When Southern Baptists broke with the General Missionary Convention in 1845 over the refusal of the mission board to appoint slaveholders as missionaries, they founded two agencies: a foreign missions emphasis and a domestic missions emphasis. This newly formed Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) interpreted their new association exclusively in terms of these ministries. Theological education was added gradually after the founding of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1859. It was difficult for many to sympathize with other ideas of ministry, especially social ministry, since the burgeoning accumulation of (primarily North-based) benevolent societies and ethical social ministries had virtually isolated and stigmatized the South from the larger Baptist fellowship. Missions, evangelism, and church planting dominated the SBC\u2019s perception of united benevolent activity. This SBC resistance to an expansive social interaction was exacerbated by the rise of liberalism and the substitution of cultural engagement for conversion, preaching, and ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drunkenness, however, was a destructive social problem that the Baptist churches could unite to fight. The development of the social involvement of Southern Baptists from its advocacy of temperance to its engagement with a wild multiplicity of issues carries its history through a variety of committees, name changes, specific assignments, and theological persuasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) embraces within its identity, therefore, a long line of Southern Baptist engagement in social, cultural, and moral issues, both in the United States and on the international scene. It seeks to insert a moral voice into issues that affect the texture of national morality. Also it seeks to give guidance to churches on matters of ethical conviction for members of the churches. The amazing complexity of this assignment unavoidably generates disagreements concerning approaches to these moral issues. One can sense that at every point of engagement voices are coming in from invested observers, \u201ctoo fast, too slow, wrong approach, wrong evaluation, misrepresentation, too broad, too narrow, too rigid, too liberal\u201d and a host of other nuanced responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the ERLC\u2019s goals have existed for decades: 1) to assist the churches by helping them understand the moral demands of the gospel and 2) to help Southern Baptists apply Christian principles to moral and social problems.[1]<\/a> While addressing these issues, Southern Baptists have sought, with varying degrees of clarity and success, to maintain gospel preaching and evangelism as the main tasks of the church. Beyond theological tensions in America at large, two phenomena in the early twentieth century created a need for annual assurances that a theology of conversion was fundamental to any progress in the realm of social ethics. One, Southern Baptists began to embrace the culture of planned revival efforts and the use of full-time evangelists at the same time that the need for engagement with social evil was being elevated to an issue of genuine Christian discipleship. Two, theological liberalism (with its substitution of the social gospel for historic confessional orthodoxy) created the suspicion in the SBC that efforts to engage evil at the corporate and national level were taking greater priority than individual morality, ethical development, and sanctification. William Newton Clarke (1841-1911) had pictured mature Christianity as having outgrown the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture.[2]<\/a> Walter Rauschenbusch (1861\u20131918), a great admirer of Clarke, committed the ideas of substitution, propitiation, and imputation to the rubbish heap of theological lore.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In part one of this two essay-series, I will give a decade-by-decade breakdown from the early 1900s to the 1960s on how the ERLC and its forbearers have sought to deal with various social issues. In part two, I\u2019ll cover from the 1970s to the early 2020s. These essays are primarily historical and descriptive, and they give context for how Southern Baptists have sought to address concerns in the public square for over a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1908, E. Y. Mullins reported that \u201cEvangelism lies at the heart of our whole enterprise. It presupposes a teaching and training ministry as its result, because the new life it generates must be developed.[4]<\/a> He conceded, somewhat sarcastically, that \u201csome evangelists have rare and wonderful mathematical genius which enables them to manipulate figures and get results which leave the average mind baffled and paralyzed.\u201d False converts are destructive and sometimes create \u201cenough problems on a pastor’s hands to last him for years.\u201d Some evangelists are \u201cvain and belligerent and bumptious,\u201d and thus spurious and parasitic \u201cat the roots\u201d But the sane evangelism fostered by \u201cour Home Board\u201d is sound, necessary, and based on the New Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SBC and Temperance<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That same year, a report expressed joy \u201cto observe that the spirit of law, of temperance, of righteousness, is becoming a conquering spirit. The politicians today are in increasing numbers consulting with the religious people of the community rather than with the saloon aggregation.\u201d[5]<\/a> The report expressed confidence that \u201cthe light of a new day is upon us, and it adds to our rejoicing that not a few of the men who are making this new day belong to our denomination. Civic Righteousness and the Kingdom of God are bound up in each other.\u201d Christ\u2019s commission not only increases the census of heaven but also pursues \u201ca righteous society in which Christ’s will shall be done, his kingdom come.\u201d Based on that assumption, a resolution and exhortation was announced against the liquor traffic. The Convention expressed its desire and confidence that \u201cthat to redeem society and to purify and perfect government, are results to be directly expected from the preaching of the gospel and the Christian education of the young people of this rising generation, and that, therefore, every wrong, public and private, political and social, retards the consummation of the commission of our King.\u201d To pursue that end the Convention appointed \u201ca standing committee of fifteen brethren, to be known as a Committee on Temperance, whose duty it shall be to promote in every way possible the cause of temperance, until there shall not be a licensed saloon in our land, and until the whole liquor traffic shall be banished not only from our land, but from all lands.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1913, A. J. Barton, Texas, read the Report of the Committee on Temperance and described a bill that passed both house of congress even over the veto of President Taft, that limited the transport of intoxicating beverages. Barton called this, \u201cthe greatest victory for the suppression of the liquor traffic in a half century. He described other important measures indicating that \u201csoon the majority of the States of the Union will banish the liquor traffic from their borders.\u201d He noted that \u201cour temperance forces are united as never before.\u201d After referring to a report that the American Anti-Saloon League contemplated launching \u201ca movement for national prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors,\u201d the Convention passed a resolution heartily and unhesitatingly giving \u201cour full support at such times as the League may think wise and best to inaugurate it.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1919, the report of the Committee, since 1915 called the \u201cCommittee on Temperance and Social Service,\u201d opened with an anecdote about J. P. Boyce, who, as President of the Convention in 1888, \u201cruled out of order a simple resolution on temperance as not germane to the purpose of the Convention.\u201d The committee illustrated \u201cgrowth of sentiment among Southern Baptists\u201d for \u201capplied Christianity.\u201d Now they made the astounding announcement that the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution had been ratified by the necessary thirty-six states. This amendment prohibited the \u201cmanufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the transportation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territories subject to the jurisdiction thereof.\u201d Having before verging toward unrealistic optimism, now the committee felt convicted of being \u201cslow of heart to believe.\u201d After June 30, 1920, they hoped confidently \u201cthere will never be another legalized saloon in the United States.\u201d[8]<\/a> Massive opposition to this amendment eventuated in its being repealed by the twenty-first amendment ratified December 5, 1933.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee went on to expand the areas of concern for extinguishing of social evils. They were confident that this victory against the liquor traffic would greatly aid in confronting the moral pollution of \u201cthe red light district\u201d and accompanying sorrows of venereal disease. \u201cProstitution cannot be made safe.\u201d As a class, prostitutes are \u201cresponsible for ninety per cent of all venereal diseases.\u201d Communities needed a social center that would meet needs for hospitality, friendship, personal interaction, \u201csimple innocent amusements,\u201d reading rooms, and the religious propensities of humanity. Public schools serve in that capacity to a degree, but cannot provide those things that reach soul as well as mind and body. So, according to the committee, \u201cEvery Baptist church, especially in the crowded centers, ought to be open every hour of the day and well into the night, and every Baptist church everywhere ought to become the most attractive social center in its community.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of opposition to the eighteenth amendment and the failure of some officers and officials to enforce it, the committee recommended to the Convention membership \u201cnot to vote for any person for any office which has to do with enforcement, unless fully convinced that said person is in full accord with the law. Prohibition is the law of the land; prohibition must be enforced.\u201d[10]<\/a> Exaggerated reports of a “crime wave” was an element of \u201cstudied propaganda of the liquor forces having as its sole purpose the discrediting of prohibition, by inducing the public to believe that in some way prohibition is responsible for the supposed increase in crime.\u201d Unbiased statistics prove otherwise.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n From Temperance to Social Service<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The commission issued judgments on divorce, motion pictures (which \u201cdebauch the public morals\u201d), the modern dance (which \u201cleads to moral wreck and ruin\u201d), mob violence, social justice (advocating means by which \u201cour social order and industrial system shall be permeated with the Christian spirit\u201d), disarmament (urging \u201ca prompt and proportionate disarmament\u201d), and the Sabbath (arguing that \u201cit is the bounden duty of the State so to safeguard the civil Sabbath as to guarantee one day in seven as a day of rest\u201d except for \u201cworks of necessity and charity\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee, that included J. M. Dawson, E. M. Poteat, and W. O. Carver, called for an enlargement of the work of social service. Baptists must \u201cmust make the largest and best contribution possible to the promotion of social service, and to the saving of social service from the purely humanitarian and somewhat materialistic basis to which, in many instances, it has been brought.\u201d They recommended \u201cestablishing permanent headquarters\u201d and employing a \u201cwise, well-trained and constructive man to give his time to the work.\u201d They closed this lengthy report by affirming the necessity of combatting evil in all forms with a view to destroy it. The main thing, however, is positive work\u2014”to promote the good and to win people from the evil, first of all, by winning them to Christ, and then by making the service of His Kingdom so pleasing and impelling that there will be no time, and little inclination for sinful pleasure and evil pursuits.\u201d Churches must provide a \u201cmilitant evangelistic campaign\u201d along with a \u201cconstructive program for the social and recreational life of the masses.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1922, in recognition of having won the battle on temperance, the committee reported as the \u201cCommittee on Social Service.\u201d Emphasizing the priority of individual conversion the committee noted that the Gospel of grace for the salvation of the individual is the prime need of the social order, but when the individual receives this Gospel with its attendant blessings he owes a debt to all men and to human society and government as a whole!\u201d Giving thanks for prohibition and urging the necessity of conscientious law enforcement, the committee endorsed a resolution moving toward an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting polygamy and polygamous cohabitation in the United States, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof.\u201d[13]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1923, the committee addressed the horror of \u201cMobs Masked and Unmasked.\u201d \u201cMob violence defies all law, despises every principle and function of government, and tramples into the dust every human right.\u201d Noting that this most often occurred \u201cagainst individuals of the Negro race for attacks upon the sanctity of womanhood.\u201d It had now spread to all sorts of crimes and \u201cagainst the White race as well as the Negro race.\u201d Now the even more diabolical practice of concealing identity \u201cby wearing masks\u201d has become common. \u201cIt goes without saying,\u201d the committee exhorted, \u201cthat no true, intelligent, patriotic American can or will give support or approval to mob violence whether the mob be masked or unmasked, much less can our Baptist people and preachers think of so doing.\u201d We cannot but hope that all of our pastors and churches will studiously refrain from giving approval or support to any procedure that can possibly encourage disorder in any form.\u201d[14]<\/a> The committee also spoke to issues of divorce, marathon dances, and racetrack gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A decade later in 1933, grappling with issues fomented by the depression, the committee reaffirmed \u201cwe believe and preach is that society is to be saved through the salvation of the individual; that social service is not in any sense or to any degree a substitute for individual personal regeneration and salvation; that social service is the fruit and not the tree.\u201d Such regeneration, moreover, will abide by the moral teachings and principles of compassion uttered in Scripture so that redeemed individuals, expressing themselves in all of their relationships and contacts, shall redeem society and correct every social, industrial, commercial and political wrong.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This report also gave the records on lynching in America. The numbers were improving. Eight had occurred in 1932 compared to 11 for 1928 and 16 for 1927. Six of the eight were black and two were white. Officers of the law in 31 instances prevented lynchings. The offenses charged for the eight that were lynched were: Murder, one; attempted murder, one: rape, one; attempted rape, one; wounding officer of the law, one; dynamiting store, one; insulting women, one; threatening men with a knife, one. \u201cWe must keep up the processes of education and protest,\u201d the committee lamented, \u201cuntil the whole barbaric and bloody crime is destroyed root and branch.\u201d[16]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n E. M. Poteat wanted to give greater solidity to this social engagement of the work of the convention and set forth the following motion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Believing that the time has come for a more comprehensive and direct dealing with the great social issues in the South, we move that a committee be appointed to consider the advisability of creating an agency of Social Research in connection with the Social Service Commission to study these pressing social problems, and to furnish as far as possible guidance for the definite work of the Convention in this field.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The influence of Poteat along with that of W. O. Carver, and J. M. Dawson gradually inserted increasing degrees of liberal and social gospel theology into the work of the Social Service Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the repeal of the eighteenth amendment in 1933, the committee blasted the members of congress who capitulated to the liquor lobby and betrayed their voters. The committee called prohibition \u201cthe greatest and best piece of human-welfare legislation ever enacted by any people.\u201d According to them, the legislation brought blessings and benefits to the American people in material substance and moral progress. The liquor had manipulated at every level of society to produce \u201cthe greatest betrayal of a public trust and the greatest blow to the economic and moral welfare of the people ever committed by a legislative body in America.\u201d[18]<\/a> The committee called on Southern Baptists and all allied to this cause to defeat the repeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1944, the commission made its first report (with the exception of 1942) that had not been written by A. J. Barton. He had served as chairman from 1910\u20131942 (died July 19, 1942). After an expression of grief at his loss and of appreciation for his keen sense of social stewardship, J. B. Weatherspoon made a statement of the purpose of the Social Service Commission. It included this assertion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has also endeavored to express not the present opinion of all or even the majority of Southern Baptists on problems at issue, but rather to interpret faithfully what it conceived to be the duty of Christians participating creatively in the moral life of our nation and of the world. The Convention has not always agreed with the moral judgments of the Commission, in which event it has demurred and stated its own judgment\u2014a procedure which was altogether right.[19]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Race Issues<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the issue of race received a heavy percentage of the thought and the print of the Social Service Commission. After urging that pastors and churches seek the welfare and advancement of \u2018the Negro race,\u201d and expressing pleasure that \u201cthe number of lynchings for 1940 was so small, being only five,\u201d the commission expressed strongly its determination to do all possible for \u201cthe suppression of all mob violence throughout our land.\u201d Knowing the nervousness of continued talk about race relations, the Commission noted that \u201cfew in either race . . . desire to abrogate all social distinctions between the races\u201d and would resist \u201cindiscriminate social commingling.\u201d The commission approved a distinction \u201cbetween the issue of social equality and that of political and economic freedom.\u201d It then made a strange concession in light of the leveling dynamic of gospel truth in the New Testament, that \u201cthere is no final solution for as long as two races live together, their relations will be a continuous problem.\u201d It acknowledged with remorse, at the same time, how these social relationships were viewed in the world, particularly in the United Nations and in conjunction with missions to people of other races, most notably Africa. Seeking to balance a relative with an absolute, Weatherspoon noted, \u201cit is time for us to remember that racial advantage is not racial supremacy. These issues must be met by Christian statesmanship on the basis of the scriptural teaching that every man is embraced in the love of God; every man has value in the sight of God; and every man is included in the plan of God.\u201d[20]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of the Supreme Court decision declaring segregation as unconstitutional, the Commission recommended that \u201cwe recognize the fact that this Supreme Court decision is in harmony with the constitutional guarantee of equal freedom to all citizens, and with the Christian principles of equal justice and love for all men.\u201d They commended the decision to allow time for adjustment to this new reality, and that \u201cwe may help and not hinder the progress of justice and brotherly love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1951 and 1952 much space was given to militarism and pacifism as well as the concept of UMT [Universal Military Training], conjoined with warnings against imperialistic tendency of the military to become what had only recently been defeated in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Christian Life Commission<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1953, the name was changed from Social Service Commission to \u201cThe Christian Life Commission.\u201d The first words in the Southern Baptist Convention Annual for 1954 from A. C. Miller, Executive Secretary of the newly-named commission, were these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first need of man in human affairs is divine regeneration. It is a commonplace truth among us that righteousness among men depends upon men made righteous by the \u2018washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.\u2019 We must continue to preach the necessity of man’s spiritual relationship to God by the new birth. If we should ever weaken our message at this point our strength will fail and our works decay.[21]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We find another of the frequent discussions of peace in 1967 report concerning America\u2019s participation in the Viet Nam War. After urgings for seeking of peace and reductions of militaristic zeal, the report said, \u201cHowever this is not to suggest the withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam apart from an honorable and just peace. We call upon all the churches not to be blinded by distorted appeals to false patriotism so that they lose sight of the personal tragedy, the great sorrow, and the fantastic cost attached to the present conflict.\u201d[22]<\/a> The Commission called for a spirit of \u201csolemn penitence.\u201d That year, the Commission survived an attempt to discontinue the Christian Life Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is now the ERLC has had many names in its storied past: the Committee on Temperance (1908), the Committee on Temperance and Social Services (1915), the Committee on Social Service (1922), the Social Service Commission (1933), the Christian Life Commission (1953), and finally the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (1991). These names reflect the various emphases the precursors to the ERLC have had. J. B. Weatherspoon gave a fitting summary when he wrote \u201cThe Convention has not always agreed with the moral judgments of the Commission.\u201d[23]<\/sup><\/a> Yet, the Committee survived attempts at disbandment because Southern Baptists saw a need for focused energy and attention on the pressing social issues of the day. As the SBC entered into the 1970s, little did they know that they would have to deal with the explosive abortion issue brought to a head with the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, along with a whole host of new and old pressing social issues. In the next essay, I will chronicle the ERLC\u2019s precursor from the 1970s to the early 2020s with a special focus on the men who shaped the ERLC for better or for worse: Richard Land, Russell Moore, and Brent Leatherwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the ERLC was named the ERLC, what were the major cultural issues that it addressed from the early 1900s to the 1960s? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Before the ERLC was named the ERLC, what were the major cultural issues that it addressed from the early 1900s to the 1960s? ","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,8,1969,38],"tags":[129,610,1690,412,1656,833,493,82,371,1413,1422,488,1634,181],"scripture-reference":[],"post_folder":[],"ppma_author":[152],"class_list":["post-18898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-longform","category-march-2025","category-theme","tag-church-history","tag-denominations","tag-erlc","tag-ethics","tag-ethics-and-religious-liberty-commission-erlc","tag-history","tag-morality","tag-political-theology","tag-public-policy","tag-public-religion","tag-religious-liberty","tag-russell-moore","tag-sbc","tag-southern-baptist-convention-sbc"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nettles-ERLC-article-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-13 11:41:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":152,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"tom-j-nettles","display_name":"Tom J. Nettles","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/thomas-j-nettles.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/thomas-j-nettles.jpeg"},"author_category":"","job_title":"","church_city_state":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","church_site":"","user_url":"","description":"Tom Nettles<\/b> has most recently served as the Professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Along with numerous journal articles and scholarly papers, Dr. Nettles is the author and editor of fifteen books. Among his books are By His Grace and For His Glory<\/i>; Baptists and the Bible<\/i>, James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesman<\/i>, and Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles H. Spurgeon<\/i>. Tom and his wife Margaret are actively involved with the ministry of LaGrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Kentucky."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18898"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18920,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18898\/revisions\/18920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-reference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-reference?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=18898"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=18898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. A partial list of the number of issues the ERLC dealt with in 2019 gives an idea of the dizzying challenges posed by an increasingly secular culture in a fallen world: Defunding Planned Parenthood, ending proposed taxation of church parking lots, promoting pro-life judicial nominees, No Taxpayer for Abortion Act, Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, Conscience Protection Act (to get exemptions from laws requiring medical professional to perform abortions), First Amendment Defense Act, opposition to women in combat and in the draft, and reviving obscenity prosecution.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
2. William Newton Clarke,\u00a0Sixty Years With the Bible<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Charles Scribner\u2019s Sons, 1909) 178, 179.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
3. Walter Rauschenbusch,\u00a0A Theology for the Social Gospel\u00a0<\/em>(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917), 243.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The First Decade of the 1900s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. SBC, 1908: 11. All references to the Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention<\/em> will follow this pattern. The SBC Annual is a yearly book of reports from all of the SBC entities, and it is a valuable historical artifact.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
5. SBC, 1908: 35.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
6. SBC, 1908: 35.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The 1910s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
7. SBC 1913, 73-75, 123.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
8. SBC, 1919: 95, 96.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
9. SBC, 1919:98, 99, 101.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1920s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
10. SBC, 1921: 79.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
11. SBC, 1921: 80.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
12. SBC, 1921: 85.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
13. SBC 1922: 96.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
14. SBC 1923: 103.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1930s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
15. SBC 1933: 104.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
16. SBC 1933: 105.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
17. SBC 1933: 118.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
18. SBC 1933: 113.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1940s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
19. SBC 1944: 129.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
20. SBC 1944: 133, 134.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1950s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
21. SBC 1954: 400.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The 1960s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
22. SBC 1967: 294.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
23. SBC 1944: 129.<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"