The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, gathering in Greensboro this week, may vote today on a new policy which would exclude openly gay people from becoming members, being baptized, holding a leadership role or being placed in a clergy position. The policy would also remove churches who allow those things to happen and churches which make statements “in support of homosexuality.” The last part of the new policy would allow complaints and charges to be made about any church by any two, non-anonymous people in the Convention (see past post).
I have spoken with a couple members of the clergy here in the Triad area and one of them really does want to publicly challenge the Baptist State Convention, offering the public the other side of this debate. According to him, this is more than just “freedom of religion” and allowing a religious body to do what it wants; this is about the largest Christian group in North Carolina, which has members serving in so many elected positions it would be hard to count them all, making a political/religious statement that will inevitibaly come back to cause more anti-gay prejudice and intolerance within the secular, government-oriented realm of state life.
He’s also concerned about the fact that the leaders of Greensboro openly welcomed the State Convention to town. The Convention came to town in order to take on an action that is, at face-value, filled with hate, prejudice and exclusion. The leaders of Greensboro bowed to pressure and went to go speak to the group just because it happens to be the largest religious group (aka votes and money and we don’t want to upset them) in North Carolina.
Greensboro should have stood up for tolerance and equality and said, “While we are happy you have chosen Greensboro as your meeting site, we are concerned that the actions you take in our city will have a negative effect on thousands of people in Greensboro and around the state and we would hope that you chose the path of tolerance and acceptance, rather than prejudice and exclusion.”
November 14th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
First, let me ask
Do you believe one can hold to the traditional theological belief that homosexuality is a sin but yet be loving, kind, and welcoming to homosexuals?
Not all whose theology is orthodox hold hate in their hearts towards the gay community. Do you agree?
Your first paragraph is misleading. The Convention does not ban gays from joining individual churches. Baptists have a congregational polity. All Baptists Churches are by definition autonomous. The individual church dictates policy (concerning membership, etc.) not the Convention.
At the same time, the Convention is autonomous and the messengers determine policy for the Convention.
How many Gay-Friendly congregations are still part of the NC Convention? I bet you can count them on one hand. Moderate/Progressive Baptists have been beat up-and-down by Fundamentalists (especially in NC) for over 15 years. Why would a Welcomming and Affirming Church wish to belong to the NC Convention?? Most affirming churches (such as mine in TX) belong exclusively to the Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or perhaps the ABC-USA (Coach Dean Smith of UNC is a member of a more liberal Baptist church somewhere in your area).
Bottom line, this is a point less new policy. North Carolina Baptist Convention drove away all center and left-of-center congregations years ago.
For the record, theologically I believe that all are created in God’s image and as such we should adhere to a consistent sexual ethic (celibacy/monogamy) where you be gay or straight.
November 14th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Do you believe one can hold to the traditional theological belief that homosexuality is a sin but yet be loving, kind, and welcoming to homosexuals?
Not all whose theology is orthodox hold hate in their hearts towards the gay community. Do you agree?
Yes I agree, but I also believe that statements such as “Homosexuality is an abomination” and “Homosexuals go to hell” have caused great stress, harm and damage to millions of LGBT people throughout the centuries. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina created (it did pass today) a policy to be loving and kind to LGBT people, they instead created a policy of exclusion.
Your first paragraph is misleading. The Convention does not ban gays from joining individual churches. Baptists have a congregational polity. All Baptists Churches are by definition autonomous. The individual church dictates policy (concerning membership, etc.) not the Convention.
At the same time, the Convention is autonomous and the messengers determine policy for the Convention.
WRONG. The policy passed by the NC Baptist State Convention allows the dis-affiliation of any church which allows openly gay people to become members, be baptized, be in a position of leadership or if the church makes a statement supporting homosexuality in anyway. The policy also allows complaints to be made if people suspect someone is gay or if a church has possibly broken the policy. An investigation would then be held and a determination would be made upon the church’s affiliation with the convention. Therefore, if a church wants to remain a member of the NCBSC it will ban openly gay people from joining the church.
How many Gay-Friendly congregations are still part of the NC Convention? I bet you can count them on one hand. Moderate/Progressive Baptists have been beat up-and-down by Fundamentalists (especially in NC) for over 15 years. Why would a Welcomming and Affirming Church wish to belong to the NC Convention?? Most affirming churches (such as mine in TX) belong exclusively to the Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or perhaps the ABC-USA (Coach Dean Smith of UNC is a member of a more liberal Baptist church somewhere in your area).
You are right, many gay-friendly churches have left the Convention, but many churches who aren’t as fundamentalist as the Convention leadership remain. 40 pastors signed onto a statement denouncing the new policy before this year’s annual gathering even began. Nathan Parrish, the pastor of Peace Haven Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, even stood up to speak against it, noting the concept of Christ’s “radical inclusion.”
Again, I stress my feelings on what kind of effect the Convention’s actions have on North Carolina’s culture, society and politics. The NC Baptist State Convention is, by far, the largest, richest and most powerful and influential religious group/faith group/Christian denomination in the State of North Carolina.
November 15th, 2006 at 12:02 am
You are right about this…
“therefore, if a church wants to remain a member of the NCBSC it will ban openly gay people from joining the church.”
True. But Baptist Churches pride themselves in their unique distinctive of local church autonomy. They don’t like to be pushed around by higher-ups.
NCBSC has passed stupid policies and will continue to do so. The best bet for all Mainstream/Professive North Carolina Baptist’s is to get the hell out of the NCBSC. Most already have. NCBSC will continue to narrow the parameters of cooperations. Why stay?
And my statement was correct. The NCBSC does not ban gays from joining individual Churches. It only limits those Churches from being included in the larger Convention. I’m sure gay-friendly or sympathetic congregations that still align with the NCBSC will find new organizations to send their tithes and offerings to. The Fundamentalist Takeover of the SBC (and her state conventions) was complete years ago. Moderates/Progressives (like myself) must let go of the fundamentalist institution that is the NCBSC and spend our time and efforts building new denominational bodies and fellowships.
A great place to start is by supporting the Alliance or CBF.