via EthicsDaily
Nashville Scene – Nothing Sacred

Author, civil rights activist and Baptist minister Will Campbell is friend to Klansmen, whores and the hopeless —but he rejects the “soul molesters” of the Southern Baptist Convention

My Church History prof was always recommending Campbell’s Brother to a DragonFly. This article in the Nashville Scene is a good read about one of the most colorful and unique Southern Baptist characters to come down the pike. (He is also among the most strident critics of the present SBC leadership)

Southern Baptist bigwigs, for their part, seem to be afraid of Campbell. Richard Land, who often comes across like a George W. Bush groupie rather than the president of the Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recently issued a press release gushing about the president keeping his campaign word on Supreme Court nominees. The press release invited requests for a Land interview. But don’t try that if the subject is Will Campbell. Through a spokesman, Land replied that he had “nothing to say about Campbell.”

Jerry Sutton, pastor of Nashville’s politically active Two Rivers Baptist Church, never responded to an offer to comment on Campbell or about the involvement of the Baptist Church in politics. Bobby Patray, who lobbies for the ultra-conservative Eagle Forum and has been prominent in the political activities of Two Rivers, also declined requests for comment.

So who is this 81-year-old bootleg preacher who makes the Baptist elites clam up? This man who has no faculty seat at any divinity school, no church building—and certainly no television pulpit—yet challenges one of the most powerful religious bodies in the country and has written books and essays that make renowned theologians sit up and take notice? Who is this redneck farmer with no organization who became a major figure in the civil rights struggle? This integrationist who reaches out to Klansmen? This Christian cleric who marries, baptizes and buries Catholics, Jews, heathens and the unchurched alike? This hillbilly guitar strummer with no press agent who becomes friends with some of the most famous—and infamous—country music stars of all time?