THE KANSAS CITY STAR: BAPTISTS TO GATHER IN LIBERTY TO SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

Helen Gray of the Kansas City Star reported that former US President Jimmy Carter will speak with Baptists from around the United States about why their differences have prohibited them from unifying for over one hundred years.  The Baptist Church, the church to which Jimmy Carter belongs and is a Sunday school teacher, has been divided along racial lines.  Issues such as whether women can be pastors and how much women should submit to their husbands have plagued efforts of Baptists to come together and realize their common ground:  their common faith in God. 

Question to the Blogosphere:  If it is so hard to reach common ground and understanding within a religious group, what hope do we have of building common ground between religious groups?  How do you know the representative of the group you are talking to actually represents the entire group and not just a faction that has little credibility in the eyes of other factions?  This, of course, applicable to more than the United States, specifically Western-Muslim relations.  Do you think Baptists can find common ground on the issues that divide them, or will the internal differences cause a schism in the Church, as was seen in the Anglican/Episcopalian Church?