Southern Baptists Approve Resolution Denouncing the Boy Scouts Policy Allowing Gay Scouts

The Southern Baptist Convention blasted the Boy Scouts in a resolution approved by its members on Wednesday, the AP reports:

The resolution was voted on by members at the denomination's annual meeting in Houston. It also calls on the Boy Scouts to remove executive and board leaders who tried to allow gays as both members and leaders without consulting the many religious groups that sponsor Scout troops.

While the resolution does not recommend that Southern Baptists drop ties with the Scouts, it expresses support for those churches and families that decide to do so. It also encourages churches and families who choose to remain with the Scouts to work toward reversing the new membership policy.

More from the Baptist Press:

Opening Scouting to openly homosexual youth "has the potential to complicate basic understandings of male friendships, needlessly politicize human sexuality, and heighten sexual tensions within the Boy Scouts," the proposed resolution states.

The Southern Baptist Convention's statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, meanwhile, states that "Christians should oppose ... all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography." Southern Baptists "consistently have expressed their opposition to the normalization of homosexual behavior in American culture through more than a dozen resolutions over the past thirty years," the proposed resolution states.

The proposed resolution states that Southern Baptists "declare our love in Christ for all young people regardless of their perceived sexual orientation, praying that God will bring all youth into a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Anderson Cooper Confronts Baptist Leader Over Remarks Linking North Korean Threats to Gay Rights: VIDEO

On Moday I posted about Fred Luter, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, who said there is probably a connection between Kim Jong-un's sabre-rattling against the United States and the Supreme Court's consideration of marriage equality and the debate over gays in the Boy Scouts.

Said Luter:

“I’m not that strong in prophecy but I would not be surprised that there’s not a connection there simply because of the fact we’ve seen it happen in scripture before. I would not be surprised that at the time when we are debating same-sex marriage, at a time when we are debating whether or not we should have gays leading the Boy Scout movement, I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that we have a mad man in Asia who is saying some of the things that he’s saying.”

Anderson Cooper wanted to ask him if he stood by those remarks. Luter, of course, won't take responsibility for them.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

'Baptist Press' Worried Souls Won't Be Saved During Pride Month

The Baptist Press is the journalisic organ of the Southern Baptist Convention, and its staff is not pleased that June is LGBT Pride Month. In particular, they're distressed that the president's declaration of June as Pride Month makes it more difficult to minister to those who wish to be un-gayed. At least that's what's bugging Bob Stith, the only person directly quoted in the Press's article on the subject. Stith is the "the Southern Baptist national strategist for gender issues and the representative of the denomination's Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals," and here's what he's got to say:

"The president calls for freedom, fairness and full equality under the law and eliminating prejudice everywhere it exists. This would be much more believable if he extended that concern to those who seek to leave homosexuality," Stith added. "The task of helping those who do not want to live homosexually grows more difficult each time this kind of proclamation comes out."

It's difficult to imagine how Obama's Pride Month proclamation makes it more difficult for Stith's co-religionists to minister to gayfolk, and Stith doesn't bother to explain. In the absence of details, it might be safe to assume that what Stith really means is that proclamations like Obama's make young, impressionable gayfolk less receptive to Stith's message, and that's a different thing altogether. That Stith would conflate the two strikes this writer as creepy.

Elsewhere in the Baptist Press's article, one finds some enlightening explanation of confounding gay lingo:

Transgender is a category that includes cross-dressers and people undergoing sex-change operations. Gender identity is a term that refers to men and women who believe they were born the wrong sex.

Good to know.

Dallas Pastor Frederick Haynes Rips His Congregation for Opposing Gay Marriage: VIDEO

Here's our must-watch video of the day.

Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III of the Friendship-West Baptist Church blasted fellow pastors and members of his congregation for their outrage at President Obama's endorsement of marriage equality while the congregation stood up and shouted their disapproval at him.

Yelled Haynes:

"You should have seen preachers just scurrying and hurrying to call a conference call to call out the President for what he had declared as a personal opinion. He said it was a personal opinion. But whatever you like to ostracize other people it's because there's a fear that you have yourself, and the fear that you have finds itself rooted in an ignorance of other people. Or in a projection of your issues. Either there's ignorance or there is a projection of your issues...It really blows my mind how outraged you are. You are so outraged over what the President said. First of all, take a chill pill. Take a deep breath, everything's gonna be all right."

Haynes added:

"Have you ever read the Gospel and heard Jesus say anything about homosexuality?...Black folk can't even deal with homosexuality because we got issues with sexuality. And because we got issues with sexuality we can't have a healthy discussion about homosexuality. Why, why do you get so upset?"

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

President Obama's Full Address At The White House Correspondents' Dinner, 2012: VIDEO

... from C-SPAN's live broadcast last night. It's mostly hilarious. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

(If you can't sit through all 18 minutes of the thing, wait a sec. I'll post highlights in a minute.)

NC Baptist Leader Hopes That Marriage Will Be Kept Away from Gay 'Sinners' in a 'Civil' Manner

Rev. Mark Harris, leader of North Carolina's Baptist Church, says he wants a "civil" debate on marriage, the Charlotte Observer reports:

"Over the next several months, I am going to stress that this is an opportunity for the church to celebrate marriage and its biblical foundation - rather than talking about something we're against," he said.

"From a biblical position, all I can do is state my position: I believe that homosexuality is a sin ... That said, I don't believe that that position is at the heart of this amendment. If homosexuals choose to maintain a relationship and live together, that's their business. I don't believe people should be discriminated against."

Same-sex marriages, he said, aren't good for children. "I just believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ideal," he said. "It is such a unique union, and it is absolutely essential to the future of humanity."

Harris was elected to lead the North Carolina chapter in November.