Southern Baptists May Leave World Body
By REUTERS

Published: June 14, 2004

CHICAGO, June 13 (Reuters) - A dispute between the Southern Baptist Convention and a global Baptist group may result in a split this week.

At issue is the Southern Baptist Convention's continuing membership in the Baptist World Alliance, an umbrella organization for the faith that it sees as too liberal. The convention's financial support of the world group is also at stake. Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, which is based in Nashville and has 16 million members, are holding their annual meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Indianapolis. They have said the Baptist World Alliance espouses a "liberal theology" that threatens to infect the church in the United States.

The convention's leadership has been dominated since 1979 by conservatives who maintain, among other things, that the Bible as written is without error.

Another issue that may surface this week involves a call for Baptists to boycott United States public schools. A resolution circulated before the meeting says children in public schools are taught that "God is irrelevant" and that a homosexual lifestyle is acceptable. It suggests that home schooling or private religious schools are proper alternatives.

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention say the Baptist World Alliance has taken an increasingly anti-American tone. They have criticized it for supporting gay rights and the ordination of women, and for consorting with "socialist" figures, including President Fidel Castro of Cuba and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

The convention's executive committee approved the move to split from the alliance at a meeting in February, leaving a final decision to delegates at this week's meeting.

The committee's report said the alliance "no longer efficiently communicates to the unsaved a crystal clear gospel message that our Lord Jesus Christ is solely sufficient for salvation."