Land 'has brought his denomination into disrepute'

Richard Land

In a blistering Ethics Daily column, historian Richard V. Pierard answered Richard Land, whom he said "has demonstrated in recent days that he knows as little about ethics as he does religious liberty."

Pierard ably deconstructs Land's recent self-exculpatory remarks, but his most telling comment was to Southern Baptists in general. Specifically:

Southern Baptists should be just as disturbed by Land's statements because he has brought his denomination into disrepute. His half-hearted repentance included the suggestion that he would continue to expose the ideas of "lethal and deadly philosophies loose in 20th century Germany prior to the Nazis' ascendancy to power" that seemed to be relevant to contemporary life-and-death issues. In other words, it appears he will continue to draw on the Nazi analogy when it might help him in the struggle with other Christians who do not share his views on "life" issues.
The concerns many of us have about Land's own civility inevitably reflect back on the integrity of the denomination that appointed him and stands behind him. Both he and his superiors need to reflect carefully on what Christian speech is really all about and on their need to turn their backs on old ways of expressing disagreement. This is truly a question of "ethics."

Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has made himself a member of the right-wing drum and bugle corps, stripping away with both hands the mantle of ethicist. He has abandoned both sound ethical logic and the facts in favor of empty political rhetoric punctuated by embarrassing stunts.

If that's what Southern Baptists want, they have it.

Addendum:

Bruce Prescott of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists agrees that Pierard's strongest arguments were addressed directly to Southern Baptists.