About two weeks ago I put in my online hymnal an anonymous hymn parody entitled "Sign the Creed" which has proven to be the most popular number in my collection, receiving 338 hits since Nov. 18th.
We have heard the IMB Sign the creed, Sign the creed If you want to work for me Sign the creed, Sign the creed It matters not what you believe Forget your Baptist history Just sign your name and you'll receive Sign the creed, sign the creed
Jerry Rankin sent the call Sign the creed, Sign the creed Sign it one and sign it all Sign the creed, Sign the creed We're not asking for your soul Just sign and say what you are told All we want is full control Sign the creed, Sign the creed
There's no priesthood anymore Sign the creed, sign the creed It's our way or out the door Sign the creed, sign the creed No discussion, no dissent Freedom's not what Jesus meant Here's the reason he was sent: Sign the creed, sign the creed
It's very simple what we ask Sign the creed, Sign the creed A very ordinary task Sign the creed, Sign the creed But it's not a creed, you see Just recognizing authority No gods before the SBC Sign the creed, Sign the creed
It is already a classic in its subculture, which is the disenfranchised set of Southern Baptists displaced by the fundamentalist takeover of that denomination (I know, I know, some of us have a hard time imagining a distinction between Southern Baptists and fundamentalists! ...) who call themselves "Mainstream Baptists". The IMB (of which Jerry Rankin is president) is the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, which recently began requiring its missionaries to "sign" the 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith & Message. This does not sit well with the non-fundamentalist set; an opposition to creedalism and a strong doctrine of the priesthood of each believer have been hallmarks of historic Baptist belief. (Here is an official Southern Baptist response to the charges in this song.)
I will post the tune, too, since neither the DT nor Mudcat MIDIs has it, even though there is already one (coal mining) song in the DT that calls for it.