Baptists and America

This is the email my father in law sent today to the Pastor of the Baptist Church in the small town in Georgia where we have a second home.

Off hand I do not recall if I mentioned this before but there is a group of Christians across the country that make a point of praying each evening at 9:00 for our service members overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and other places whom daily face death and injury while fighting to keep us free.

In the same vein I noticed today at Sunday School and Church that not a single prayer was made concerning these brave, dedicated men and women whom daily go in harms way to preserve our basic freedoms, one of which is the right to worship as we feel called to do so. Being a retired soldier I suppose many think I am overly concerned about this but imagine that if two or three young men or women in ** ******* had been killed in an automobile accident this week - don't you think it would be mentioned and prayed over at church today? We lose one, two or three almost every day overseas and since they are not from our city or county the war seems to be almost nonexistent.

Every month I must visit a Doctor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Every time I am struck by the sight of so many badly wounded young servicemen and women in the halls of this great medical facility. They are not whining or bitter but they have paid the price for us and will bear the scars for the rest of their young lives. We should do more to support them than to ignore their service to us by daily going in harm's way and paying the bitter price some end up paying.

"We all gave some, some gave all."

The Col., as I like to call him, is my own personal Rambo.

Now, in the title of this entry, I question the commitment of the Baptist Church to America in the war on terror because this one little church, in one little town, is not the only bad experience I have had with the Baptist Church.

Before becoming an Episcopal, my wife used to attend McLean Baptists Church (which meant I attended as well). She had grown up in this Church and we were married in this church. Like many Americans, the Sunday after 9/11 we went to church. However, unlike many American's we were shocked by what we heard. Instead of words of healing and hope and support for the fight we knew our Armed Forces would face, we were told

He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her.

With that, my wife and her family got up and left the church. We have not returned.

I know these are only two examples, but they seem to me to be striking nonetheless. At my church, a local Episcopal Church, every sunday we pray for our troops, home and abroad, as well as the president, the vice president, the governor (as well as the governor and mayor of Maryland and DC) and all the federal and local officials and employees who work diligently to keep us safe. Every week.

Since Episcopals are often thought as being far left looney liberals, and Baptists (especially Southern Baptists - the two churchs are located in Virginia and rural Georgia) as the party of crazed Right Wing Christianity, I am somewhat surprised by the contradiction between the churchs.

Anyway, it leaves me to wonder
Do Baptists Support America?


(I'm still on vacation)