[PAA-Discuss] New US church leader says homosexuality no sin

[Sarah Gonzales]

Yah.... b/t Tom Monoghan (Dominoes pizza founder) building an  
orthodox, Catholic only community and the Baptist's attempt in mass  
to push a policy for removing their children from the public school  
systems in order to be "faithful" to their order, it's quite  
disturbing actually.

This is an issue we'll have to watch very carefully- this is the tool  
they will use to push school vouchers and eventually end up with you  
and I paying for these folks to send their kids to private and  
religious schools.

pretty scary stuff. John & I were just watching a documentary on the  
rise and fall of the Roman empire, fascinating history. Bottom line  
is that during periods of tolerance, both religious and political,  
the Roman empire flourished, during periods of fascism and control,  
they suffered. History is fascinating, too bad the leaders of our  
country don't seem to be able to learn from it.

Southern Baptists Refuse to Back Pullout
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/ 
AR2006061400823.html
By TIM WHITMIRE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 14, 2006; 8:50 PM

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- There will be no Southern Baptist exodus from the  
nation's public schools _ at least for now.

Leaders of the nation's largest Protestant denomination Wednesday  
refused to support a resolution that would have urged the  
denomination to form an "exit strategy" for pulling Southern Baptist  
children from public schools in favor of home schools or private  
Christian schools.

The proposal, offered by Roger Moran of Troy, Mo., and Texas author  
Bruce Shortt, came as many of the nation's 16.2 million Southern  
Baptists are concerned about how classrooms are handling subjects  
such as homosexuality and "intelligent design."

Instead of putting the exit strategy before delegates to the SBC's  
annual meeting, the denomination's resolutions committee called on  
members to "engage the culture of our public school systems" by  
exerting "godly influence," including standing for election to local  
school boards.

Those ideas were part of a more moderate resolution titled "On  
Engaging the Direction of the Public School System" that was  
overwhelmingly approved Wednesday at the final session of the  
meeting. Delegates also approved a resolution urging school districts  
to accommodate parents and churches wishing to provide off-campus  
biblical instruction during the school day.

Moran called the two resolutions "a good start" and "one more sign  
we're moving in the right direction."

The public schools issue has been simmering for several years. A  
resolution similar to the one offered by Moran and Shortt failed to  
pass two years ago. Delegates at last year's annual meeting approved  
a resolution urging parents and churches to "to exercise their rights  
to investigate diligently the curricula, textbooks, and programs in  
our community schools."

"We are commanded biblically to train our children in the nurture of  
the Lord," said Moran, who sits on the SBC's executive committee.  
"The public schools are no longer allowed ... to even acknowledge the  
God of the Bible."

Moran, who owns a company that makes construction supplies, is a  
father of nine children, ages 18 months to 18 years. All have been  
home-schooled or attended Christian schools, he said.

The proposal from Moran and Shortt, author of "The Harsh Truth About  
Public Schools," complained that curricula teaching "the homosexual  
lifestyle is acceptable" are being implemented in public schools. It  
also criticized a federal court ruling last year that banned a  
Pennsylvania school system's classroom mention of "intelligent  
design" _ the notion that life is so complex it must have been  
created by a higher intelligence.

The resolution approved by the SBC committee refers to the  
Pennsylvania decision, but also goes out of its way to "affirm the  
hundreds of thousands of Christian men and women who teach in our  
public schools."

But Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for  
Ethics in Nashville, Tenn., and a frequent critic of the SBC  
leadership, said the compromise resolution "reinforces the negative  
attitudes that Southern Baptists have about public schools."

"A few words don't whitewash the leadership's agenda," he said,  
explaining that Baptist leaders often send their children to  
Christian academies or home-school them, and support "an anti-public  
school perspective."

Also Wednesday, the SBC unofficially barred members who drink alcohol  
from serving as trustees or members of any SBC entity.

The ban, part of a larger anti-alcohol resolution that was easily  
approved by delegates, was proposed by Jim Richards, executive  
director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. While stopping  
short of officially preventing drinkers from serving, it "urges" that  
no one be elected or appointed to SBC offices if that person is "a  
user of alcohol."

"Use of alcohol as a beverage can and does impede the message of  
Jesus Christ" that Southern Baptists are trying to spread, Richards  
said.

___

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