The Exodus from Iraq and the end of Christian Nation-building

Abstract

After 70 years of battle against Communists, genocidal leaders, and Islamists, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has laid down the sword of righteous American interventionism in the name of liberty. The SBC’s loss of faith in the United States’ ability to nation-build resulted primarily from the persecution of Christians by Islamist terrorists. This persecution began in the first year of OIF and reached its apex during the Islamic State’s campaign of genocide following the U.S. withdrawal. Due to the Baptists’ own heritage of persecution, they viewed this outcome as devastatingly tragic, and a generation of Southern Baptists learned to distrust the ability of any government to avoid tragic failures in its efforts to impose its ideals abroad. In the end, the SBC incorporated this lesson into its Just War theology and then opposed interventions that would require a nation-building effort like the one that failed in Iraq.