What name would you prefer?
This was the lead to a story on the AP wire today:
What if Southern Baptists were no longer called Southern Baptists? Would more people walk through church doors? Some leaders in the nation's largest Protestant denomination say it's an idea that needs to be considered for an evangelistic faith with declining membership.
As I quipped on Facebook, I don't think that the name is the problem.
And I have to wonder if the urge to change the name is to drop the "Southern" to reflect a more widespread base of congregants throughout the U.S. and beyond (can't really say be "more inclusive"), or is it because their brand is so damaged -- that just hearing the name "Southern Baptists" brings up such a negative reaction -- that they have to go with a whole new name in an effort to rehabilitate their public image. Kinda like how Comcast has renamed itself "Xfinity," complete with really awesome commercials, but, unfortunately, it's still Comcast.
It's likely too much to hope that the denomination, whatever its name, would change its repressive, regressive and restrictive legalist fundamentalist dogma. I'd hope at the very least it would stop acting like a political party -- the main reason I years ago promised myself I'd never identify as one of them, even though my hometown church turned out to be a part of the organization. I consider myself Christian, and Baptist (immersion baptism, personal relationship with God/Christ, no need for complex hierarchy) by keeping a faith that works for me in its content, not by whatever label some focus group is going to paste on it.
What if Southern Baptists were no longer called Southern Baptists? Would more people walk through church doors? Some leaders in the nation's largest Protestant denomination say it's an idea that needs to be considered for an evangelistic faith with declining membership.
As I quipped on Facebook, I don't think that the name is the problem.
And I have to wonder if the urge to change the name is to drop the "Southern" to reflect a more widespread base of congregants throughout the U.S. and beyond (can't really say be "more inclusive"), or is it because their brand is so damaged -- that just hearing the name "Southern Baptists" brings up such a negative reaction -- that they have to go with a whole new name in an effort to rehabilitate their public image. Kinda like how Comcast has renamed itself "Xfinity," complete with really awesome commercials, but, unfortunately, it's still Comcast.
It's likely too much to hope that the denomination, whatever its name, would change its repressive, regressive and restrictive legalist fundamentalist dogma. I'd hope at the very least it would stop acting like a political party -- the main reason I years ago promised myself I'd never identify as one of them, even though my hometown church turned out to be a part of the organization. I consider myself Christian, and Baptist (immersion baptism, personal relationship with God/Christ, no need for complex hierarchy) by keeping a faith that works for me in its content, not by whatever label some focus group is going to paste on it.