By Greg Warner
As “values voters” in 11 states sent a political message rejecting same-sex marriage, Baptist conventions in at least seven states offered a resounding “Amen” by adopting resolutions against the practice.
Most of the statements voiced support for constitutional amendments on the state and federal level to define marriage as only the union of a man and a woman.
Supporters say the constitutional amendments are necessary to stop the trend of legalizing gay marriage-which began last fall in Massachusetts and has surfaced in a handful of cities. Opponents say the amendments are unnecessary because of existing federal and state laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, that prohibit gay marriage. But supporters counter that “activist” judges could overturn those laws as unconstitutional, making constitutional amendments the only sure defense against gay marriage.
At annual conventions, most held in mid-November, Baptist messengers in Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and California all spoke out against gay marriage.
Typical of the state convention actions was the resolution passed in Alabama, which affirmed that “biblical and legal marriage is between one man and one woman” and is “the only marriage ordained of God.” The resolution calls for the U.S. Congress and the Alabama legislature to pass constitutional amendments limiting marriage to a man and a woman.
In North Carolina, messengers were presented a proposed statement from their resolutions committee that included the same definition of marriage but did not call for constitutional amendments. Before it was adopted, the resolution was easily amended from the floor to include the need for the constitutional amendments, noting that successful legal challenges could force North Carolina and other states to “accept same sex marriage as the law of the land without any vote of our elected legislators in the U.S. Congress.”
In Arkansas, where legislators have already adopted a constitutional amendment defining marriage, Baptist messengers expressed gratitude for the Arkansas Marriage Amendment and called for a similar amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Messengers to the Florida Baptist Convention went a step further, pledging to work with other like-minded denominations to add gay-marriage bans to the state and federal constitutions. The statement calls for legislation defining marriage “as the union between a man and a woman” and “the God-ordained building block of the family and bedrock of civil society.” Like many other states, Florida already has enacted the Defense of Marriage Act that limits marriage to heterosexual couples.
In Louisiana and Mississippi, Baptist messengers adopted resolutions calling for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment, but in Louisiana another resolution urged Baptists to continue to address the issue of homosexuality from a biblical standpoint. The statement laments that homosexuality is becoming more culturally acceptable, while remaining an “abomination unto God” and “unrighteous.” The resolution calls on pastors to continue “stating very plainly what the Bible teaches about homosexuality.”
In California, the resolutions committee presented only one resolution, a catchall statement dealing with the right to life, family values, purity in marriage between a man and a woman and the raising of children.
This year, as usual, Baptist conventions adopted resolutions addressing a broad range of moral issues, as well as support for hurricane victims and troops in Iraq. The statements carry no power of enforcement, even among the conventions' churches, and are supposed to reflect only the opinions of the messengers present. But resolutions often serve as an indicator of congregational sentiment and thus influence convention policy.
While same-sex marriage clearly was the hottest topic in 2004, an expected debate over the alleged moral failure of public education fizzled.
Several state conventions were expected to act on a resolution denouncing the secular condition of public or “government” schools and urging parents to “remove their children from “godless” and “anti-Christian government schools and see to it they receive a thoroughly Christian education.”
A similar resolution introduced at the Southern Baptist Convention last June was rejected by the SBC resolutions committee, which said the resolution would “usurp” the responsibility of parents to decide how to educate their children.
According to Exodus Mandate, a group advocating a Christian departure from public education, the resolution was to be introduced at 10 state Baptist conventions this fall.
However, none of those conventions approved the resolution as proposed. Some passed watered-down versions. But most declined to abandon public education. In fact, more resolutions affirmed public schools than denounced them.
In the Alabama Baptist State Convention, a resolution affirmed Baptists' support of education, including public schools, and affirmed actions by local churches, associations and individual Christians to partner with schools.”
In South Carolina, messengers voted to “celebrate the diversity” of choices Baptist families are making in regard to their children's education. The resolution called on parents to make “the responsible, intelligent and prayerful choice” of being actively involved “in the academic and spiritual development of children.”
At the Florida Baptist Convention, messengers passed a brief motion asking convention administrators “to find ways to strengthen and support Christian schools and home schooling” among the convention's churches. Because of that action, convention leaders decided it was not necessary to consider the longer resolution condemning public schools and calling all Christians to abandon public education.
Meanwhile, even the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, an alternative pro-SBC convention in Virginia, took no action against public schools. An attempt to add an anti-schools amendment to a resolution on “the secularization of American society” failed to pass.
At the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, another conservative alternative group, messengers resolved to “instruct parents to ensure the godly education of children whether in public schools, private schools, home schools, or through the church's educational program.”
The Missouri Baptist Convention passed a resolution encouraging Baptists to consider the dangers of secularization of public schools.
In several other state conventions, such as Tennessee, the anti-schools resolution was submitted but rejected by the resolutions committees. In some states, such as Illinois, the resolution was not even introduced.
T. C. Pinckney of Virginia, a conservative Southern Baptist who led the unsuccessful effort to pass the anti-schools resolution at the SBC in June, said he was not disappointed in the lack of action in the state conventions. Pinckney said he did not expect many conventions to pass “strong, unambiguous” statements for Christian education this year.
“My judgment is that such a major change in the way we think about education and the assumptions under which we proceed regarding educating our children will take a long time-years-to complete,” he told Associated Baptist Press in an email interview.
“To the extent that the state resolutions cause people to think about the issue, we have made progress,” he said.
Associated Baptist Press
Greg Warner is executive editor of ABP.