The Southern Baptist Convention has been meeting in Greensboro....

In fact, about the time MFH and I were watching 'Prairie Home Companion' the Baptists were busy electing a new president, the Rev. Frank Page. This may portend all kinds of significant changes in the religion, society and politics of our country, at least as far as some commentators tell it. This is mainly because he defeated candidates supported by the very conservative Southern Baptist establishment. My favorite quote so far from Rev Page is "I believe in the word of God, I'm just not mad about it."

On the other hand, Page also makes it clear that he is not repudiating the conservative agenda of the past decade or so. He might de-politicize it a bit, which would be a good start. We will just have to wait and see.

Why this supposed shift? E J Dionne in the Washington Post speculates that Blogland may have had something to do with it. His comment is worth quoting:

Over the past several years, an active network of Baptist bloggers has opened up discussion in the convention and given reformers and moderates avenues around what Parham called "the Baptist establishment papers" and other means of communication controlled by the convention's leadership. Thus may some of our oldest and most traditional institutions be transformed by new technologies.

Dionne then comments,

Religious movements stay vibrant thanks to the complicated interaction of fidelity, reflection and reform. The evangelical world is going through a quiet evolution as believers reflect on the perils of partisanship and ideology and their reasons for being Christian. This will probably affect the nation's political life, but it will certainly affect the country's spiritual direction. My hunch is that not only moderates and liberals but also many solid conservatives welcome the departure.

Not sure about that, but since most of my neighbors here in the land of Wilkes are good, solid, Southern Baptists, I sure welcome it!