"Moderate" Baptists To Gays: Don't Call Us, We'll Call You (or not)

While anti-gay sentiments in the Baptist Church are not necessarily newsworthy...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) -- The organization sponsoring an upcoming historic pan-Baptist gathering has told two gay-friendly Baptist groups they cannot participate in an official capacity.

The North American Baptist Fellowship, under whose auspices next year’s “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” is being held, has informed the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America that they cannot join NABF. Therefore, they cannot be official participants in the event.

...Listen to this patronizing statement by the North American Baptist Fellowship:

“This is not a rejection of either organization or the people in those organization[s],” wrote Alan Stanford, general secretary of the NABF, in a July 18 e-mail alerting leaders of the two groups to NABF’s decision. “[I]t is a recognition that we can not hold together the large coalition of Baptists needed to create a new Baptist voice in North America and address the issue of sexual orientation at the same time. We ask for your forbearance and understanding.”

This statement clearly shows that the organizers of this "Celebration" think that gay-friendly Baptists would have nothing to contribute to the stated goals of the event, or would usurp the discussion with topics of their own. All the leaders of the event would have to do is limit discussions to the Fellowship's 'socially imperative' topics. If they mean what they suggest, that is gay-friendly Baptists would only talk about gay issues, then they admit their own incompetence in being unable to control the discussion. Or, they admit that the very presence of gays or gay supporters would offend the other participants.

When the first sentence of the explanation is a disclaimer (“This is not a rejection of either organization or the people in those organization[s],”), it gets me wondering if the writer is actually denying his own true motives. Such is the case many times when it comes to say, passing gas. "He who first smelt it, dealt it." Right? I suppose there is room for speculation there.

In any case, this policy is a real stinker. I'm really disappointed that Presidents Carter and Clinton are involved in this - Bill Clinton especially. He holds little to no allegiance to those who supported him. As for these North American Baptists, their seemingly worthy agenda comes with a particularly offensive odor: That is, you can't effectively address society's problems from a prejudiced standpoint.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.abpnews.com/2675.article

(Hat tip to BoxTurtleBulletin)