The head of the SBC doesn’t think the next election in 2020 was stolen. I hope that 2024 brings us “Better Choices.”
When asked about his vote for Trump in 2020, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention said he prayed for “better alternatives” on the ballot in 2024. He does not feel the election was stolen.
In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, newly elected head of the nation’s biggest Protestant denomination Bart Barber said that he did not vote for Trump in 2016 but would do so in 2020.
As a result of Trump’s signature of the First Step Act, “part of what changed is that the president campaigned for some legislation on sentencing reform, something that truly addressed some unfairness that hurt black communities,” Barber told Anderson Cooper. I was pleasantly surprised by the president’s unwavering pro-life stance.
However, Barber said that he disagrees with Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Cooper asked Barber whether he thought the “2020 election was stolen,” and he said, “no.”
You think Joe Biden is the rightful leader of the United States? Inquired Cooper.
Yes, I do agree with it. As president of the United States, I often pray for him. According to Barber, “I think he was lawfully elected.
Barber stated his opinion of Trump changed after the assault on the nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, during a Trump rally.
“I and a lot other Southern Baptists would be pleased to have the chance to support someone for leadership in our nation who is strong on the principles that important to us,” Barber added. … What motivates me is not mob violence but rather the teachings of Jesus Christ. That makes me less inclined to vote for anybody who supports it.
Barber supported the faith-based community’s 2016 and 2020 backing of Trump.
The options we were presented with were limited, he said. That is an unavoidable fact of life in our current political system. … A less amount of broken promises was seen throughout Trump’s administration. Certainly, I believe that the American people are thirsty for authoritative leadership. I believe that, beginning in 2024 and beyond, we will see the rise of powerful leaders who will provide us with better options. I hope and pray that happens.
Cooper claimed that certain political officials, like U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, are using what he called “Christian nationalist language,” and he wanted Barber’s take on it (R-Colo.). Boebert was heard saying to an audience, “The church is meant to lead the government,” in a tape broadcast on the 60 Minutes segment. The state has no place telling the church what to teach.
That goes against everything I believe about religious freedom and against 400 years of Baptist history,” Barber added. “I disagree with the concept of Christian domination, of churchly authority over the workings of state.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Inquired Cooper.
I don’t like it since Jesus stated His kingdom is not of this world, as Barber put it. I disagree with it because, in the past, wherever it was embraced, it led to the persecution of individuals like me. The persecution of non-Christians is just the beginning. Christians whose brand of Christianity differs from the government’s are the ones who suffer the consequences.
Barber said that partisanship was gaining ground in the church.
His words were, “Blind partisanship kills everything.” As the author puts it, “… there are so many things in church life and beyond that are places where we have a chance to unify and solve issues, and we pass on that opportunity over and over again to fire at the other side.”
And that’s making its way into the church as well, right?” Inquired Cooper.
Barber said that this trend was becoming more prevalent in the manner “people in churches who ought to know better” discussed topics outside the church that were not theological in nature. “The most accurate description is that they’re deaf.”
Specifically, Barber agreed with the Southern Baptist Convention’s stances on abortion and sexuality.
In regards to abortion, “our aim is not to regulate everybody’s sex life,” as Barber put it. A human life is at stake, and that’s why we care about the abortion issue.
“We’re devoted to the notion of gender as a gift from God,” Barber stated, summarizing the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) stance on marriage and sexuality, “we’re committed to the idea that men and women ought to be linked with one another in marriage.”
In a recent conversation, Cooper questioned, “Do you still feel that homosexual people should be, should be converted out of being gay?”
I think sinners should be converted out of sinnerhood, and that includes all of us, Barber stated.
The question was then posed by Cooper: “Can anybody be a good Christian, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, and be homosexual or lesbian and married to a person of the same sex?”
Barber just said “No” to this.
The SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force was established to conduct an investigation of sexual abuse inside the convention, and Barber has said that he agrees with their findings and recommendations.
“Our churches… have taken action to remedy those problems,” he stated, explaining why he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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