In the 1980s, ultra-conservatives seized control of the Southern Baptist Convention and forced both individuals and congregations to either knuckle under to their radical revisions to the whole idea of what it meant to be Baptist, or leave. Hundreds of churches, and hundreds of thousands of members, broke from the convention. Among the prominent members lost were Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
That suited the new, hard-right leaders of the convention right down to the ground. They aligned themselves firmly with the GOP, and became the centerpiece of the evangelical right. In 2003, as mainstream churches (including George W. Bush's own Methodist denomination) condemned the invasion of Iraq, the Southern Baptist Convention proved its allegiance to politics above all. It became the only major denomination to endorse the invasion of Iraq, calling it "a just war."
And as they advocated loving their neighbors with bombs, the SBC adopted the model of televangelists as their standard plan for building a church. Across the nation, they constructed mega-churches, often in direct competition with congregations that had left when the church was abducted by the hard right. These huge churches contained their own exercise facilities, so members wouldn't have to socialize in environments as ungodly as the YMCA. They had their own youth sports leagues, so parents wouldn't have to take their children to the secular humanist Little League. They had coffee shops and arcades, classrooms and conferences, all designed to make sure that the church was a complete community in itself, where members never heard a word contrary to that of the SBC leadership. They had sanctuaries echo chambers that would seat thousands, as they explained that being pro-choice was equivalent to being a slave owner and that John Kerry is a "functional atheist."
From all appearances, the takeover artists appeared completely victorious. But appearances can be deceiving.
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http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/2...7329/319/540743