Some prominent Christian leaders said this week that they will not sign the statement “An Evangelical Manifesto”, citing vague wording and theological differences.
The manifesto’s definition of evangelical itself was among the top concerns for some leaders who refused to sign the document. The document’s description of evangelicals is “Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth”.
Several evangelical leaders said that while that definition is true, it is too broad and therefore not a good definition to distinguish who evangelicals are vis-a-vis other Christians.
“Those are wonderful words filled with Christian content, but they are also words that would be claimed by many who would never claim to be evangelicals,” wrote Dr Albert Mohler Jr, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in his blog this week.
“The definition is just not sufficient,” he said.
Likewise, fellow Southern Baptist leader Dr Richard Land, who heads the denomination’s public policy arm, also found the manifesto’s evangelical definition lacking in specificity.
The conservative leaders also questioned why the document left room for inclusivism or universalism. In the manifesto, drafters said there are several beliefs they "consider to be at the heart of the message of Jesus and therefore foundational for us".
Both Land and Mohler questioned why the drafters did not just end at "foundational" but added "for us". That leaves leeway for people who believe there is more than one way to be saved besides belief in the Lord Jesus Christ to be considered evangelicals, the Baptist leaders argued.
“This is one of the most crucial questions for evangelical identity,” Mohler emphasised, questioning if all the signatories affirm that sinners must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved.
Land, who is president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, stated that he fully agrees with at least 90 per cent of what the manifesto says but expressed wholehearted disagreement with one statement:
