Last week Devilstower wrote about an upcoming meeting in Atlanta of a variety of groups of Baptists called the New Baptist Covenant.
I will write at least one more general diary later, but I wanted to address a more narrow issue today. For those who have not followed, this event was initiated by Jimmy Carter to try to pull the fragmented Baptist family back together. Great efforts were made to keep this from either becoming or being perceived as a partisan politcal event. Certainly part of the backdrop of the event was the marriage of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Republican party that has taken place over the last twenty years. The SBC is the largest Baptist group in America by far, and was not invovlved in this meeting. Leaders of the SBC initially made strong statements critical of the meeting, but eventually softened their position, though they did not participate. Here is a little more background from Tim Woods of the Waco Tribune-Herald
With so many Baptist groups coming together, one group appears conspicuously absent: the 18-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, from which a number of Baptist groups have split over the years because of the organization’s staunch conservatism and fundamentalism.
Although some SBC members will attend, reportedly none of the leadership will be present.
SBC executive committee members couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday, and a statement by SBC President Frank Page about the New Baptist Covenant gathering on the organization’s Web site was down Tuesday.
Initially three prominent Republicans agreed to be on the program - Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, and Charles Grassley. Huckabee bailed out pretty early when Carter made a critical comment about Bush foreign policy. We went to the Friday morning session, expecting to hear Grassley and Graham speak on hunger and immigration, respectively, but were told at the beginning of that session that Graham had called and would not be coming. We were given a vague statement about how his schedule had stayed unexpectedly busy after the SC primary was over. Marv Knox reports a little bit more detail for Associated Baptist Press:
They claimed organizers stacked the program in favor of Democrats, citing the presence not only of Carter, but also Clinton and Gore. Carter refuted that charge in a news conference, noting the all-Baptist program also featured Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Organizers invited Republican presidential candidate and former Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee, who accepted and then declined months ago, as well as Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who bowed out at the last minute to campaign for another presidential candidate who attends a Baptist church, John McCain.
This brings me back to my title. Georgia governor, Sonny Perdue (R), appeared at the opening session to welcome the group to the state of Georgia, but Grassely was left alone as the only Republican on the program giving a substantive address. I felt a lot of compassion for him when he stood up to speak, because I felt that Graham had abandoned him. But I was also pleased to hear what he had to say. He spoke passionately about two Iowans who saved hundreds of millions of people from starvation. The first, surprisingly, was Herbert Hoover, who bracketed his disastrous, inept presidency with remarkable diplomatic missions to Europe following each of the world wars to help establish reliable food supplies. The second was Norman Borlaug, the scientist whose work was the foundation of the green revolution. It was obvious listening to Senator Grassley that he wants to end hunger, and he wants what is best for the farmers of his state.
Grassley and I have differences, both concerning our goals for the world and our opinions about how to achieve the goals upon which we agree. But he exhibited courage, compassion, and wisdom that I can admire, and I want to express my appreciation on this public venue.
And when the session was over, he walked across the street like the rest of us and sat with three staff members in the food court at the CNN Center and ate a chicken sandwich.