Speaking of Great Religions Hijacked by Extremists...

...the Texas Observer has an excellent article on bloggers and the war within the Southern Baptist Convention. This is one of the few articles in a secular publication that correctly notices that the battle has nothing to do with theology (everyone involved is conservative and, to at least some degree, fundamentalist) and everything to do with raw power. The extremist faction that has dominated the SBC believes, contrary to two centuries' of Baptist teachings, that the Convention is really a medieval papacy, complete with Inquisition and doctrinal enforcers. It remains to be seen if the denomination can actual survive this civil war intact.