Crosswalk.com - weblogs: "Several figures once identified with the Southern Baptist Convention also appear on the list. James M. Dunn, former executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee of Public Affairs is joined by Robert L. Maddux, a former Carter administration official who currently serves with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. Also listed as a member of the national committee is Jimmy R. Allen, former pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, Texas and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Allen was the last SBC president elected before the 'conservative resurgence' of the last twenty-five years changed the shape of the Southern Baptist Convention. The fact that these men would rather stand with William Sloan Coffin than the current SBC leadership says a great deal about why the conservative redirection of the denomination was so urgently needed.

The Clergy Leadership Network is not limited to Christian clergy. The group hopes to recruit pastors, rabbis, and imams, as well as others committed to these liberal causes. 'We invite clergy from throughout the country to join us. We offer an avenue of action focused on the 2004 elections that can impact positively the direction of the nation and the leadership we choose.' Given legal restrictions, the group will not formally endorse candidates, but you can bet your draft card that 'the leadership we choose' will not be the Bush-Cheney ticket.

Journalist-historian Theodore H. White once described a liberal as 'a person who believes that water can be made to run uphill.' That describes this new group perfectly. Their goal of resurrecting and reinvigorating liberal Protestantism and an ecumenical phalanx of religious progressives will be an uphill battle all the way. They are still living in the sixties, looking for the next sit-in and reciting the old liberal creeds. The Clergy Leadership Network will be interesting to watch--but nothing to fear."

I know James Dunn and he is a quality individual. The fact that Mohler denigrates people like him shows how little humility or Christian charity he posesses. I am also struck by how he hates that this group is overtly political, but has said nothing about conservative groups that are overtly political. Can it be that these loud claimants of morality and Biblical authority are actually moral relativists who believe that the end justifies the means?

I am glad I am no longer affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Would rather be an Oakland Raider fan.