Dear Editor,
An important PS to your piece about the problematic Baptist Union presidential candidates this year [read said piece here].
The BU have said they would have to be “fully supportive of our Declaration of Principle”. What’s important here is how hopelessly inadequate this DoP is. It’s not just that it says nothing about LGBT issues. All it says about Scripture is that “Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.” Which is great as far as it goes, but noticeably omits any shared commitment whatever to the supreme authority and reliability of Acts and the epistles, let alone the Old Testament. The practical implications are obvious.
A bizarre thing about the BU is that even its leaders and regional overseers are not expected to affirm the statement of faith of the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation. Things could be very different and much better if they were.
Yours sincerely,
Pete Lowman
By email
