Robert Novaks Very Misleading Article on Huckabee and Baptists

I just finishing reading this column by by Robert Novak on Huckabee entitled Baptists Not on Board. It is so misleading it is not even funny. I will give Novak the benefit of the doubt here. I think he is just in the classical sense of the word "ignorant" about the topic he is talking about.

A little background. I live smack dab in the middle of Southern Baptist Country. Before I converted to Catholicism I was a Southern Baptist. My grandfather was a deacon at the one of the most important Southern Baptist Churches in Louisiana. My Uncle is also a Southern Baptist deacon. So I know a little of what I am talking about here.

First it is important to remember that Southern Baptist are not exactly one monolithic group of people. While some Southern Baptist Preachers are very active in the political realm it is still far more the exception than the rule. Southern Baptist ministers for the most part shy away from direct political involvement. A typical Southern Baptist Minister has enough to worry about with the board of deacons and entering the political fray is just one more thing he does not want to worry about.

Now on to the story. I have seen this story line before. Let me highlight the parts of it I am getting at:
Huckabee greeted Pressler warmly. That contrasted with Huckabee's anger two months ago when they encountered each other in California. The former governor of Arkansas took issue then with comments by Pressler, a former Texas appeals court judge, that Huckabee had been a slacker in the war against secularists within the Baptist church......

More than personality explains why not all his Baptist brethren have signed on the dotted line for Huckabee. He did not join the "conservative resurgence" that successfully rebelled against liberals in the Southern Baptist Convention a generation ago.....

A better-known committee member was Baptist minister Rick Scarborough, founder of Vision America. In endorsing Huckabee on Nov. 1, Scarborough said, "I acknowledge that Huckabee is not the perfect candidate" but one "who will listen to wise counsel." Scarborough and Huckabee clashed during the Baptist wars. Fighting to drive the liberals from the temple, Scarborough was badly defeated for president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas while Huckabee embraced the liberal church establishment to become president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.....

On Oct. 26, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal quoted Pressler as saying: "I know of no conservative he appointed while he headed the Arkansas Baptist Convention." The next week, during their California encounter, Huckabee confirmed reports from people who know him that his good-natured facade conceals thin-skinned irritability. The candidate jumped Pressler with bitter complaints....

Huckabee's encounter with Pressler two months ago did not deter the judge from telling me this week much the same thing he said to the Journal's Fund: "I don't know of conservative appointments he made, and I don't know of any contribution to the conservatives.

Good Grief. You would think by reading this that Huckabee wanted to put far left wacko Southern Baptist in charge. The problem is this. Novak really does not understand the terms that he is parroting here. That is the words liberals and conservatives as used in this particular part of Southern Baptist Church history that went on during the 70's and 80's. Unless you follow for instance all the intra Church political conflicts at Baylor University or Louisiana College or various seminaries you really miss out what these terms mean.

First the term "liberal" was rarely used. It was more termed moderate versus conservative. So what is this about. Basically it about Theological and Biblical interpretations issues. It was really never a battle about "Secularism" as the article implies. I thought Wilki had a good oveview of what was going on during that time. This was a battle over things like the proper place, if any, of the historical critical method in seminaries. It had to do with the inerrancy controversy" over scripture. In the end it was a civil war that got out of hand and created a lot of hard feelings.

What Novak and non Baptist observers are missing is the very Church political struggle that was going on. When I am talking about politics I am not talking about politics in a secular sense. But politics in how the whole Southern Baptist Church was set up. There was and still is to a certain degree a tension between the local Southern Baptist Church and the National Church organization(aka the Southern Baptist Convention). The issue is local Church autonomy. To put this in a Catholic context every local Church has a Bishop(through their pastor) and there is no Pope. Well to some people it looked like the Southern Baptist convention was becoming a defacto Papacy. Thus started a two decade war over who controls seminaries, academic freedom, etc etc. In the end the "moderates" that did not stay formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Note Huckabee is not a part of this. So what are the defining issues of the so called moderate/liberal branch.

Four freedoms

CBF maintains that it exists because of the belief in historic Baptist principles of soul freedom, Bible freedom, church freedom and religious freedom.
Soul freedom is the belief in priesthood of the believer and the affirmation that every person has the freedom and responsibility to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or control of clergy or government.

Bible freedom is the belief in the authority of scripture, which under the Lordship of Christ, is central to the life of individuals and churches. Every Christian has the freedom and right to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Church freedom is the belief in the autonomy of every local church as free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whomever they perceive as gifted for ministry, and to participate as they deem appropriate in the larger body of Christ.

Religious freedom is the belief in freedom of, for and from religion, as well as separation of church and state. CBF supports this principle through its affiliation with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

What we had in essence was a battle over what it means to be a Southern Baptist. There is still tension here. However little of this had to do with what we commonly think of in the political realm as "liberal", "conservative", or moderate. Sadly however secular columnist are yet spreading another falsehood about Huckabee. They are also without knowing assisting those that still have hurt feelings over what was basically a theological and intra Church political battle that has little to do with the issue in this campaign.

Update-
I wanted to be clear about something. I am not saying that Huckabee is in the "moderate" or "conservative" theological camp. In fact he often strikes me as being in the "conservative" camp. To be honest I have no clue as to Southern Baptist theological and intra Church political issues where he stands. I honestly don't care for instance on what his views are on topics such as if a Southern Baptist can speak in tounges or if the Southern Baptist Convention can decree how much Calvinism is acceptable in Southern Baptist doctrine. Both are current issues with them . I am no expert on the history of the Arkansas Baptist Convention and polity either. I do get a sense though that Huckabee thought a lot of this was not worthy of tearing apart the Body of Christ over and he reached out to all sides. Perhaps that is what we should be looking at.