When Southern Baptists broke with the General Missionary Convention in 1845 over the refusal of the mission board to appoint slaveholders as missionaries, they founded two agencies: a foreign missions emphasis and a domestic missions emphasis. This newly formed Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) interpreted their new association exclusively in terms of these ministries. Theological education was added gradually after the founding of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1859. It was difficult for many to sympathize with other ideas of ministry, especially social ministry, since the burgeoning accumulation of (primarily North-based) benevolent societies and ethical social ministries had virtually isolated and stigmatized the South from the larger Baptist fellowship. Missions, evangelism, and church planting dominated the SBC’s perception of united benevolent activity. This SBC resistance to an expansive social interaction was exacerbated by the rise of liberalism and the substitution of cultural engagement for conversion, preaching, and ministry.
Drunkenness, however, was a destructive social problem that the Baptist churches could unite to fight. The development of the social involvement of Southern Baptists from its advocacy of temperance to its engagement with a wild multiplicity of issues carries its history through a variety of committees, name changes, specific assignments, and theological persuasions.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) embraces within its identity, therefore, a long line of Southern Baptist engagement in social, cultural, and moral issues, both in the United States and on the international scene. It seeks to insert a moral voice into issues that affect the texture of national morality. Also it seeks to give guidance to churches on matters of ethical conviction for members of the churches. The amazing complexity of this assignment unavoidably generates disagreements concerning approaches to these moral issues. One can sense that at every point of engagement voices are coming in from invested observers, “too fast, too slow, wrong approach, wrong evaluation, misrepresentation, too broad, too narrow, too rigid, too liberal” and a host of other nuanced responses.
Two of the ERLC’s goals have existed for decades: 1) to assist the churches by helping them understand the moral demands of the gospel and 2) to help Southern Baptists apply Christian principles to moral and social problems.[1] While addressing these issues, Southern Baptists have sought, with varying degrees of clarity and success, to maintain gospel preaching and evangelism as the main tasks of the church. Beyond theological tensions in America at large, two phenomena in the early twentieth century created a need for annual assurances that a theology of conversion was fundamental to any progress in the realm of social ethics. One, Southern Baptists began to embrace the culture of planned revival efforts and the use of full-time evangelists at the same time that the need for engagement with social evil was being elevated to an issue of genuine Christian discipleship. Two, theological liberalism (with its substitution of the social gospel for historic confessional orthodoxy) created the suspicion in the SBC that efforts to engage evil at the corporate and national level were taking greater priority than individual morality, ethical development, and sanctification. William Newton Clarke (1841-1911) had pictured mature Christianity as having outgrown the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture.[2] Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918), a great admirer of Clarke, committed the ideas of substitution, propitiation, and imputation to the rubbish heap of theological lore.[3]
1. A partial list of the number of issues the ERLC dealt with in 2019 gives an idea of the dizzying challenges posed by an increasingly secular culture in a fallen world: Defunding Planned Parenthood, ending proposed taxation of church parking lots, promoting pro-life judicial nominees, No Taxpayer for Abortion Act, Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, Conscience Protection Act (to get exemptions from laws requiring medical professional to perform abortions), First Amendment Defense Act, opposition to women in combat and in the draft, and reviving obscenity prosecution.
2. William Newton Clarke, Sixty Years With the Bible (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909) 178, 179.
3. Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917), 243.
In part one of this two essay-series, I will give a decade-by-decade breakdown from the early 1900s to the 1960s on how the ERLC and its forbearers have sought to deal with various social issues. In part two, I’ll cover from the 1970s to the early 2020s. These essays are primarily historical and descriptive, and they give context for how Southern Baptists have sought to address concerns in the public square for over a century.
The First Decade of the 1900s
In 1908, E. Y. Mullins reported that “Evangelism lies at the heart of our whole enterprise. It presupposes a teaching and training ministry as its result, because the new life it generates must be developed.[4] He conceded, somewhat sarcastically, that “some evangelists have rare and wonderful mathematical genius which enables them to manipulate figures and get results which leave the average mind baffled and paralyzed.” False converts are destructive and sometimes create “enough problems on a pastor’s hands to last him for years.” Some evangelists are “vain and belligerent and bumptious,” and thus spurious and parasitic “at the roots” But the sane evangelism fostered by “our Home Board” is sound, necessary, and based on the New Testament.
4. SBC, 1908: 11. All references to the Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention will follow this pattern. The SBC Annual is a yearly book of reports from all of the SBC entities, and it is a valuable historical artifact.
The SBC and Temperance
That same year, a report expressed joy “to observe that the spirit of law, of temperance, of righteousness, is becoming a conquering spirit. The politicians today are in increasing numbers consulting with the religious people of the community rather than with the saloon aggregation.”[5] The report expressed confidence that “the light of a new day is upon us, and it adds to our rejoicing that not a few of the men who are making this new day belong to our denomination. Civic Righteousness and the Kingdom of God are bound up in each other.” Christ’s commission not only increases the census of heaven but also pursues “a righteous society in which Christ’s will shall be done, his kingdom come.” Based on that assumption, a resolution and exhortation was announced against the liquor traffic. The Convention expressed its desire and confidence that “that to redeem society and to purify and perfect government, are results to be directly expected from the preaching of the gospel and the Christian education of the young people of this rising generation, and that, therefore, every wrong, public and private, political and social, retards the consummation of the commission of our King.” To pursue that end the Convention appointed “a standing committee of fifteen brethren, to be known as a Committee on Temperance, whose duty it shall be to promote in every way possible the cause of temperance, until there shall not be a licensed saloon in our land, and until the whole liquor traffic shall be banished not only from our land, but from all lands.”[6]
5. SBC, 1908: 35.
6. SBC, 1908: 35.
The 1910s
In 1913, A. J. Barton, Texas, read the Report of the Committee on Temperance and described a bill that passed both house of congress even over the veto of President Taft, that limited the transport of intoxicating beverages. Barton called this, “the greatest victory for the suppression of the liquor traffic in a half century. He described other important measures indicating that “soon the majority of the States of the Union will banish the liquor traffic from their borders.” He noted that “our temperance forces are united as never before.” After referring to a report that the American Anti-Saloon League contemplated launching “a movement for national prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors,” the Convention passed a resolution heartily and unhesitatingly giving “our full support at such times as the League may think wise and best to inaugurate it.”[7]
7. SBC 1913, 73-75, 123.
In 1919, the report of the Committee, since 1915 called the “Committee on Temperance and Social Service,” opened with an anecdote about J. P. Boyce, who, as President of the Convention in 1888, “ruled out of order a simple resolution on temperance as not germane to the purpose of the Convention.” The committee illustrated “growth of sentiment among Southern Baptists” for “applied Christianity.” Now they made the astounding announcement that the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution had been ratified by the necessary thirty-six states. This amendment prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the transportation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territories subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Having before verging toward unrealistic optimism, now the committee felt convicted of being “slow of heart to believe.” After June 30, 1920, they hoped confidently “there will never be another legalized saloon in the United States.”[8] Massive opposition to this amendment eventuated in its being repealed by the twenty-first amendment ratified December 5, 1933.
8. SBC, 1919: 95, 96.
The committee went on to expand the areas of concern for extinguishing of social evils. They were confident that this victory against the liquor traffic would greatly aid in confronting the moral pollution of “the red light district” and accompanying sorrows of venereal disease. “Prostitution cannot be made safe.” As a class, prostitutes are “responsible for ninety per cent of all venereal diseases.” Communities needed a social center that would meet needs for hospitality, friendship, personal interaction, “simple innocent amusements,” reading rooms, and the religious propensities of humanity. Public schools serve in that capacity to a degree, but cannot provide those things that reach soul as well as mind and body. So, according to the committee, “Every Baptist church, especially in the crowded centers, ought to be open every hour of the day and well into the night, and every Baptist church everywhere ought to become the most attractive social center in its community.”[9]
9. SBC, 1919:98, 99, 101.
The 1920s
In light of opposition to the eighteenth amendment and the failure of some officers and officials to enforce it, the committee recommended to the Convention membership “not to vote for any person for any office which has to do with enforcement, unless fully convinced that said person is in full accord with the law. Prohibition is the law of the land; prohibition must be enforced.”[10] Exaggerated reports of a “crime wave” was an element of “studied propaganda of the liquor forces having as its sole purpose the discrediting of prohibition, by inducing the public to believe that in some way prohibition is responsible for the supposed increase in crime.” Unbiased statistics prove otherwise.[11]
10. SBC, 1921: 79.
11. SBC, 1921: 80.
From Temperance to Social Service
The commission issued judgments on divorce, motion pictures (which “debauch the public morals”), the modern dance (which “leads to moral wreck and ruin”), mob violence, social justice (advocating means by which “our social order and industrial system shall be permeated with the Christian spirit”), disarmament (urging “a prompt and proportionate disarmament”), and the Sabbath (arguing that “it is the bounden duty of the State so to safeguard the civil Sabbath as to guarantee one day in seven as a day of rest” except for “works of necessity and charity”).
The committee, that included J. M. Dawson, E. M. Poteat, and W. O. Carver, called for an enlargement of the work of social service. Baptists must “must make the largest and best contribution possible to the promotion of social service, and to the saving of social service from the purely humanitarian and somewhat materialistic basis to which, in many instances, it has been brought.” They recommended “establishing permanent headquarters” and employing a “wise, well-trained and constructive man to give his time to the work.” They closed this lengthy report by affirming the necessity of combatting evil in all forms with a view to destroy it. The main thing, however, is positive work—”to promote the good and to win people from the evil, first of all, by winning them to Christ, and then by making the service of His Kingdom so pleasing and impelling that there will be no time, and little inclination for sinful pleasure and evil pursuits.” Churches must provide a “militant evangelistic campaign” along with a “constructive program for the social and recreational life of the masses.”[12]
12. SBC, 1921: 85.
In 1922, in recognition of having won the battle on temperance, the committee reported as the “Committee on Social Service.” Emphasizing the priority of individual conversion the committee noted that the Gospel of grace for the salvation of the individual is the prime need of the social order, but when the individual receives this Gospel with its attendant blessings he owes a debt to all men and to human society and government as a whole!” Giving thanks for prohibition and urging the necessity of conscientious law enforcement, the committee endorsed a resolution moving toward an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting polygamy and polygamous cohabitation in the United States, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”[13]
13. SBC 1922: 96.
In 1923, the committee addressed the horror of “Mobs Masked and Unmasked.” “Mob violence defies all law, despises every principle and function of government, and tramples into the dust every human right.” Noting that this most often occurred “against individuals of the Negro race for attacks upon the sanctity of womanhood.” It had now spread to all sorts of crimes and “against the White race as well as the Negro race.” Now the even more diabolical practice of concealing identity “by wearing masks” has become common. “It goes without saying,” the committee exhorted, “that no true, intelligent, patriotic American can or will give support or approval to mob violence whether the mob be masked or unmasked, much less can our Baptist people and preachers think of so doing.” We cannot but hope that all of our pastors and churches will studiously refrain from giving approval or support to any procedure that can possibly encourage disorder in any form.”[14] The committee also spoke to issues of divorce, marathon dances, and racetrack gambling.
14. SBC 1923: 103.
The 1930s
A decade later in 1933, grappling with issues fomented by the depression, the committee reaffirmed “we believe and preach is that society is to be saved through the salvation of the individual; that social service is not in any sense or to any degree a substitute for individual personal regeneration and salvation; that social service is the fruit and not the tree.” Such regeneration, moreover, will abide by the moral teachings and principles of compassion uttered in Scripture so that redeemed individuals, expressing themselves in all of their relationships and contacts, shall redeem society and correct every social, industrial, commercial and political wrong.”[15]
15. SBC 1933: 104.
This report also gave the records on lynching in America. The numbers were improving. Eight had occurred in 1932 compared to 11 for 1928 and 16 for 1927. Six of the eight were black and two were white. Officers of the law in 31 instances prevented lynchings. The offenses charged for the eight that were lynched were: Murder, one; attempted murder, one: rape, one; attempted rape, one; wounding officer of the law, one; dynamiting store, one; insulting women, one; threatening men with a knife, one. “We must keep up the processes of education and protest,” the committee lamented, “until the whole barbaric and bloody crime is destroyed root and branch.”[16]
16. SBC 1933: 105.
E. M. Poteat wanted to give greater solidity to this social engagement of the work of the convention and set forth the following motion:
Believing that the time has come for a more comprehensive and direct dealing with the great social issues in the South, we move that a committee be appointed to consider the advisability of creating an agency of Social Research in connection with the Social Service Commission to study these pressing social problems, and to furnish as far as possible guidance for the definite work of the Convention in this field.[17]
17. SBC 1933: 118.
The influence of Poteat along with that of W. O. Carver, and J. M. Dawson gradually inserted increasing degrees of liberal and social gospel theology into the work of the Social Service Commission.
After the repeal of the eighteenth amendment in 1933, the committee blasted the members of congress who capitulated to the liquor lobby and betrayed their voters. The committee called prohibition “the greatest and best piece of human-welfare legislation ever enacted by any people.” According to them, the legislation brought blessings and benefits to the American people in material substance and moral progress. The liquor had manipulated at every level of society to produce “the greatest betrayal of a public trust and the greatest blow to the economic and moral welfare of the people ever committed by a legislative body in America.”[18] The committee called on Southern Baptists and all allied to this cause to defeat the repeal.
18. SBC 1933: 113.
The 1940s
In 1944, the commission made its first report (with the exception of 1942) that had not been written by A. J. Barton. He had served as chairman from 1910–1942 (died July 19, 1942). After an expression of grief at his loss and of appreciation for his keen sense of social stewardship, J. B. Weatherspoon made a statement of the purpose of the Social Service Commission. It included this assertion:
It has also endeavored to express not the present opinion of all or even the majority of Southern Baptists on problems at issue, but rather to interpret faithfully what it conceived to be the duty of Christians participating creatively in the moral life of our nation and of the world. The Convention has not always agreed with the moral judgments of the Commission, in which event it has demurred and stated its own judgment—a procedure which was altogether right.[19]
19. SBC 1944: 129.
Race Issues
In addition, the issue of race received a heavy percentage of the thought and the print of the Social Service Commission. After urging that pastors and churches seek the welfare and advancement of ‘the Negro race,” and expressing pleasure that “the number of lynchings for 1940 was so small, being only five,” the commission expressed strongly its determination to do all possible for “the suppression of all mob violence throughout our land.” Knowing the nervousness of continued talk about race relations, the Commission noted that “few in either race . . . desire to abrogate all social distinctions between the races” and would resist “indiscriminate social commingling.” The commission approved a distinction “between the issue of social equality and that of political and economic freedom.” It then made a strange concession in light of the leveling dynamic of gospel truth in the New Testament, that “there is no final solution for as long as two races live together, their relations will be a continuous problem.” It acknowledged with remorse, at the same time, how these social relationships were viewed in the world, particularly in the United Nations and in conjunction with missions to people of other races, most notably Africa. Seeking to balance a relative with an absolute, Weatherspoon noted, “it is time for us to remember that racial advantage is not racial supremacy. These issues must be met by Christian statesmanship on the basis of the scriptural teaching that every man is embraced in the love of God; every man has value in the sight of God; and every man is included in the plan of God.”[20]
20. SBC 1944: 133, 134.
In light of the Supreme Court decision declaring segregation as unconstitutional, the Commission recommended that “we recognize the fact that this Supreme Court decision is in harmony with the constitutional guarantee of equal freedom to all citizens, and with the Christian principles of equal justice and love for all men.” They commended the decision to allow time for adjustment to this new reality, and that “we may help and not hinder the progress of justice and brotherly love.”
The 1950s
In 1951 and 1952 much space was given to militarism and pacifism as well as the concept of UMT [Universal Military Training], conjoined with warnings against imperialistic tendency of the military to become what had only recently been defeated in Germany.
The Christian Life Commission
In 1953, the name was changed from Social Service Commission to “The Christian Life Commission.” The first words in the Southern Baptist Convention Annual for 1954 from A. C. Miller, Executive Secretary of the newly-named commission, were these:
The first need of man in human affairs is divine regeneration. It is a commonplace truth among us that righteousness among men depends upon men made righteous by the ‘washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.’ We must continue to preach the necessity of man’s spiritual relationship to God by the new birth. If we should ever weaken our message at this point our strength will fail and our works decay.[21]
21. SBC 1954: 400.
The 1960s
We find another of the frequent discussions of peace in 1967 report concerning America’s participation in the Viet Nam War. After urgings for seeking of peace and reductions of militaristic zeal, the report said, “However this is not to suggest the withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam apart from an honorable and just peace. We call upon all the churches not to be blinded by distorted appeals to false patriotism so that they lose sight of the personal tragedy, the great sorrow, and the fantastic cost attached to the present conflict.”[22] The Commission called for a spirit of “solemn penitence.” That year, the Commission survived an attempt to discontinue the Christian Life Commission.
22. SBC 1967: 294.
Conclusion
What is now the ERLC has had many names in its storied past: the Committee on Temperance (1908), the Committee on Temperance and Social Services (1915), the Committee on Social Service (1922), the Social Service Commission (1933), the Christian Life Commission (1953), and finally the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (1991). These names reflect the various emphases the precursors to the ERLC have had. J. B. Weatherspoon gave a fitting summary when he wrote “The Convention has not always agreed with the moral judgments of the Commission.”[23] Yet, the Committee survived attempts at disbandment because Southern Baptists saw a need for focused energy and attention on the pressing social issues of the day. As the SBC entered into the 1970s, little did they know that they would have to deal with the explosive abortion issue brought to a head with the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, along with a whole host of new and old pressing social issues. In the next essay, I will chronicle the ERLC’s precursor from the 1970s to the early 2020s with a special focus on the men who shaped the ERLC for better or for worse: Richard Land, Russell Moore, and Brent Leatherwood.
