NEWS

Baptists share united voice

Bobby Ross Jr.

NEW ORLEANS - Southern Baptists want marriages that last a lifetime, public libraries that shield children from Internet pornography and federal campaign finance reform that protects free speech.

They want Congress to ban human cloning, the world to express "moral outrage" at the Netherlands' legalization of euthanasia and the U.S. military to protect the free exercise of religion in the armed forces.

In a show of unity praised by Oklahomans, the Southern Baptist Convention spoke Wednesday with one voice on those issues and others.

The 9,500 "messengers" sent by local congregations to the convention's annual meeting also condemned genocide in the African country of Sudan and endorsed the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, which uses every dollar raised on hunger needs.

"I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any Southern Baptist at this convention who saw the flip side of any of these issues," resolutions committee Chairman Danny Akin told The Oklahoman .

With no debate and no apparent opposition, the nation's largest Protestant denomination passed eight resolutions that Akin, dean of the theology school at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said focused on "life, liberty and the family."

The Southern Baptist Convention has nearly 16 million members in 41,000 congregations. Those members include about 800,000 Oklahomans in 1,700 congregations.

Anthony Jordan, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said Wednesday's resolutions addressed significant issues and "stayed on mission for who we are."

"We have spent a great deal of energy in past conventions arguing. While healthy discussion is always proper, it was nice to see the unity of the convention expressed."

Convention President James Merritt of Snellville, Ga., had said he wanted the two-day meeting, which ended Wednesday, to focus on missions and evangelism.

Even Merritt seemed surprised by how quickly the resolutions passed, putting the meeting hours ahead of schedule.

"I want to tell you, folks, there's a sweet, sweet spirit in this place, and how blessed it is when brethren dwell together," he told the crowd at the Louisiana Superdome.

Richard Zimmer, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hydro, said the convention took conservative stands needed "in this day and time.

"They were all very strong stands that we need in light of where we are morally and socially as a nation right now," Zimmer said.

A vow to keep

The first resolution passed Wednesday endorsed covenant marriages - a concept pushed by the Rev. Tom Elliff, an Oklahoma pastor who is chairman of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life.

That resolution defined marriage as a "sacred covenant between one man, one woman and a holy God."

It encouraged the denomination's 41,000 congregations to celebrate the third Sunday of February each year as "Covenant Marriage Sunday" and to allow married couples to renew their vows.

"A contract is based upon mutual consent," said Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Del City. "A covenant is something you take a lot more seriously than a contract."

In Oklahoma, more than 700 religious leaders have signed covenant marriage contracts, agreeing to provide counseling before marrying couples, said Don Hebbard, education director for Gov. Frank Keating's marriage initiative.

Hebbard, a Church of Christ minister, called the Southern Baptist resolution "an extremely positive development."

He cited two main reasons for pursuing covenant marriages.

"One, they slow down the rush for the marriage altar by some people," he said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Oklahoma City. "No. 2, they get the couple talking more about their relationship after the wedding than they do about planning the wedding."

In the recent legislative session, House Bill 1001, which would have created covenant marriage licenses and made getting a divorce more difficult, failed to advance out of the House Judiciary Committee.

Jordan, who leads the faith-based sector of Keating's marriage initiative, said he would support a state law on covenant marriages.

However, he said, "Laws do not impact the heart. Ultimately, we have to impact the hearts of men and women who come together in marriage."

Faith-based initiative

While the resolutions presented Wednesday won overwhelming support, some items never reached the convention floor.

Among them: a resolution calling for the convention to oppose President Bush's plan to increase government funding of faith-based groups to help fight social problems.

Southern Baptists have said they will not accept government money, but Akin said the resolutions committee deemed it premature to take a stand on Bush's proposal.

The committee does not "believe the faith-based initiative or charitable choice is unconstitutional," Akin said, but it also is "not clear yet how it would be done."

A resolution praising Bush's decision not to make June "Gay Pride Month" and urging him to proclaim June "Heterosexual Family Pride Month" also died before making it to the convention floor.

"God loves homosexuals, and we love homosexuals," Akin said. "And we can say to them that we disagree (with their lifestyle) without using a sledgehammer."

A long time coming

Jordan, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma leader, praised the meeting's focus on the family.

He also cited two other significant developments: the first prime-time sermon by a black pastor in the convention's 156-year history; and the refusal by "messengers" to modify the Baptist Faith and Message, the denomination's doctrinal platform.

The Rev. Fred Luter Jr., the black pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, spoke Tuesday night.

"On the one hand, it saddens me that it's been that long," Jordan said. "On the other hand, it's incredibly exciting. Southern Baptists are no longer just middle-class, Anglo Southerners."

Also Tuesday, the conservative-controlled convention rejected three attempts at changing wording in the Baptist Faith and Message.

Moderates claim last year's revisions limit individual Christians' freedom to interpret Scripture.

"That signals a day of doctrinal stability," Jordan said of the refusal to alter the statement.

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