When Al Mohler’s “Ask Anything” tour came to Cobb County, Ga., March 24, I went over to see what it’s all about. The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been on the road and online for several years fielding questions from the audience about anything and everything.
This time, he appeared at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church on the east side of Cobb County on the north side of Atlanta.
About 1,000 people were in attendance, but the first thing I noticed upon entering the room is that the audience didn’t look anything like Cobb County, which is 51% white, 27% Black and 22% everything else. I’ve lived on and off in Cobb County for 20 years, and I remember being told by a Georgia Baptist Convention consultant years ago that Metro Atlanta, by 2020, would be a majority-minority county. That has come true.
Yet I was only one of two Black people in the room.
As I sat in the back of the room observing the environment, I couldn’t help but think of the school play my daughter was in last week and the rich diversity of her school, which seems to fall in step with the demographics of Cobb County.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age of a Cobb County resident is 36.8 years old. At Johnson Ferry that night, the average age in the room was probably mid-60s.
Johnson Ferry is a typical Southern Baptist Convention megachurch that advertises many of its events to the community. However, I found out about this event while visiting the church coffee shop. It appears this event was designed to fit the echo chamber both Mohler and the SBC inhabit.
People line up to ask questions of Al Mohler at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Cobb County, Ga. (Screencap)
Mohler was seated at the front of the room, high on the large stage of the church. On the floor, microphones were set up on both sides for participants to ask questions. As the participants came down one by one, Mohler fired off his opinion about many topics.
One topic was Christian nationalism, which he agreed was a problem. Yet he warned that anyone who stands against same-sex marriage and abortion would be deemed a Christian nationalist today.
He was asked how to handle a friend who is deconstructing his faith, and I found his answer lacking in empathy for the person asking the question. He tried to turn the question into a diatribe about his adherence to the inerrancy of Scripture, a key talking point in SBC politics. It was, to use a term from author David Fitch, “empty ideology.”
The political feeling in the room also felt odd. Mohler mentioned he was seeking an interview with former Supreme Court Justise Stephen Breyer regarding his new book on the Constitution. That struck me as odd, because Mohler has publicly said he disagrees with just about everything Breyer believes.
Maybe this is just more of the echo chamber problem.
Mohler has endorsed former President Donald Trump enthusiastically. However, Cobb County has voted for Democrats in the last two presidential elections. Hillary Clinton carried the county in 2016 by 2 percentage points, a county Mitt Romney carried by 12 points four years earlier. Joe Biden carried the county by 14 points in the 2020 campaign against Trump. Local television station 11Alive has called the political climate and the changes in the Cobb County “seismic.”
I guess that message hasn’t reached the church or those interested in asking Mohler questions.
He told a story about his grandchild who loves to sign old hymns but clearly doesn’t know what she’s singing. This illustrates that form always supersedes faithfulness, he said. I found that interesting because I recall Jesus calling us to faith rather than form.
Maina Mwaura
Maina Mwaura is a freelance writer who lives in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a graduate of Liberty University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.