Younger Southern Baptists seek a less partisan approach to political engagement

c. 2015 Religion News Service

(RNS) As Southern Baptists interview Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in Nashville, Tennessee, today (August 4), a group of mostly younger pastors is challenging the methods used by the old religious right and urging a broader agenda and more qualified support for the Republican Party.

“There’s a whole generation of guys coming up saying we’re tired of being the lapdogs of the GOP and, worse than that, being tossed away like a Kleenex after the election is over,” said Ryan Abernathy, teaching pastor at West Metro Community Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. “I know a ton of people saying we should no longer be blindly giving our allegiance to one political party.”