Well, it looks like NPR's chief religion correspondent and crypto-right wing dominionist tool
Barbara Bradley Hagerty is at it yet again.
She covered a group of American Baptists who don't support creating a state religion, and described them as "Disenters from the Southern Baptist Tradition".
In fact, the reverse is true.
The Soughern Baptist convention was fromed by dissenters from the American Baptist Missionary Union in 1845 because they believed in Slavery and white supremacy.
BBH is NPR's religion correspondent. She knows the facts, but she's tightly tied into reclusive millionaire Howard Ahmanson's Christo-Fascist network (see the link above), so she served her real masters, and lied to implied that these people were just some fringe church.
What a neat way of making mainstream Baptists look like a lunatic fringe.
Here is what I sent to Morning Edition (morning@npr.org), and the NPR Ombudsman (ombudsman@npr.org):
(letter below fold)
Subject: Re: Barbara Bradley Hagerty's Report on Baptists on the May 5 Morning Edition
In Barbara Bradley Hagerty's report on Baptists who support the separation of church and state on the May 5 Morning Edition, she said that the American Baptists were dissenters from the Southern Baptist tradition.
I am surprised and disappointed at your reporter's profound indifference toward the history of the Baptist church in America.
Any analysis of the history shows that the Southern Baptist church are dissenters from the American Baptist church.
Specifically, the Southern Baptist convention split from American Baptist Missionary Union in 1845, because for former believed in slavery and the idea of racial superiority and the latter opposed slavery and the ideal of racial superiority To be fair the Southern Baptists convention apologized for its support of slavery and racial supremacy ideas in 1995.)
To describe the American Baptists as "Dissenters from the Southern Baptist Tradition", when the reverse is true is factually inaccurate, and serves to marginalize the positions that they express.
For a normal beat reporter to make this error would be disappointing, but the fact that NPR's chief religion correspondent to make this "Bush League" error is simply deplorable.
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signature here
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p.s. Does anyone know hot to contact Biblio of Better Angels
This story is right up her alley, and I don't see a contact link on her blog any more.