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• s:j T ^ t * • »; *?; «'V ■ i * '' Baptist church protests Coopei:ative Fellowship hiring policy Wake Forest Baptist no stranger to gay controversy by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff WINSTON-SALEM — A progressive Baptist church once formally affiliated with Wake Forest University and kicked out of the Baptist Convention of North Carolina for its LGBT-inclusive practices is now protest ing the anti-gay policies of a moderate Baptist association. The historically progressive Wake Forest . Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., founded in 1956 upon the move of Wake Forest College to the Twin City, is no stranger to inclusive spirituality or the controversy it causes. In their early years, the church opened its membership to African-Americans — before its affiliated university integrated its admissions policies in 1961. (Ed. Note — This writer is a member ofWake Forest Baptist Church.) Since the mid-1990s, the congregation has continuously debated and progressed on issues of LGBT inclusion in church life. In 1997, a lesbian couple who were members of the church requested to use Wait Chapel, the campus’ sanctuary, for a commitment ceremony. As the church bat tled campus politics in order to have the commitment ceremony held in the historic chapel, national attention was drawn to the controversy by the Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of the “God Hates Fags” website and Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Wake Forest University students rallied around the church and started their own push to have sexual orientation added as a protected category in the school’s non-dis crimination policies. Because of their stands, the church was booted from their local Baptist association and the State Baptist Convention of North Carolina. When the ceremony was finally held in 2000, the controversy made headlines across the nation. The uproar also caused hard feelings between the North Carolina Convention and Wake Forest University. A few years later, the school severed its ties with the religious body. The documentary “A Union in Wait,” was made the same year and released in 2001. Later, the church hired one of the lesbian women, Susan Parker, as their associate pas tor. The church still meets in Wait Chapel on Wake Forest University’s Reynolda Campus. The church is now protesting the anti gay hiring policies of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, an association of Baptists usually seen as more moderate than the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. The protest, in fhe form of a reduction in the congregation’s annual con tribution to the group, was explained in a letter from the church’s pastor to the Fellowship’s executive coordinator. On June 23,2008, Wake Forest Baptist’s pastor. Dr. Richard Groves, sent a letter to Daniel Vestal, the executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Along with the letter was a check for $100, an unusually low sum when compared to the past $1,500 annual contributions to the group from the congregation. Groves explained the contribution reduc tion was in response to the Fellowship’s deci sion to prohibit the employment of LGBT individuals. “At the present time, approximately one out of six members of Wake Forest Baptist Church is gay or lesbian,” wrote Groves. “We could not justify continuing to support in a major way (major for our congregation) an organization that on principle would discrimi nate against 15% of the members of our church on the basis of their sexuality.” Groves also explained his personal protest of the group. “I have not attended a meeting of the CBF since the policy was approved,” he wrote. “The desire to appeal to the broad mid dle of the moderate movement that has been present since the beginning of the CBF is not one that our congregation has chosen to embrace, nor is it one I have chosen to embrace in my own ministry” During the week of July 13, Vestal respond ed to Wake Forest Baptist’s letter. “I understand and appreciate where you and Wake Forest Baptist Church differ with our funding and hiring policy regarding homosexuals,” Vestal wrote. “This is an issue where Baptists have differences of conscience and convictions. 1 respect the protest of your congregation just as I respect the Fellowship’s decision to implement this policy.” Vestal also thanked Groves for his “sup port and encouragement” during the early years of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s development. “I treasure your friendship and thank God for your ministry,” Vestal concluded. Wake Forest’s Associate Pastor, Rev. Susan Parker said that the Fellowship, to her knowl edge, had never discriminated against an entire congregation for their inclusive worship practices. The hiring policy prohibiting LGBT employees, however, is “something they’ve known has been a probelm for a long time,” Parker told Q-Notes. “CBF does not have the same kind of orga nizational structure as the Southern Baptist Convention,” she said. “It really is more of a netowrk that connects congregations rather than a denominational set-up.” Parker said that, despite the differences on the hiring policy, “it is important for congrega tions. . .to work together even if they don’t agree with everything. Otherwise,-you stay so polarized that nothing can get done. That is one of the problems with our political system right now. That just ends up with nothing get ting done.” Lance Wallace, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s media coordinator, said his see Hiring on 17 North Carolina’s gay & lesbian everything store! White Rabbit H I E Several new T-shirt designs from Queer Republic are now in stock! All shirts are preshrunk 100% cotton with double-needle stitched neckline, sleeves and bottom hem. Available in sizes Small to XXL gSgl'.. T - ^ Summer Stylin’ with Queer Republic Tees! 377.4067 RALEIGH 309 W. MARTIN ST. 27601 • 919.856.1429 PM- 6PM MON-SAT: 11 AM-9 PM SUN: 12 PM - 7 PM oidcrsciv.iil.iblc orders@whtterabbitbooks.com www.whiterabbitbooks.com AUGUST 9.2008 • Q-NOTES I 3
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