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In God We Trust, Mostly: the Southern Baptist Denomination as a Tool of

the State, 1861-65

Earl Waggoner, Ph.D.

Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Rocky Mountain Campus

A paper presented to the

Evangelical Theological Society

annual meeting

San Antonio, TX

November 18, 2004

On Tuesday, November 2, barely two weeks ago, a majority number of

American voters re-elected George W. Bush to the office of President of the
United States. Still in the fresh wake of this national campaign many evangelicals
have been quick to observe the hand of Providence at work in the election, re-
joicing in the fact that President Bush is not only their

candidate but God`s man,

too.

Given the seriousness with which evangelical voters were taken by the

Republican Party and the jubilation now being enjoyed by those same voters,
what will be the relationship fashioned between the newly approved administra-
tion and evangelical Americans? From a purely political perspective, the relation-
ship probably will not be much different from the last four years. However, from a
theological perspective, perhaps evangelicals will approach that relationship with
even deeper, more endearing and holy seriousness. After all President Bush was
elected with a majority of the votes, the first time a presidential candidate has ac-
complished that in sixteen years.

Indeed,

we affirm,

this must be the hand of

God at work, providing unequivocally a moral mandate for Christian America.

But as we tuck some Christian voter guides into our Bibles as great sou-

venirs, reminders of God`s victorious handiwork, we must remain

wise. In the

heady atmosphere of political victory evangelicals might be tempted to uplift a
Christian leader as the moral and theological panacea

. N

ow, finally,

we exult,

God can work in Washington, through His man, to reform America and make

this country God`s country

Is this the proper attitude for evangelicals to hold? To

what extent does God work through political powers to accomplish Kingdom
goals? At what point do we compromise the power of the gospel by depending
too lazily upon the state to do evangelical, reformation work? This paper is an
examination of what happens when the church gets too cozy with the govern-
ment.

Throughout the history of the United States, Baptists have approached the

above questions by advocating the principle of the separation of church and
state. Generally speaking this is the idea that church and state should maintain a
healthy distance, with each institution refusing to encroach upon the domain of
the other.

As articulated most recently by Southern Baptists, The church should