NEWS STORY: Baptists Say Yes to Death Penalty, No to Women Pastors

c. 2000 Religion News Service ORLANDO, Fla. _ Southern Baptists overwhelmingly passed a revised statement of faith Wednesday (June 14) opposing women pastors and homosexuality and adopted a groundbreaking resolution supporting capital punishment. More than two dozen protesters were arrested outside the Orange County Convention Center as Baptists entered a discussion lasting for more than […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Southern Baptists overwhelmingly passed a revised statement of faith Wednesday (June 14) opposing women pastors and homosexuality and adopted a groundbreaking resolution supporting capital punishment.

More than two dozen protesters were arrested outside the Orange County Convention Center as Baptists entered a discussion lasting for more than an hour about the Baptist Faith and Message, the core statement of Baptist belief. But the topics most on the outside protesters’ minds _ gays and women _ never surfaced during the debate.


Theological concerns about such issues as the pre-eminence of Jesus and the place of the Bible prompted proposed amendments from the floor, but all were defeated before the statement was passed.

The capital punishment resolution says the convention’s delegates, known as messengers, “support the fair and equitable use of capital punishment by civil magistrates as a legitimate form of punishment for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts that result in death.”

It cites biblical references forbidding “taking of innocent human life” and affirming the death penalty as appropriate for capital crimes.

“We are saying that they may, not that they must,” said Hayes Wicker, chairman of the resolutions committee, of civil courts. He said Southern Baptists did not wish to remain silent in the midst of the current debate, in which a number of other religious bodies have called for moratoriums and studies on capital punishment.

Wicker, a Naples, Fla., pastor, said the resolution’s language notes capital punishment should be used only when there is “clear and overwhelming evidence” of guilt and should not be based on race or class of the guilty person. It is the first time the 15.9 million-member denomination has spoken on capital punishment.

Members of the study committee on the Baptist Faith and Message, which was first adopted in 1925 and revised in 1963, said its new language upholds Baptist heritage while clarifying biblical truths for a “postmodern culture.” In 1998, a controversial article on the family was added stating, in part, that “a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.”

The new statements opposing homosexuality and women pastors drew criticism as soon as the proposed report was released last month. Homosexuality, along with racism, adultery and pornography, was cited as a social issue Christians should oppose.


The additional language on women pastors reads: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

Dozens of protesters from Soulforce, an independent organization supporting greater inclusion of gays and lesbians in all churches, protested outside the convention center, carrying signs that read “Father Forgive Them.”

“I don’t understand how we can’t all live and do as Jesus wants us to do and love one another,” said Gary Nixon, co-founder of Soulforce, who said his partner and organization co-founder Mel White was among those arrested.

Others distributed information to messengers about “ex-gay” ministries.

“It was Southern Baptists’ uncompromising commitment to the authority of the Bible on this issue that provided me the determination to dare and trust God for freedom,” said Tim Wilkins, executive director of Cross Ministry, a Raleigh, N.C.-based affiliate of the “ex-gay” ministry Exodus International.

James Merritt, the Snellville, Ga., pastor whose one-year term as president of the denomination started at the close of the meeting Wednesday, said he was personally comfortable with the language in the Baptist Faith and Message.

“Yes, we do stand against homosexuality,” Merritt told reporters after his election Tuesday. “We believe that Scripture is absolutely plain. There’s not one shred of evidence in the Bible that God ever approved of homosexuality in any shape, form or fashion. At the same time, what we’re really for is the family. And we’re really for the homosexual having a productive lifestyle that honors the Lord.”


Bailey Smith, an Atlanta evangelist and former Southern Baptist Convention president, weighed in with stronger language in the annual convention message.

“If you believe it is natural and acceptable for two men to marry each other and two women to marry each other, you are not a liberal. You are a nutball,” he said, garnering applause.

Deb Nelson, a 33-year-old lesbian who traveled across the state from Cape Canaveral with her partner, stood outside the convention center to oppose the faith statement’s stance against women pastors and homosexuality.

“No one should be oppressed or held back,” said Nelson, holding an “I Am a Proud Lesbian” sign.

Merritt, who attended seminary with women, said the issue for pastors is calling, not competency.

“The calling of God to the ministry, and to the senior pastorate particularly, is for the male only,” he said.


Rather than focusing on the social issues regarding women’s and gay rights, Baptists entered a lengthy discussion that centered on a one-sentence change in the faith statement’s article on “The Scriptures.” Messengers approved the addition of the sentence “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation” and deleted a sentence reading, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”

“We are indeed people of the book, but we also are people who bow only before Jesus Christ our savior,” argued Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, in an unsuccessful attempt to reconsider the language.

Anthony Sizemore, from First Baptist Church of Floydada, Texas, said he believed “the Bible is God’s word. The Bible is still just a book. Christians are supposed to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, not a book. Jesus Christ redeems, not a book. Today we must be careful not to elevate the written word above the one to whom it points.”

In response, study committee member and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler said: “Ladies and gentleman, this is what it all comes down to: The Bible is not merely a record; it is the revelation of God.”

Mohler’s remarks were greeted with applause, and some messengers stood to express their agreement.

Before the debate began, study committee chairman and former Southern Baptist President Adrian Rogers announced the committee had unanimously approved an amendment to the statement’s preamble affirming the historic Baptist principles of “soul competency” and the “priesthood of the believers,” which relate to a Baptist’s ability to directly communicate with God and be the judge of his or her own theology.

DEA END BANKS

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!