Hardball Religion: Feeling the Fury of Fundamentalism

In November 2005, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention passed two policies: 1) that missionaries desiring to be appointed by the IMB be baptized in a Southern Baptist church; and 2) that prospective missionaries be disqualified from service if they used a private prayer language. Wade Burleson, a trustee of the IMB at the time, questioned the policies. Were they necessary? Were they scripturally sound? Were they in line with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message? While Wade Burleson’s Hardball Religion is the startling story of his three-year journey from Christian dissent to censure to resignation from the IMB, it is also an important record of another struggle within the SBC—the much more serious battle against the Fundamentalism that threatens to destroy the fabric of Southern Baptist cooperation. Hardball Religion is a call for Southern Baptists to see the importance of having multiple voices heard, voices who represent diverse positions on the issues, when some Southern Baptists are vigorously pushing to silence all dissent within the Convention.