Southern Baptists and Organization

But it sounds like this guy might not need a paper bag to get his six-pack from the cash register to the car. That could be considered ‘liberal’ for a typical Baptist.

Ah yes, what C.S. Lewis calls "petty abstinences" in order to declare one's self free from sin. I see your point.

A ‘kinder, gentler’ SBC could definitely help in attracting new members, too.

Maybe so. I think it would depend on how much kinder and gentler they got. Episcopalians and Presbyterians are driving their members away in hordes with their headlong dive into apostasy. But the SBs could definitely stand a shift in message away from the thundering Puritans and toward the rational moralists.

...nor do they require baptism or a confession of faith.

Really? Are you sure about those last two?

Actually, I was guessing from the doctrine of the originators of the denomination, the Anabaptists. The refusal to swear to a creed of faith and the belief that baptism is not necessary for salvation were two cornerstone doctrines of the Anabaptists. Not having been in a Baptist church long enough to understand their doctrine, I may have been making a bad assumption. Denominational evolution may have changed all that.

Is it because the majority of Southern Baptists enjoy the benefits of being a strong voting bloc, but then, want to keep more of their funds to spend locally and the power to define the church’s service style and direction?

Possibly. It was almost a rhetorical question. I don't think the SBs place as much importance on the independence aspects of church organization as do the Independents, Ebenezers, and Primitives. But all Baptists agree in their visceral opposition to Catholic-style church bureaucracy. It is an interesting exercise in doctrinal and organizational tightrope-walking to watch them try to manage a national organization without falling into bureaucracy.