A few pieces of news that haven’t received much coverage:
After spending some time in the Fort Hood area holding up “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” signs, a few members of anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church dropped by the Texas Baptist-affiliated Baylor University campus for a quick 20-minute protest. Read about that uneventful protest here. Baylor sociologist Christopher Bader who has spent time with the Westboro clan as part of his research has a few interesting insights about the hate-mongering congregation. Who da thunk that the Westboro teens would be into Twilight novels?!?
Another Baylor bit of news: Baylor Democrats recently called for “free and open discussion of gay rights on campus.” Here’s what Baylor Democrats want:
“For the free and open discussion of gay rights, we want just to be able to talk about it (and) have a group that supports it and (does) not fear any repercussions.”
Apparently, at least according to this student, Baylor Dems would like to see the Baylor Administration allow a pro-gay rights student organization on campus.
Not surprisingly, the Baylor Dems announcement has sparked a little bit of controversy on campus or at least in the pages of the student newspaper. See this Letter to the Editor. Two responses to this Letter were published here and here
Back in 2005, the presence of Gay-Straight Alliance organization on the campus of Baptist-affiliated Mercer University in Macon, Georgia ultimately gave the Georgia Baptist Convention the opportunity to sever its 172-year relationship with the university. An overview of the rocky relationship between Gays and Baptist Higher Education can be found in this article.
In a final bit of related news, messengers to the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas passed a resolution titled On Sexual Ethics. This resolution reaffirmed the commitment of previous resolutions which declared that the “homosexual lifestyle is not normal or acceptable in God’s sight and is indeed called sin.” According to the Associated Baptist Press, a motion was made to postpone indefinitely a vote on this particular resolution. However, that motion obviously failed. The text of On Sexual Ethics is below:
Whereas the resolution of sexual values adopted by the 1992 annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas upheld a biblically grounded “sexual ethic of fidelity in marriage and abstinence outside of marriage”; and
Whereas the 2005 annual meeting reaffirmed this resolution because “society continues to be plagued by sexual values and practices which are both harmful to humanity and unfaithful to God”; and
Whereas the 1996 annual meeting adopted a report stating the “Bible teaches that the ideal for sexual behavior is the marital union between sexual relations — whether premarital, extramarital, or homosexual — are contrary to God’s purposes and thus sinful”; and
Whereas the 1982 annual meeting adopted a resolution stating that “homosexual lifestyle is not normal or acceptable in God’s sight and is indeed called sin”;
Be it therefore resolved that we maintain the consistent position of past convention statements and actions which affirm the biblical sexual ethic of fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, and also affirm the biblical image of marriage as the union before God between a man and a woman (Genesis 1:24); and
Be it further resolved with the 1992 resolution that we “encourage all persons to uphold a lifestyle of biblical sexual values” and “affirm that the gospel provides forgiveness and restoration for all persons through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ”; and
Be if finally resolved with the 1998 Executive Board statement that “churches should seek to minister to all persons” and that “the love of God embraces all persons and instructs all Christians to share God’s love with others.”
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