emboldened by the election of President Trump.)

Furthermore, some of the public also wrongly surmises that many constituents in the ...