MOBILE, Ala. (ABP) — Messengers to this year's Alabama Baptist State Convention voiced their support for publicly displaying the Ten Commandments and approved a status quo Cooperative Program budget for 2004.
Messengers overwhelmingly adopted a Ten Commandments resolution that encouraged elected officials to “uphold righteousness, acknowledge the biblical foundations of government, and contend for the right of religious expression provided for the American people within the Constitution of the United States of America.”
After a brief debate, messengers deleted the mention of Judge Roy Moore from the original resolution. Moore recently was removed as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court after refusing a court order to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state's judicial building in Montgomery.
In an otherwise harmonious meeting at Cottage Hill Baptist Church Nov. 18-19, messengers adopted a 2004 budget that is the same as the 2003 budget — $40,427,480. Projected gifts for this year were expected to be below budget, according to Executive Director Rick Lance.
Attendance at this year's convention was one of the lowest in recent years. The 1,093 messengers re-elected all officers without opposition. Joe Godfrey, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pleasant Grove, will serve again as president; Henry Cox, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, as first vice president; and Roger Willmore, pastor of First Baptist Church, Boaz, as second vice president.
Other resolutions included support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, the ban on partial-birth abortions and the liberation of Iraq.
Messengers will meet next at the Montgomery Civic Center Nov. 16 and 17, 2004.
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