Monday, May 9, 2005

Well, so much for the Southern Baptists "reaching out" to homosexuals.

In order to make Christian parents and pastors more aware of the "aggressive homosexual activism" being sponsored by many public schools, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., a prominent Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, and Bruce N. Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 Christian Education Resolution and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, have submitted a resolution addressing homosexuality and the public schools for consideration at the SBC's 2005 Annual Meeting.

The resolution encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has either a homosexual club or any curriculum or program that attempts to influence children to "accept homosexual behavior as a legitimate lifestyle." If the school district has any of these, the resolution urges churches to inform parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the district's schools immediately.

The Baucham-Shortt resolution:

1. Urges Baptists to pray for the salvation of homosexuals and their deliverance from their same-sex attraction.
2. Rebukes homosexual activists for slandering minorities by claiming that homosexual behavior has any authentic connection with the civil rights movement.
3. Encourages every Baptist church to investigate diligently whether the school district in which the church is located has either one or more homosexual clubs or curricula or programs in any of their schools that present homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.
4. Recommends that every Baptist church located in a school district with either (1) curricula or programs that treat homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle or (2) one or more homosexual clubs inform the parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the school district’s schools immediately.
5. Encourages all churches to work vigorously, both individually and in collaboration with other churches, to provide or generously support (1) Christian schools, (2) homeschooling, and (3) alternative models for providing Christian education such as University Model Schools and Christian One Room Schoolhouses, giving particular regard to the needs of children from low income and single parent families.

You can read the full text of the resolution at www.exodusmandate.org.

Among other things, it cites Leviticus 18:22, 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Romans 1:24-32, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, some of the traditional "clobber passages," as evidence the Bible clearly teaches that homosexual behavior is sin.

It also makes the claim that "homosexual activists have attempted to hijack the language of the civil rights movement by falsely claiming that disapproval of homosexual behavior is the equivalent of racial prejudice."

Well... yeah, I kinda do believe that homophobia and racial prejudice are pretty much the same thing.

They also make the claim that "any school district that recognizes homosexual clubs or treats homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle is a clear and present danger to all of its children and is violating the community’s trust."

I only wish they'd had such clubs in my day. It may have saved me a few suicide attempts. I fail to see the danger in telling kids such as I was that they are not crazy or deviant, just different.

And I certainly can't see the danger in telling the other kids not to pick on them.

You know, just when I'm starting to feel good about getting back to church, something like this comes along to remind me why I left in the first place.

Dear God, save me from your followers!