Amid all the headlines about the Southern Baptist Convention’s stance against women in ministry last week, other actions that would have made headlines in a normal year fell from view. Two such actions came in the form of resolutions among the nine adopted by messengers as nonbinding statements of belief.
One of those is believed to be the first statement from a religious convention or denomination on the development and use of artificial intelligence.
In short, the SBC in its 700-word resolution on AI calls for ethical use of the emerging technology while declaring “God’s unchanging word is more than sufficient for whatever ethical challenges, questions and opportunities we may face today or in the future.”
While not threatened by computer technology, SBC messengers did express alarm over medical advances in understanding gender identity.
A resolution on “opposing gender transitions” says God “created humans in his own image as distinctly male and female” and claims the Bible “teaches that the differences between men and women are complementary, determined at conception, immutable, rooted in God’s design, and most clearly revealed in bodily differences … not in self-defined and ultimately false notions of ‘gender identity.’”
Such language mirrors the talking points of Republican politicians and evangelical advocacy groups that have been pushing anti-transgender legislation in state legislatures. Despite advances in medical understanding of gender dysphoria and the testimonies of millions of transgender people, political and social conservatives claim transgender people are merely “confused” or “sinful.”
The SBC resolution also appeals to a theological framework known as complementarianism.
The SBC resolution also appeals to a theological framework known as complementarianism, which teaches God created men and women for different roles in church and home, with men as leaders. This same framework undergirds the SBC’s strident position against women as pastors and church leaders.
The “gift of gender” is “part of the goodness of God’s creation,” the resolution says. “God’s holy and good design for two distinct and complementary sexes is rooted in the created order, and it serves as the foundation for all societal cooperation and structures.”
Like the dozens of anti-trans bills introduced in state legislatures this year, the SBC resolution warns about “culture change,” “the promotion of gender ideology,” “social pressures,” and “medical interventions” that are “spiritually destructive but also render otherwise healthy children sterile for life, impairing or destroying their fertility, reproductive organs, capacity for sexual pleasure, and at times causing lifelong medical dependency as well as unknown long-term consequences.”
It also laments “experiments on vulnerable minors and young adults” and a disregard for “parental rights.”
Pediatricians and other medical personnel who treat transgender children and youth have debunked the assertions that children are being mutilated or harmed by irreversible treatments, yet this talking point remains common in conservative circles.
The SBC resolution warns that “vulnerable children and teens are targets for psychosocial messaging and claims from the medical community that induce and even coerce their participation in escalating, increasingly harmful ‘transition’ interventions.”
The statement labels “gender transition” as “a futile quest to change one’s sex and as a direct assault on God’s created order.”
Among seven “resolved” declarations of this resolution, SBC messengers said they “condemn and oppose ‘gender-affirming care’ and all forms of ‘gender transition’ interventions.”
The statement labels “gender transition” as “a futile quest to change one’s sex and as a direct assault on God’s created order.”
And in a direct appeal to individual Southern Baptists, the resolution calls on anyone “performing or actively supporting ‘gender transition’ interventions to immediately repent and refrain.”
Finally, in language similar to previous resolutions against abortion, the SBC statement offers “the love of Christ, who can save anyone who would call on his name,” even if they are “experiencing identity or body-related distress and/or are currently undergoing or have undergone ‘gender transition’ interventions.”
Other resolutions adopted at the 2023 SBC meeting dealt with revitalizing and replanting churches, supporting pastors and ministry leaders, supporting legal immigration, the role of women in supporting the Great Commission in ways other than preaching, on the “dignity and worth” of women, on men as the only qualified leaders of the church, on the lordship of Christ, and on gratitude to the host city of New Orleans.
Another two dozen resolutions were proposed by messengers but not acted on by the Resolutions Committee.
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