Declining Southern Baptists Double Down on Homophobia

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/candacechellew-hodge/7929/declining_southern_baptists_double_down_on_homophobia/

Candace Chellew-Hodge
June 9, 2014 10:50am

Despite declining membership and growing acceptance of same-sex marriage around the country, the Southern Baptist Convention is getting ready to double down on its anti-gay message. As an added bonus, their condemnation has gone all inclusive as they take special aim at the transgender community, who, up until now, had been largely ignored by the conservative Protestant denomination.

As members gather this week in Baltimore, Md., for their annual meeting, Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has already fired the opening salvo, condemning New Hart Community Church near Los Angeles for changing its anti-gay stance after pastor (a word the Christian news puts in scare quotes) Danny Cortez's 15-year-old-son came out as gay. Instead of condemning his gay son and casting him out from the church and his family (which I suppose the SBC would have seen as the Christ-like thing to do), Cortez loved and accepted his son.

Mohler was further enraged by the church's move to, y'know, love and accept their pastor (or "pastor," as they write) and let him keep his job. The church has declared itself a "Third Way" congregation - open to LGBT people but not declaring itself either liberal or conservative.

On his blog, Mohler opined: "[T]he Convention's constitution states explicitly that any congregation that endorses homosexual behavior is 'not in cooperation with the Convention,' and thus excluded from its membership. [ ... ] there is no middle ground, and no 'third way.'"

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