Reply #50: I'll be 37 next month, and yes, it's a rural congregation. [View All]

I don't know what you consider to be small. We usually have around 140 for Sunday school.

My grandfather (who passed away last year) was a long-time deacon and Sunday school superintendent. He was also a lifelong Democrat, as are many (probably most) of our members. Of course, he was very conservative about social issues (again, so are most of our members). I consider myself to be a very conservative Democrat, and I'm probably close to being a liberal in my congregation.

As for why others are so critical, part of it, I believe, is that Southern Baptist views (as a rule) are definitely more conservative than the views here on DU. I don't apologize in any way for those views, but I do understand that this message board is mostly for liberals. However, I think that a lot of the criticism I read is hostility toward religion in general, especially Christianity. When a Christian does something wrong, it seems that all Christians are slandered.

I wish that people who don't agree with our social views would take a look at all the good things done by Southern Baptist congregations around the country. Maybe one of the problems is that (in our congregation, at least) most of those things aren't publicized.

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I'm on my way to work shortly. If you reply and I don't respond immediately, please don't think I'm blowing you off.