Believe Anything You Like, You Can Still Be Part of CBF

by Steve Hardy                                                                                              Vol. XIX, No. 3, March 2006

     Editorial Committee Chairman

Many Southern Baptists are wondering just how far a church or institution can go in its non-Biblical beliefs and still be a part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). CBF, which prides itself on women's ordination and nonliteral views of scripture, may be walking a thin line between what is outside general guidelines of Baptist interpretation of Scripture and what is heresy. Typically, CBF does not like to be "judgmental" about someone's interpretation of Scripture. Thus when breakout sessions were held at the CBF annual meeting, CBF issued a disclaimer in their program that the views of individuals presenting material at the breakout sessions did not necessarily represent the views of CBF. Does this absolve CBF of theological responsibility? We think not. Consider a few outstanding examples from this past year [2003].

At the CBF annual meeting in June, Bill Leonard, Dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University, presented a talk titled, "The Plan(s) of Salvation: When Conversion and Pluralism Collide." According to a Baptist Press article, "Leonard argued that claims of Christian exclusivism border on an infringement of religious liberty." According to the article Leonard called into question the exclusive claims of John 14:6, where Jesus says that He is "the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me," and said that Matthew 25 seems to indicate that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick are sufficient for salvation. The traditional Baptist interpretation of Matthew 25 is that those things do not provide salvation but are done as a response of love because Christ lives in the heart due to faith in Him.

The same Baptist Press article reported that Charles Kimball, the dean of the religion department at Wake Forest University, said that while not rejecting absolute truth, those who claim it pose a threat to society. Kimball had particular criticism for Jerry Vines, Jerry Falwell, Al Mohler, and Franklin Graham for saying that believing in Allah is not the same as believing in Jesus.

Besides seeming to promote universalism, there is also the continuing question of CBF's stand on homosexuality. CBF has an official policy of not knowingly hiring gays or lesbians, or supporting institutions that have a pro-homosexual agenda. Yet it provides scholarships for students to attend institutions that have a pro-homosexual agenda. The current CBFNC publication lists scholarships for students at Wake Forest Divinity and Duke Divinity, both of which are proud of the fact they have open admissions that include gays and lesbians. Bill Leonard is well remembered by conservatives for telling the Winston-Salem Journal that he "would die on the altar of diversity" referring to enrollment of gays and lesbians at Wake Divinity School.

The water was further muddied by a statement that Bob Patterson gave to the Winston-Salem Journal on April 25 [2003]. At the Spring CCB meeting in April, Roger Moran made statements about CBF's stand on women in ministry and homosexuality. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Patterson told them that CBF certainly supported ordination of women, stated the hiring policy, and then said, "But at the same time, nobody in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is going to release a statement about what one does or should do in that area (homosexuality)." He went on to say, "We don't speak for each other in terms of biblical interpretation."

Evidently what people believe does not faze CBF. In the current issue of their monthly publication CBFNC announced that their key-note speaker for the rally they are sponsoring on November 11, during the BSCNC meeting, will be Leonard.

All of this leaves conservatives asking if theology – other than liberal theology – matters to CBF? It also leaves us wondering if the people in the pews of CBF churches, the ones who pay the bills, know the direction their leadership is taking. Does CBF have a stand on universalism and homosexuality? It seems to us they do. In light of what has happened in the Episcopal Church this Summer, with the ordination of a divorced gay bishop one wonders if similar attitudes to those of CBF were what allowed such a mockery of the faith to take place?

[Reprinted from The Conservative Record, journal of Conservative Carolina Baptists, November 2003, p. 3.]