Our Cousins The Baptists

JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville, Florida
June 24, 2007

When I tell people that I was raised Baptist, but now I am Unitarian Universalist, I usually get “Wow, you really did a 360!” or “How in the world did you get to Unitarian Universalist from Baptist!”

I usually laugh and say, “3 hymns, pass the plate and a sermon.It’s really not so different!”You may be surprised at how similar we are in ways other than the Sunday morning worship structure.

I wasn’t raised Southern Baptist, I was raised Fundamental Independent Baptist.This is what Cooper P Abrams III has to say about Fundamental Independent Baptists –

“The name Fundamental Independent Baptist came into being because many modern day Baptist churches were compromising the Word of God and teaching and practicing false doctrines.

The TRUE Baptists added the adjectives Fundamental and Independent to their name in order that they not be identified with the false practices and teaching of the doctrinally unsound churches using the Baptist name.”

And this was exactly what happened in a small Southern Baptist church in a town outside Birmingham AL.

It was the year of my birth, 1957 and the movie “The Ten Commandments” had just been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.The Southern Baptist college in Birmingham invited Cecil B DeMille to be the commencement speaker at graduation.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everyone knew that Hollywood was of the devil and how could a Baptist college invite that movie producer to speak at commencement?

The minister and several of his followers left Industrial City Southern Baptist church and started Brooklane Fundamental Independent Baptist Church, three blocks away.

My parents were among those that formed Brooklane Fundamental Independent Baptist church and that is where I received my religious upbringing

As Cooper P Abrams III said, Fundamental Independent Baptists believe the Bible.Literally.

They believe that the world was created in 6 days, that Jonah lived in the belly of a big fish for 3 days, and that Jesus was born of a virgin and walked on water.

This way of looking at the Bible consumed a lot of time and energy due to the need to reconcile all the “seeming” contradictions.

For example, here’s how they explained the presence of the dinosaurs: Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”Now that’s the world that the dinosaurs inhabited.

Genesis 1:2 says “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”For some reason unbeknownst to us, God destroyed all life on that first earth.

That’s why it was without form and void.Then, in the following verses in Genesis, God goes on to create the world as we know it.

If you haven’t made the connection yet, realize that this Fundamental Independent Baptist Church was in a suburb of Birmingham AL in the 1950s and 60s at the height of the civil rights movement.

The pastor preached that it was god’s will that black people should be in servitude to white people and he used the Bible to support his statements.

He said that black people are the descendants of Noah’s son, Ham.This is what happened:

After the ark landed, Noah got really drunk and passed out naked on the ground.

His youngest son, Ham, happened to go by there and saw him passed out.He hurried away to go get his brothers to help.

Quoting from the King James Bible:

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Ham; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

This is Biblical exegesis through the filter of fear.And if there was one thing that was consistent throughout my religious upbringing, it was fear.

Fear of hell, the devil, the communists, and the worst of them all – the “so-called” liberal Christians.

I remember many nights lying awake in fear that I was going to hell.

The bible said that if any MAN be in Christ he is a new creature.If the bible is literally true, that means that no girls or women can be in Christ.

I would come home from school and if my parents weren’t right there waiting for me, I was sure that the Rapture had happened and I’d been left behind.

As irrational as it sounds, I still have a very slight moment of panic if I turn around and my husband Dave isn’t where I thought he was.He calls these episodes “Rapture Moments.”

And I know what you’re thinking – these people are our cousins?Are you nuts!

But wait, my Baptist days were not over.As a teenager, I left the church of my youth and joined the large Southern Baptist church in my community – mostly because it had lots of activities for the teenagers.

It meant little or nothing to me except social outings and boys my parents would approve of (Oh, if they had only known!)

Fast forward a few years – I was in college at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and I registered for a class called “The Bible as Literature” taught Dr Robert Penny who happened to be a Unitarian Universalist whose father was a Southern Baptist Minister.

Growing up as I did, for me to sign up for “The Bible as Literature” was as daring as going into a bar or an x-rated move.

And as happens with so many daring things we risk in our lives, this college course was a life-changing experience for me.

Dr Penny began on the first day of class with his definition of the word “myth.”

“Myths,” he said, “are the stories a culture tells that reveal its greatest truths.Factual accuracy has nothing to do with it.They are stories about truth, regardless of fact.”

“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”And I was indeed set free.The Bible came alive for me and made sense in a way it never had before.

For the first time in my life, I was a very devout Christian, a Baptist Christian, because it was meaningful to me, not because I was afraid not to be.

A few years later I married a young man, a graduate of that same Baptist college that invited Cecil B DeMille to be its commencement speaker all those years before, and we headed to Louisville Kentucky where he attended THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

We ended up living communally in our Southern Baptist church building located in one of the roughest inner-city housing projects in Louisville, with the homeless, the mentally ill, those living with AIDS and Central American refugees.

One of our ministers was a woman and the other was my husband.We hung out with the radical Catholic priest down the street talking late into the night about Liberation theology and God’s preferential option for the poor.

We marched in the gay rights parade.We were friends with Jim Wallis and Joyce Holiday of Sojourners fame.Our heroes were Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Will D Campbell and Clarence Jordan.

We lived hard, we played hard and we believed with all our hearts that we were bringing about the kingdom of God.

At this point I had been a Baptist all my life.So my 360 degree shift came about WITHIN the Baptist church, not when I became a UU.

In fact, if it had not been for my son, I might not be a UU today.We visited a UU church when we moved to Savannah.My son loved it immediately, but I was quite put off.

These people struck me as mighty stuck up in their assurance that they were the only liberals around.

They rubbed me the wrong way when they laughed at the ridiculous antics of the Baptists.

So you’re probably wondering why I did stick around.

Well, one Sunday I got up on my high horse and I told those UUs a thing or two about being liberal and I told them how offended I was at their ridicule of Christians and I told them that they claimed to respect all religions but they did not.

And they listened. And they changed. THAT is why I am now a UU. We listen, we change, we grow.

My 15 years as a UU have broadened and deepened and expanded me and I am truly and eternally grateful for the presence of Unitarian Universalism in my life and in the world.

I no longer claim Christianity.I can define my beliefs as Humanist, with Buddhist leanings, but those things are only the adjectives in front of Unitarian Universalist. I’m a HuBuUU.

AND, I recognize that neither the Unitarian Universalist movement as we now know it, nor the Baptists, would be the same if not for the Anabaptists, our common ancestors.

It is often thought that when the Reformation was established Protestants were divided into those who followed Luther and those who followed Zwingli and Calvin.

However there was another large group who did not belong to either party - the Anabaptists. They were known as “Anabaptists” because of their practice of re-baptizing individuals who have been baptized as infants.

They believed that people should come into the church as adults and of their own free will.This was the beginning of the group of churches called “free church”

The Anabaptists formed independent autonomous churches who emphasized:

Many groups today claim to be the descendants of the Anabaptists - Unitarians, Baptists and Quakers among them.

Although whether or not we are DIRECT descendents remains up for debate, the truth is that the Anabaptists birthed the main tenants that are so important to both UUs and Baptists – The Autonomous, Free church, entered into by adults of their own free will, the separation of church and state, and what the Baptists call “The priesthood of the believer” meaning there is no hierarchy within the church and no need for an intercessory priest between each individual believer and god.

In my research, I also found where there was a significant group of Anabaptists influenced by our Unitarian forebear, Michael Servetus who was burned at the stake in 1553 for denying the trinity and condemning infant baptism – Unitarian Anabaptists

So we share a common history, or at least, were influenced by the same group – the Anabaptists.

But there is another HUGE similarity between UUs and Baptists.

The main reason that both the church I grew up in and the church I was a member of in Louisville could call themselves Baptists is that Baptists are non-creedal.

While researching this sermon, I googled “non-creedal.”Almost every hit on the first page was either UU related, or Baptist related.

Here’s a quote from a site by Daniel Vestal called “Why I am a Baptist:”

I am a Baptist because I believe in a non-creedal approach to faith. The difference between a confession and a creed is that, in a confession, we declare what we believe. We declare it freely and without coercion. In a creed, we declare what we must believe, or, more specifically, what others must believe.

Baptists have always been confessional, but they have resisted creeds. This non-creedal approach to faith has caused some to accuse Baptists of not believing anything. How many times have we UUs been accused of “not believing anything.”

Again from Daniel Vestal –

Baptists create a house where differing perspectives are not only tolerated but encouraged.

So, in the Baptist house, you have a Jerry Falwell and a James Dunn; a Jesse Helms and a Jesse Jackson; a Billy Graham and a Martin Luther King, Jr.; a Bill Clinton and a Trent Lott.

We UUs are mighty proud of our openness and we like to claim that we are a diverse people, but I believe we have to step back and hand the prize to the Baptists for having the widest diversity.

The polity of Baptist congregations and UU congregations is identical.

Every church is autonomous. We are 100% in control of what happens within our congregation. We are not ruled by the Unitarian Universalist Association and we are not owned by them.

This building belongs to our members, the ministers were chosen by the members, not assigned from the UUA. The ministers and staff are paid by the money you put in that offering plate.

The UUA provides services, literature and support. It allows us to pool our resources to provide service to the wider world, for example through the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

This is the same structure as the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC has been an agency that supported congregations, published materials and sent missionaries.

Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing on until today, there has been a “conservative takeover” as those of us in that inner-city Louisville church called it, a shift towards a much more conservative agenda.

Our days in Louisville were rife with conflict within our local Baptist Association from the churches who were against women being ministers and every once in a while they got a sense that there was even more outrageous stuff going on at that inner-city church, but they weren’t generally willing to come to the projects and find out what it was!

But there were just as many Baptist churches who defended us with their words, their pocketbooks and yes, they even came down to the projects and fed the homeless.

The struggle continues to this day with many churches withdrawing from the SBC and creating the “Alliance of Baptists” which they believe holds closer to their non-creedal, free-church, separation of church and state Baptist roots.

So what can we as UUS learn from the struggles of our Cousins the Baptists? I am reminded of something one of our ministers Meredith Garmon said about our UU principles and Purposes.

He said that it is very important that we not add anything on to our principles and purposes.

In my experience, the Southern Baptist Convention started adding things. They confessed the autonomy of the church, but those who were threatened by women in the ministry also wanted to add “except for those with women ministers.”

They confessed the priesthood of all believers, but a few wanted to add, “except let us interpret this part of scripture for you.”

They confessed the separation of church and state, but it sure would be nice to get some of those vouchers for our church school.

Are we UUs adding extra requirements onto our Principles and Purposes?

Are we saying “We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person” and oh yeah, we also believe that you have to vote Democrat.

Are we saying “We believe in justice equity and compassion in human relationships and you also would feel much more comfortable here if you’re in favor of abortion rights.”

In writing my sermon I got to thinking about our pride in being a diverse people.How comfortable would a Republican be in our midst? Would someone who is passionate about the sanctity of life find a welcome among us?

The very fact that people are shocked, yes SHOCKED, when I tell them that I used to be a Baptist, tells us how far we are from being welcoming to them.

It’s very possible that a Baptist could come to the door of our church, see a woman up here in the pulpit and turn away and walk off before even giving us a chance, but that is his rejection of us, not our rejection of him.

I am reminded of the great Unitarian theologian James Luther Adams, perhaps the greatest liberal theologian ever. Here is what David Little, a professor at Harvard Divinity School said about Adams:

“When I came to Harvard Divinity School some forty years ago, I was a resolute and committed Barthian, heavily influenced by neo-orthodox theology . . . which had taught me to be dismissive in my encounters with alien views.

 

Naturally, I was deeply suspicious of liberal Protestantism, particularly that sort identified as Unitarianism, of which James Luther Adams was a leading representative.

 

My experiences with Adams turned out to be life-transforming. It was a profoundly liberating experience to encounter a genuinely liberal spirit, a man who was tolerant in the very best sense of the word.

 

He welcomed views he didn’t accept or altogether share, and almost seemed happiest in the presence of people who disagreed with him.”

One of the many definitions of “liberal” is open-minded and tolerant, free from prejudice or bigotry. And of course there is the capital L definition of Liberal - pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

Are we simply the capital L version of liberalism? Or are we open enough to accept as wide a range of beliefs and opinions as Our Cousins the Baptists?

Yes, a wide range of beliefs and opinions creates conflict AND conflict is necessary for growth and learning.

Where is the impetus to grow and look at new ideas if we surround ourselves with people who think just like we do?

Will Campbell was one of the very few white southern ministers willing to stand arm in arm with the civil rights marchers. And he was right in the thick of it too.

At one point he had a spiritual awakening of a sort.He was at a civil rights organizing meeting and a film was being shown of KKK men practicing their drills.

They were portrayed as bumbling redneck idiots in the film and the people watching were laughing and jeering.

Will said that suddenly he couldn’t join in. Suddenly he felt compassion for these people that were being ridiculed.

He knew that this kind of ridicule did not nurture non-violence, but fed hatred. What would it take to create a REAL relationship of equals between the two groups. Certainly not this derision.

Will Campbell set out to become friends with the KKK. And he did.

He became friends with the KKK AND he maintained his stance on civil rights and support of the civil rights workers.

He created events where the two groups would sit down together and talk, share a meal.

I believe that liberalism – the true liberalism practiced by James Luther Adams and Will D Campbell – can break down the walls between us and allow us to embrace Our Cousins the Baptists.