McCain and a Southern Baptist Perspective

I'm an evangelical Christian who also happens to be a Southern Baptist. Although I in no way speak for my denomination, apparently I'm not alone when it comes to my reluctant embrace of Sen. John McCain.

Quotes from this week's gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention show that I'm very much in like-company.

Dan Yoder, the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in Springfield, Tennessee, said, "I'm going to have to hold my nose while I vote for McCain ... but Obama's a die-hard socialist."

"I think most Southern Baptists will support McCain though I know there are some issues with McCain among more conservative evangelicals," outgoing SBC president Frank Page told Reuters.

"I think most Baptists would want him to speak out more on evangelical issues than what he has but we are cautiously accepting him," said John Mann, a pastor from Springtown, Texas, west of Fort Worth.

McCain does not have a great track record with some well-known evangelical leaders that are well respected by many members of the SBC congregation.

McCain recently renounced the endorsement he sought from Rev. John Haggee in San Antonio after the liberal media went on a shameless and inaccurate attack on the man's character and his message.

During the primary, Dr. James Dobson repeatedly warned that he would sit out the election and simply not vote if John McCain became the presidential nominee. "I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative and, in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are," Dobson once said.

Not to help, reports recently surfaced that McCain refused an invitation to meet with the Reverend Billy Graham. It sent McCain staffers running to deny the rumor and insist they've been working behind the scenes to set up such a meeting with the evangelist.

When you combine these events with McCain's soft stance on some issues that are deemed highly important to conservatives, SBC members are not ecstatic about supporting McCain. Their commitment is timid at best.

"It's basically a choice between a liberal and an ultra-liberal," Jodie Sanders, a Southern Baptist church-goer from Fairfield, Texas, said.

The primary force behind the decision of some members to vote for Sen. John McCain appears to be the widespread desire to stop Sen. Barack Hussein Obama. When considering the twisted gospel stumped at Obama's former "church" of twenty years and his stances that fall somewhere left of Sen.Barbara Boxer on all social issues-even McCain comes out smelling like a rose.

The SBC is the largest protestant evangelical church organization in the U.S.A. with 16 million-strong. Evangelicals make up at least one out of four votes for the Republican party.

Ironically, McCain also attends a Southern Baptist Convention affiliated church in Arizona. It may be time for Sen. McCain to start listening to his Sunday sermon. Otherwise many of his fellow congregates may decide to pull a "James Dobson" and simply stay home.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0935340120080610, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=55665, http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1033434120080610?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10112,http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0935340120080610
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/662135.html, http://www.johnmccain.com/images/issues/ns/0604_news.jpg