Baptists to consider conflicting resolutions on public schools
The Rev. Jim West of First Baptist Church in Petros, a small town about 30 miles west of Knoxville, introduced the latest, pro-public school resolution.
West’s proposal comes in response to a resolution co-authored by conservative Baptist leader T.C. Pinckney that calls public schools “godless” and “anti-Christian” and recommends parents remove their children.
The resolution, co-authored by Texas attorney Bruce Shortt, urges parents to homeschool or send their kids to Christian schools.
Both proposals have been submitted to the convention’s 10-member Resolutions Committee, which will decide whether to present them for a vote when the convention meets June 15-16 in Indianapolis.
West said he offered his resolution because the Pinckney-Shortt measure represents a minority view and gives the wrong impression of Baptists.
He said his wife is a public school teacher, as are several members of his church, and they view the earlier resolution as “silly and unfortunate because it gives the world at large this notion that Baptist people are anti-culture.”
“That’s just not the case,” West said. “We’re supposed to minister to the world, not be afraid of it.”
With 16.3 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s second-largest denomination. Resolutions approved by the convention are nonbinding, and all member churches are autonomous in their ministries.
Many resolutions submitted to the Resolutions Committee are not presented to the convention for a vote.
In some years, the committee receives more than 30 proposals, and it typically presents only eight to 10, officials say. Last year, the committee presented eight, and the convention approved all eight.
A resolution that fails to make it out of the committee can be brought up for a convention vote if two-thirds of the “messengers,” or qualified members, agree to consider it.
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