Baptist Joint Committee Notes

                                                                                                                                                                      Vol. VI, No. 8, October 1993

The SBC stopped funding the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs a couple of years ago because the BJC so frequently opposed SBC policies. The June BJC newsletter, Report front the Capital, contains some interesting items. Financially, "the agency has met its budget to date this year, primarily because growth in CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) funding and an increase in foundation gifts have compensated for a shortfall in individual contributions." Grady Cothen noted, "The best voice for religious liberty is hanging on by its fingernails." Of course Southern Baptists believe the best voice for religious liberty is our Christian Life Commission.

Speaking to a CBF session James Dunn, BJC executive director, said, "We don't have a written creed. But there is an unwritten one, and you hear it prayed. You hear it taught in Sunday School classes. The wording varies but very little (among Baptist groups).... It goes: 'Ain't nobody going to tell me what to believe."'