>March 3, 2009 at 10:00 am
>Leslie – I agree, that is a terrible quote, but to be fair, here are some things to put it in context.

>1) First of all, this quote does not appear in any of Dr. Rogers’ written or verbal works. Rather it is reported by Cecil Sherman as part of a private conversation that took place back in 1985. I have no reason to believe that Sherman misrepresented Dr. Rogers’ words, but I do not know if these were his exact words, or if he spoke them seriously, or if he was just making a (very) bad joke.

>2) The context of the quote was not American slavery but Roman slavery as it appears in the New Testament. This type of slavery was very different from American slavery, more of an indentured servitude rather than race-based oppression. (Also, Roman slavery is merely reported on in the New Testament, never affirmed or approved). Here is the snippet of converation with Rogers that Sherman reports:

>“I asked Rogers what he did with the slavery passages of the New Testament. Did he take them literally? He paused, then said, ‘Well, I believe slavery is a much maligned institution. If we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess.’” (The Struggle for the Soul of the SBC, by Walter Shurden, p. 36) So yes, still a bad quote, but not as bad as it appears out of context.

>3) The quote also appears out of context in Bruce Gourley’s book, The Godmakers: A Legacy of the Southern Baptist Convention (Franklin, TN: Providence House, 1996, p. 75), but Gourley is simply citing Sherman and his reported conversation with Rogers. Chad Brand of Founders Journal responds:

>Gourley’s use of his sources is … problematic. Granted that he makes use almost exclusively of sources whose authors have a vested interest to critique the conservative resurgence. But does he use those sources accurately? In many cases he does not. In Chapter Four he critiques the conservative movement for its racism. “It is a tragedy, however, that the white God which Southern Baptists of the 1800s worshipped is still alive in the minds of many Southern Baptists, particularly in fundamentalist circles” (p. 75). As a prime example he presents this: “. . . Adrian Rogers, fundamentalist pastor and past SBC president, recently revealed his racist beliefs when asked about slavery: `Well, I believe slavery is a much-maligned institution. If we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess’” (p. 75). Gourley seeks with this quote to prove that Rogers is a racist in his attitude toward African-Americans. The footnote for this comment cites an essay by Cecil Sherman, former head of the CBF. But when one looks at the essay by Sherman, an entirely different perspective is apparent. Sherman asked Rogers the question about slavery in the context of their work together on the Peace Committee. But the question he asked was about slavery in the Bible, not the American institution of racial subservience. This is very plain in Sherman’s essay (”Moderate Responses to the Fundamentalist Movement,” in Walter Shurden, ed., The Struggle for the Soul of the SBC, p. 36). Sherman did not take Rogers’ comment to refer to the American institution of Southern injustice, and there is no reason why Gourley should have taken the text in this manner, either. One may disagree with Rogers’ statement in any event, but to twist his words willfully in order to score a rhetorical point is unconscionable reporting.” (Founders Journal, Issue 30, 1997, pp. 25-26)

>So, is this a great quote by Adrian Rogers? No, and I am not willing to defend it. But I am willing to give Rogers the benefit of the doubt and hope that it was a poor choice of words which he later regretted. (I know I have done that plenty of times. It’s just that my words haven’t been reported in books and splashed all over the internet for everyone to see.)