Baptists asks churches to investigate homosexual acceptance in schools

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Houston lawyer who called on Southern Baptists to remove their children from “godless” public schools last year is now asking churches to investigate whether schools are promoting acceptance of homosexuality.

Bruce Shortt’s resolution was voted down last year, but he is proposing another to be considered at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville next month.

The resolution says schools promote acceptance of gays through officially sanctioned gay clubs, diversity training, anti-bullying courses, safe sex and safe schools programs.

It says that if churches find that public schools are teaching acceptance of homosexuality, parents should remove their children and either home-school them or enroll them in Christian schools.

The resolution was co-written by the Rev. Voddie Baucham Jr., a Christian speaker and writer from the Houston suburb of Spring.

“We need to raise the awareness that there is an aggressive effort to teach our children acceptance of homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle,” Baucham said.

The proposal has been submitted to a committee that will decide whether to present it to the whole convention.

With more than 16 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.

The Shortt and Baucham resolution also says the nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, is pressuring state legislatures to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

NEA spokeswoman Melinda Anderson responded: “It really baffles me how a caring parent could find fault with public schools for trying to teach children to be respectful of others.”

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On the Net:

http://www.sbc.net

http://www.voddiebaucham.org