The transmogrification of the SBC: When Baptists no longer are Baptist

In the wake of the shooting massacre at a Texas church, the Rev. Eric S.C. Manning has visited members of his own congregation — Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church — to see how they are coping with rekindled memories…

One thing is already clear in this tiny Texas town of 600 a couple days after one of the worst mass shootings at an American church: First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs will be razed.

Ministry leaders are more likely than evangelicals overall to favor more gun control, research suggests.

This and other laws that grant full rights to the unborn form some of the newest terrain in U.S. law and are highly controversial, frequently dividing abortion rights and anti-abortion activists.

If the communism of the apostolic church is a secret, it is a startlingly open one. Vaguer terms like “communalist” or “communitarian” might make the facts sound more palatable but cannot change them.

The head the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm says there’s no gun control policy outlined in the Bible. So the SBC isn’t taking a position, even after 26 members of an SBC church were murdered in their own sanctuary.

Most attacks at houses of worship aren’t really about religion, experts say. And even with the steady rise of shootings and hate crimes, spiritual sanctuaries remain among the more secure spots to spend a Sunday morning.