RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) — A Rocky Mount pastor has filed a formal complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General charging the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina with violating its constitution by expelling a church over the issue of homosexuality.
In a filing dated Feb. 9, Gene Scarborough, pastor of North Rocky Mount Baptist Church, asked the consumer protection department of the state Attorney General's office to render an opinion as to whether the BSC acted in violation of its constitution by calling on a subsidiary financial policy to exclude McGill Baptist Church in Concord from its membership.
Jim Royston, executive director of the North Carolina convention, ordered the church removed from convention rolls last spring after the Cabarrus Baptist Association withdrew fellowship from the church, which came under fire for baptizing two men believed to be gay.
Steve Ayers, pastor of the McGill Church, said at the time he does not customarily ask new believers to specify their sexual orientation before baptizing them, and insisted that the decision was a local-church issue.
Royston's decision was based on a policy adopted by the convention's General Board in April 1992. That policy was designed to allow the exclusion of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, which had performed a union ceremony for a homosexual couple, and Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, which had licensed a gay man to the ministry.
At that time, the General Board adopted a policy refusing to accept financial contributions “from any church which knowingly takes, or has taken, any official action which manifests public approval, promotion or blessing of homosexuality.
Scarborough insists the 1992 policy not only violates local-church autonomy but stands in conflict with the convention's constitution.
The convention's use of the financial policy to exclude McGill Baptist Church deprived the church “of its autonomy and representation at the annual meeting,” Scarborough wrote in his complaint. Scarborough's complaint also alleges that the General Board's establishment of the policy goes beyond the bounds of the constitution and thus exceeds its authority.
Royston said he is “disappointed” Scarborough filed the complaint. “I believe we have acted in accordance with our constitution and policies as directed by the General Board earlier [1992] and reaffirmed by the General Board September 2003,” Royston told the Biblical Recorder. “I do not understand the need to continue discussion of the issue and believe the Attorney General will not find any reason to question the actions or governance of the BSC. I have a high regard for Rev. Scarborough and his concern, but believe it is time to move on.”
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