G. Frink's

"Batholics in Bohemia, ...or when your pastor enquires of you" is a Czeck cartoon which was inspired by Tony Cartledge's May 20, 2005, blog (no longer online) "Baptists or Batholics?" The caption translates, "Did you vote for Christian democratic party, Civic democratic party or social democrats? According to the new SBC instruction no. 214/09 we cannot accept liberal voters."

How soon will they all be Batholics in Baptist State Convention of North Carolina?

Batholic was the word which sprang to mind when I read that the BSCNC had made a budgetary change intended to push moderate Baptists out. That change reflects the increasing doctrinal rigidity of a denomination which I am told once prided itself in having no formal creed.

I was blissfully unaware of the journey toward clerical domination by the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination until I read then-Biblical Recorder Editor Tony Cartledge's May 20, 2005, blog "Baptists or Batholics?" in which he wrote:

The culture wars lost the election, we learn from a post-election poll published Nov. 14; the politics of the common good won.

Less than 20% of the "values voters" support the culture war's narrow, anti-abortion/anti-gay agenda, according to a Nov. 5-7 poll by Public Religion Research.

Instead a majority of both evangelicals and Catholics support a broad public-interest agenda which includes "fighting poverty, protecting the environment and ending the war in Iraq."

In fact, among "values voters" culture war issues tended to fall off the table, according to the poll sponsored by Faith in Public Life in partnership with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Sojourners.

The poll found that:

Among white evangelical voters, 32% say the economy was the most important issue, and approximately 1-in-5 (21%) say abortion was the most important issue. Only 3% of evangelical voters say same-sex marriage ranks as the most important issue. Catholic voting priorities are similar to the all voter's priorities. A majority (54%) of Catholics say the economy is the most important issue in the election. Only 12% of Catholics cite abortion and none cite same-sex marriage as the most important issue in the election.