One question I have, with respect to the The ETS statement of faith is: Do Catholics deny that the Bible, even "the Bible alone" "is the Word of God written"? My understanding, which is probably flawed, is that while the Roman Catholic Church considers Sacred Tradition, the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church), and the Bible to be authoritative sources of divine revelation, the term "Word of God" is reserved for Christ and the Bible.

Here is the ETS statement of faith in full:

"The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory."

According to Roger Nicole, the statement was drawn up in this way to exclude Roman Catholics. I'm curious to know if it is adequate to do this. If it said something more like, "the Bible is the only source of infallible authority or special revelation" I could see it. As it stands, I don't know that Beckwith was necessarily acting in bad faith by remaining president, even after his conversion, though he certainly knows that the "spirit" of the statement and the organization is to exclude Catholics (unless their last name rhymes with eisler) <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" />. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds, and how and if Beckwith defends his right to remain president.

The "moderate" CBF bigots down at Baylor will probably try again to have him fired, since they don't want nobody but "free and faithful" "open-minded" Darwin loving Baptist pietists teaching their kiddies.

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=22949

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/baker200501101423.asp

http://www3.baylor.edu/~Ralph_Wood/misc/ReapingWhirlwindBaylor.pdf

http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=532

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