Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993                   TAG: 9310140090
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLLSTERS ARE THE ONES WHO WERE TRULY `LOST'

About a month ago, a front-page story in this newspaper - and hundreds of others - described how Southern Baptists in Alabama had computed that 46.1 percent of their state's citizens were "lost" - probably bound for hell.

The reaction was quick and predictable. Most non-Southern Baptists and many Southern Baptists were upset.

The audacity of the head count bothered them.

Who are those Southern Baptists to say who's saved or not, letter writers and Sunday school teachers asked.

But some defended the action.

One letter writer took this newspaper to task for publishing yet another article that "exhibited a real bias against the traditional values and facts upon which this nation was founded and upon which its people have found their `goodness.' . . . With articles like this one, the [Roanoke Times & World-News] itself becomes the target of mockery and disdain in its area of circulation."

The letter writer went on to point out that what the article called the "traditional Baptist view" - that members of non-Christian religions are not going to heaven - is really the "traditional Christian view."

He backed that assertion up with Scripture and quotes from Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Presbyterian creeds.

Of course, he could have added the dogma of any number of churches that believe not only that heaven is open exclusively to Christians, but that their denominations constitute the only valid expression of Christianity.

While the survey didn't say only Southern Baptists would go to heaven, it apparently places less credence in the stated beliefs of some other Christians than others.

The survey's "secret formula" apparently concludes that though official Roman Catholic and United Methodist doctrine accept that only Christians are saved, Methodists are more likely than Catholics to get to heaven.

Lutherans, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and other Christian groups presumably are evaluated independently as to "savability."

Considering the state of internal politics in the Southern Baptist Convention, you have to wonder how many of Virginia's Southern Baptists count as saved in such a survey.

Conservatives in the denomination have long argued that "moderates" - the majority faction in Virginia but out-of-power at the national level - are doctrinally incorrect. The implication is that moderates have put their salvation at risk through "liberal" attitudes - which may include things such as not believing that only certain types of Christians will get to heaven.

The only reasonable conclusion is that at least some - and perhaps many - of those who call themselves Southern Baptists probably would qualify as "unsaved" in this accounting.

Following the uproar, denominational officials in Alabama contended they had been misunderstood. They were just trying to help local churches determine where they should concentrate their efforts on reaching the "lost." They were being unfairly condemned.

They were not "judging" - a characteristic specifically condemned by Christ in the New Testaments accounts - but "reaching," one Alabama pastor said.

The trouble is, a good number of the "lost" that pastor would like to reach are not going to believe that. As the response to the survey demonstrated, those who hold different beliefs are likely to be offended because the survey implied that the Southern Baptists who conducted it believe they hold the only keys to the gates of heaven.

Any religious group that publicly works to spread its message is going to offend some people. That's OK. It's part of the price we pay for living in a free society.

That doesn't mean it's very smart for a religious group to use language or surveys that seem designed to alienate the very people it would like to attract. It's equally disingenuous to engage in the tactic of blaming the media for publishing the story - which was, in fact, initiated by a press release from an Alabama Southern Baptist official.

Cody Lowe reports on issues of religion and ethics for this newspaper.\