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RELIGION
Baptist convention lashes out at gays — lightly
by Jim Baxter . Q-Notes staff
GREENSBORO — The fireworks expected
this year at the Southern Baptist Convention
(SBC) annual meeting, held in Greensboro June
13-14, never happened. The call for Baptists to
drop out of “gay friendly” public schools was
defeated. Guest speaker Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice urged
“respect” in the gay marriage
debate. And a mild-mannered
pastor from South Carolina was
the unexpected choice for the
convention’s new president.
This is not at all what any
body has come to expect from
the SBC.
In 1997, the Southern
Baptists adopted a resolution
calling for a boycott of The
Walt Disney Co. after it decid
ed to offer benefits to partners
of gay employees. Citing
changes in Disney executives
and more family-friendly
entertainment, the SBC ended
the boycott eight years later
although the company had not
changed its gay policy.
This was just one manifes
tation of the kind of organiza- Baptist Convention
tion SBC became after moderate churches Charlotte Observer (June 15,2006). As Rice left
dropped out of the organization entirely in the the Greensboro Coliseum stage, a spontaneous
early 1990s, following years of fighting with chorus of “God Bless America” spread like a
‘This is not my area of
expertise or, frankly, my
area of concentration at
this point.’
— Condoleeza Rice reply
ing to a
question about gay mar
riage at the Southern
conservatives in the 1970s and 1980s.
This year was different.
The SBC condemns homosexuality, denies
gays the right to become pastors and gives
churches the right to refuse membership to
gays. It also has been supportive of constitu
tional bans on same-sex marriage.
On the opening day. President George W.
Bush — in a five-minute video
taped message to delegates —
repeated his usual mantra:
opposition to abortion, gay mar
riage and “activist judges.”
But when a pastor named
William Gay from North
Carolina proposal that the con
vention discontinue using the
word “gay” to describe homo
sexuals, his motion met with
laughter, according to
Greensboro’s Yes Weekly (June
21,2006). It was ultimately
ruled “out of order.”
On the 14th, Rice gave an
address to the SBC, stressing
America’s responsibility to
secure freedom, particularly
religious freedom.
She was interrupted six
times by standing ovations,
according to a report in the The
wave among nearly 12,000 Southern Baptists
in attendance.
Later, in an interview with the Greensboro
News & Record, Rice urged people to be
respectful and sensitive in the debate over gay
marriage. However, she avoided a question
about her own views on the issue.
“This is an issue that can be debated and
can be discussed in our country with respect
for every human being,” Rice said.
“When we get into difficult debates about
social policy, we get into difficult debates that
touch people’s lives, the only thing that I ask is
that Americans do it with a kind of sensitivity
that real individuals and real human beings
are involved here.”
Asked for her opinion of the amendment.
Rice closed the subject with a polite, but firm,
statement. “This is not my area of expertise or,
frankly, my area of concentration at this point.”
Also on the 14th, the convention refused to
support a resolution that would have urged
the denomination to form an “exit strategy”
for pulling Southern Baptist children from
public schools in favor of home schools or pri
vate Christian schools.
The proposal, offered by Roger Moran of
Troy, Mo., and Texas author Bruce Shortt,
came as many of the nation’s 16.2 million
Southern Baptists are concerned about how
classrooms are handling subjects such as
homosexuality and “intelligent design.”
Instead of putting the exit strategy before
delegates, the denomination’s resolutions com
mittee called on members to “engage the cul
ture of our public school systems” by exerting
“godly influence,” including standing for elec
tion to local school boards.
Rev. Frank Page, the SBC’s newly elected
president from Taylors, S.C., said he’d stand up
for the denomination’s conservative beliefs but
added that he plans to do it with a smile. “I
believe in the Word of God,” he told The
Associated Press. “I’m just not mad about it.”
Asked how he would determine who
would have a voice in Southern Baptist leader
ship under his presidency. Page cited “a sweet
spirit” as the first requirement.
“For too long. Baptists have been known
for what we’re against,” he said. “It’s time to
say,‘Please, let us tell what we’re for: That there
is a life transforming, relevant-to-today’s-peo-
ple message that we have to share.”
In the ultimate irony, anti-gay protesters
were at the Greensboro Coliseum to picket the
unveiling of a statue of the Rev. Billy Graham.
“I told him we were going to picket his
funeral when he dies and he’s not a well man,”
the Rev. Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist
Church in Topeka, Kan., has said. Like Graham,
Phelps attended Bob Jones University and was
ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention.
Phelps, who is no longer affiliated with the
convention, said Graham has become too soft
on homosexuals. Phelps was actually protest
ing at a military funeral in Bismarck, N.D., but
members of his church were in Greensboro to
demonstrate. I
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