Texas Baptists Pass Resolution on Religious Liberty and the Faith-Based Initiative

November 17, 2009

Here’s the text of the resolution titled On Religious Liberty and Faith-Based Initiatives which was passed earlier today at the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Whereas support for religious liberty through separation of church and state is an historic Baptist distinctive; and

Whereas government funding of church-based social ministries through the Faith-Based Initiatives program has in some cases resulted in direct government support of distinctively religious activities in violation of the principle of church-state separation; and

Whereas government funding of churches and their ministries leads to government control;

Be it therefore resolved that Texas Baptists renew our understanding of and commitment to religious liberty through separation of church and state; and

Be it further resolved that if churches participate in Faith-Based Initiatives, they be encouraged to do so through the creation of separation of separate 501(c)(3) organizations to receive government funding; and

Be it finally resolved that in all of our church ministries, we affirm constitutional protections for religious liberty and the autonomy of religious organizations.

I appreciate the sentiment behind this resolution. We certainly don’t need government funding of religion.

I’m a little worried though that in Baptist life the phrase “separation of church and state” has been rendered more or less meaningless. The phrase is routinely championed but rarely is it defined. Obviously, different people have defined the phrase differently throughout the years. We should be careful to give more definition to this often misused phrase.