Southern Baptist Convention Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Moderates–conservatives controversy=== [[File:BH Carroll Memorial Building Rotunda (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX).JPG|thumb|B.H. Carroll Memorial Building, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's main administrative building]] The [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]] ({{circa|1970–2000}}) was an intense struggle for control of the national convention's resources and ideological direction.{{Sfn | McBeth | 1987 | pp = 681ff}} In July 1961, Professor Ralph Elliott at [[Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] published ''The Message of Genesis'', a book rejecting [[biblical inerrancy]].<ref>Pauline J. Chang, [https://www.christianpost.com/news/commemorating-twenty-five-years-of-sbc-146-s-conservative-resurgence.html Commemorating Twenty Five Years of SBC’s Conservative Resurgence], christianpost.com, USA, March 31, 2004</ref> In the 1970s, other convention seminary professors came under suspicion of [[liberal Christianity]]. In response to these events, a group of pastors led by Judge [[Paul Pressler (Texas politician)|Paul Pressler]] and Pastor [[Paige Patterson]] campaigned at conferences in churches for a more conservative direction in Convention policies.<ref>Frances FitzGerald, ''The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America'', Simon and Schuster, USA, 2017, p. 264</ref> This group's candidate, [[Adrian Rogers]], was elected Convention president at the 1979 annual meeting. After the election, the organization's new leaders replaced all Southern Baptist agency leaders with people said to be more conservative. Its initiators called it a "[[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]]", while its moderate opponents called it a "[[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] takeover".{{sfn|James|Jackson|Shepherd|Showalter|2006}} [[Russell H. Dilday]], president of the [[Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] from 1978 to 1994,{{sfn|McBeth|1987}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Steinfels |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Steinfels |date=March 11, 1994 |title=Baptists Dismiss Seminary Head In Surprise Move |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/11/us/baptists-dismiss-seminary-head-in-surprise-move.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=October 15, 2016}}</ref> said the resurgence fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and was "far more serious than [a controversy]",{{sfn|Dilday|2007|p=2}} calling it as "a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics".{{sfn|Dilday|2007|p=2}} Since 1979, Southern Baptists had become polarized into two major groups: moderates and conservatives. Reflecting the conservative majority votes of messengers at the 1979 annual meeting of the SBC, the new national organization officers replaced all leaders of Southern Baptist agencies with presumably more conservative people (often dubbed "fundamentalist" by dissenters).{{efn|The era of conservative resurgence was accompanied by the erosion of more-liberal members (see, e.g., [[G. Avery Lee]]).}}{{sfn|Humphreys|2002}} In 1984, this group was heavily involved in passing a resolution excluding women from pastoral leadership.<ref name="upi.com"/> In 1987, a group of churches criticized the fundamentalists for controlling the leadership and founded the [[Alliance of Baptists]].<ref>William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2021, p. 14</ref> A group of moderate churches criticized the denomination for the same reasons, as well as opposition to [[Ordination of women|women's ministry]], and founded the [[Cooperative Baptist Fellowship]] in 1991.<ref>William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2021, p. 169</ref><ref>Richard Leigh Walker, [https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1991/june-24/southern-baptists-moderates-form-alternative-fellowship.html Southern Baptists: Moderates Form Alternative Fellowship], christianitytoday.com, USA, June 24, 1991</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page