Conservative So. Baptist leader Adrian Rogers dies

[Initech]

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- The Rev. Adrian Rogers, a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention and leader of a conservative takeover of the faith, died early Tuesday in Memphis. He was 74.

His death was announced by Baptist Press News and by Rogers' Love Worth Finding ministry. Officials of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

Rogers was hospitalized earlier this month with pneumonia and cancer, his ministry's Web site said.

Rogers was elected president in 1979 as part of the conservative takeover of the convention.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/15/rogers.ap/index.html

[NWHarkness]

1. Boy, did he just get a surprise.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

That was JUST RIGHT, NWH!!!

For you, The Pussycat!!!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. I must have that cat

I'm adding him to my pics... :hi:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

18. Want the Downhill Squirrel, too?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. Ouch!

What happened to his tail?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

22. Guess ....................

[Ian David]

2. See prior thread: Today Dr. Adrian Rogers Entered Hell!

Today Dr. Adrian Rogers Entered Hell!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=221&topic_id=20397&mesg_id=20397

[afdip]

4. adios motherfucker . . . .

[jaysunb]

5. Hello , Mr Lucifer.....

we got a big one coming your way. Have the boys to turn up the heat over in that "special" corner. :evilgrin:

Thanks

[Voltaire99]

6. Just think...

...he could have had a Beer Volcano! ;-)

[Seabiscuit]

7. Excuuuse me... while I weep my crocodile tears. Boo hoo... boo hoo...n/t

[Charlie Brown]

8. my condolences and prayers to his family n/t

[Enhancer]

9. Question.

Why is CNN reporting this? Who the heck is "Rev. Adrian Rogers", and why would "three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention" be of any particular importance?

[Lars39]

10. He was instrumental in the "Religious Right" becoming

a powerful political force.

[indepat]

14. Dr. Rogers' influence alone was sufficient to assure a W victory in TN

in 2000 and 2004 IMHO.

[tonekat]

11. He's being Basted by Satan right now!

In his own fetid juices....Ha Ha! }( :evilgrin: :thumbsup:

[Bake]

12. Skip the "hell has a new resident" SH*T

I met Adrian back when I was in the seminary -- for the unenlightened, that's the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. For the record, I earned an M.Div. there in 1979 (back when Duke McCall was President and the place was "LIBERAL."

I met Adrian Rogers after hearing him preach many many times. I was always impressed with two things: (1) his gift for keeping his message simple, and (2) the incredible silver voice he was blessed with.

Oh. Three things. He was as sincere a man as I've ever met. Did I agree with him theologically? Very seldom. Did I respect him? Absolutely. I won't call him Dr. Rogers, because I respect those who earned their Ph.D.s too much to use the term for an honorary doctorate (like the curl on a pig's tail, it's pretty, but it doesn't make any more bacon). But I will call him Brother Rogers. Unlike many in the Southern Baptist Convention, who were motivated by hatred or by lust for power (Al Mohler comes to mind), Adrian was simply a man who was wholly convinced by the truth of the Gospel and who tried to share it as best he could. Don't lump him in with Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. You'd be mistaken.

He made his share of mistakes, as all of us do. He must, and will, answer to God for his mistakes, and find forgiveness -- which I'm sure will be plentiful.

But as a former Southern Baptist preacher, now a lawyer -- who will match his liberal/intellectual bona fides with anyone here (try me) -- I'm sad today; but I'm also glad because God has called one of His/Her servants home.

RIP, Brother Rogers. You did a lot of good, both in Memphis and beyond.

Bake

[leesa]

13. So what happened to him?

[smirkymonkey]

42. Raptured.

:nuke:

[colonel odis]

17. thank you for injecting a note of sanity into the thread.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

23. Kewl! Another person who knows the will of God!

He got called home? Did the divine use a land line, wireless or that nifty booming voice made so popular by Cecil B. DeMille?

Wow... A lawyer and a Southern Baptist minister... and knows the will of god. I'll pass.

[Bake]

30. Where exactly did I claim to know the will of God?

Generally, Toad, personal attacks are frowned on here, along with your intellectually dishonest distortion of what I said.

"The Lord called him home" is a time-honored expression re: the death of a church member. If you don't care for it, fine. It's just a figure of speech.

As far as knowing the will of God, I'll stick with what I find in the Bible: no killing, do unto others as you'd like them to do unto you, love your neighbor as yourself ... simple stuff like that.

Bake

[mitchum]

25. Well, Hitler was also sincere in his beliefs and a very gifted orator...

should we also be impressed with him?

[Bake]

31. That's an unnecessarily false analogy

Comparing Rogers to Hitler is false and shows a lack of a whole lot of things. Just because someone is/was conservative doesn't mean he/she is evil. There ARE some truly evil conservatives. I don't think Adrian was one of those, and I knew the man.

I'll dance when Falwell drops. But I'll mourn for Adrian.

Bake

[mitchum]

34. You're right...Rogers isn't evil...

he's dead and now formerly evil.
Look, you are the one who listed the things that you found impressive about Rogers. Can I help it if Hitler was the person with similar attributes who came to mind? Instead of defending these cocksuckers who have hijacked your church, why aren't you putting your energy into wresting your church back from them? Or maybe that is why you are a FORMER Southern Baptist grift...er...I...mean minister?
In the spirit of cooperation, you mourn Rogers death and I'll mourn his life.

[Bake]

37. Grifter? Is that what you started to say?

There are a lot of devout Southern Baptists who do a lot of good. One who comes to mind is a friend of mine who labored for years in an inner city Baptist church in Memphis. Politically moderate to liberal. Socially liberal. He led his congregation to do a lot of good in Memphis -- feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, that sort of thing. He does that because that's what he believes is part and parcel of the gospel. Maybe you don't agree with his motivation, but you can't argue with his results. He has literally saved lives in Memphis. What have YOU done?

You can attack me all you like. I'm no longer active in the ministry, and I'm not particularly active in Baptist circles, primarily because I don't recognize what the SBC has become as being historically genuinely "Baptist." But when you paint with the broad brush, you smear a lot of good people -- like the friend I mentioned above.

Bake

[Raster]

28. Each is entitled to their own. You have yours, leave others to theirs.

[54anickel]

35. Thank you. I enjoyed many of his messages and that silver voice of

his. I didn't agree with all of his views, but his messages were almost always centered on love - of Jesus, God, for one another and all creation. Couldn't argue with him on that one, and it was almost always at the heart of his messages.

I agree, he does not deserve much of the hatred being spewed on this thread - he certainly was not anything like Robertson, Falwell and some of the other TV "false prophets" who prey and feed on hate-mongering.

Thoughts and prayers for his family and friends.

[El Supremo]

15. Jimmy Carter does not have anything nice to say about him in his new book.

He is one big reason why Jimmy left the SBC.

[grumpy old fart]

20. Carter will be in Memphis on the 22nd....Rogers slipped out just in time

just as well, Carter might have felt compelled to attend. Now if only Falwell and Robertson, et al, would follow...

[jamesinca]

19. Is this the same SBC that wanted Dr. ML King dead?

Is this the same SBC that supported the war in Iraq? I think the only major religious endorsement of it.

Is this the same SBC that does not publicly disown, excommunicate or cast out the nut jobs?

I don't think the SBC has ever apologized for wanting to have Dr. King assassinated, did he play a part in that to?

I think the SBC has lost its Wesleyan roots and has become more of the Southern Baptist Calvinist.

Just curious about that, making sure I have my SBC's straight. I am also curious if he played a part in taking the SBC to this? Was the SBC on its way to acting like this with or without him?

on edit: I recomend everybody read this essay. www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

[mitchum]

27. And the same SBC that was formed as a PRO-SLAVERY denomination

[Bake]

29. There has always been a strong streak of Calvinism in SBC

Go back to A.T. Robertson or John A. Broaddus. The SBC has always tended toward Calvinism.

Bake

[mitchum]

32. Absolutely...since Wesley was abolitionist from the beginning...

AND THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH WAS FOUNDED AS A PRO-SLAVERY DENOMINATION, I would certainly agree that they have tended toward Calvinism rather than Wesleyan

[Bake]

33. It's not the "Southern Baptist Church"

Unless you're talking about the congregation that meets in a particular location. And the "other side" of Calvinism is Arminianism, which Wesley drew on. You might, at least, try to get it right if for no other reason, from the "know your enemy" perspective.

You are correct, at least, in the statement that initially Southern Baptists were pro-slavery. That is a position that the SBC repudiated long ago. Denominations, like political parties, are human institutions that are prone to error.

By and large, Baptists are good people. MOST are not the wingnuts who have taken control of the denomination.

Bake

[mitchum]

36. IFIRC, The SBC only officialy repudiated its origins 15 or so years ago..

I ask you again, if most Baptists are not wingnuts, why don't you take the church BACK from the wingnuts who hijacked it? Barring that, why don't "the good majority" of Baptists break away and start a NEW denomination? C'mon man, THAT'S a good ol' protestant tradition. Until either of these happen, I will stand by my conviction that the membership is complicit in the right wing bullshit.

[brentspeak]

39. s/d

[Bake]

41. I think it was longer ago than that ...

I was in the seminary in the late 70s, and it had already happened. So you're off by at least a decade and a half ...

Bake

[mitchum]

24. Good riddance to the motherfucker

[Arugula Latte]

26. The Christian Sky God must have been angry with him.

... 'cuz he gave him cancer and all ... It's God's wrath, see. Any time something bad happens it's 'cuz The Diety is punishing someone. :eyes:

[Zhade]

38. Maybe he didn't leave out cookies and milk?

Oh, wait, that's a different mythical being. My bad.

[Bake]

40. That's bad theology ...

Or perhaps just bad humor. Or both.

Bake

[Arugula Latte]

45. "Bad theology" -- Oh, excuse me. I guess I don't have facts

at my disposal like you do: "God has called one of His/Her servants home."

Yes, I guess the big Slavemaster in the Sky needed more humans to wait on Him/Her. Suuuure. Makes a lot of sense.

[Danmel]

43. Is he the one who said God Almighty does not hear the prayers of a Jew?

If so I hope he has a chance to discuss that with the God of Abraham, before being dispatched to his appropriate destination.

[Ekirh]

44. I don't cheer

Death . . .

But forgive me if I don't mourn . .