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J II I V .TIVVJ UIIVI VIIUI J.V.V1 TYIlllsession of a stolen vehicle wereto express their concern over a fightConservative SouthernBaptists Gather To Discuss World ViewsWAKE FOREST, N.C. (AP) — Reflecting a 15-year drift toward greater conservatism, Southern Baptists are reiterating their beliefs — including one that says not all religious views carry the same weight.We’re here to challenge the prevalent supposition that all world views are valid. Christianity doesn't believe that,’’ said Richard Land, the executive director of the Christian Life Commission, which speaks for the 15 million-member Southern Baptist Convention on political and social matters.Most of the speakers at this year’s national issues seminar for Southern Baptists are fundamentalist evangelical Christians, while previous years have seen more varied lineups.The speakers reflect the denomination's greater conservatism, as does the topic: The War of the Worlds: World Views and the Struggle for the Nation’s Soul.” 500 Ministers Attending About 500 ministers and members are attending the three-day round of speeches and workshops at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary on ‘‘culture war.” “When we talk about world views, we need to come to a point of view,” Land said during an interview at the seminar Monday.The Christian Life Commission’s seminars reflect the shift toward increased conservatism in the denomination as a whole, said Land, a conservative who became the commission's leader in 1988 We come from a conservative perspective now, and the Christian Life Commission used to be quite liberal, he said In 1964, Southern Baptists heard President Lyndon Johnson discuss civil rights in the Rose Garden In other years, a Playboy editor talked about the First Amendment. Ahortion-rights advocates have discussed abortion, and the leader of the NAACP spoke about race For 28 years, until his 1988 retirement. the Rev. Foy Valentine led the Christian Life Commission and put together the seminars. He would not discuss Land’s approach, but he did say the seminars he oversaw were meant to generate new ideas.“We invited key thought leaders from all walks of life who had national or international reputations to present their ideas and theses and programs, so that leaders in Baptist life — pastors, denominational persons, editors, key lay people — could be exposed to outside voices,” he said.Moderates See Danger Moderates see a danger in the conservative drift.“The effort of the seminars previously was to inform, in my judgment. The effort now is to indoctrinate,” said David Wilkinson, spokesman for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group of moderate Southern Baptists.Previously, :hese were seminars where people learned things,” he said. “Now, they are rallies on behalf of the religious right.”For many evangelical Christians, family values or the culture war means upholding a Bible-believing view in a society saturated with promiscuity and Darwinism. The seminar aims to reflect that attitude.This is not going to be a dialogue,” said Danny Akin, Southeast-em’s dean of students and a seminar speaker. “Not everyone is going to see every issue in the same way, but everyone operates from a world view that accepts the Bible as the world view.”Akin was more pointed during his speech Monday on ‘ The Struggle for Hearts and Minds.”‘Truth demands distinctivencss,” Akin said. Compromises are not to be accepted ... if we are to win the hearts and minds of the world.Another speaker, Steve Lemke of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, spoke out against “rivals to the Judeo-Christian world view.“Our culture has lost this sense of identity,” Lemke said. “We have become legion, a multiple world view cultural personality disorder which has led to the psychological disintegration of the nation’s soul.” Other Seminar Speakers Others speakers at the seminar will include the Rev Jim Henry of Orlando, Fla., president of the 15 million-member denomination, and the Rev. Paige Patterson, Southeastern s president — an architect of the fundamentalist takeover of theconvention.Workshops will examine such subjects as Paganism. Pluralism and the American Pantheon. The Struggle Against Pornography in America” and “The Struggle for the Home” — to be conducted by Patterson’s wife, Dorothy.Deslt;Dr. Stephen Ash at left, describes he heats it to 114 degrees, possibly dearin process will put the disease in remi*
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Aberdeen Moore County Citizen News Record
Aberdeen, North Carolina, US
Tue, Feb 28, 1995
Page 10
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USA 28 May 2025
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Aberdeen Moore County Citizen News Record
