AIDS ministry resource questioned
The Southern Baptists currently use an AIDS resource with a radical definition of sexuality
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, January/February, 2001.

Recently, the Southern Baptist revised its statement of belief, The Baptist Faith and Message, and a river of controversy began to flow.  Not only did the organization utilize terms such as “submission,” it also defined the family as “composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption.”  Through the definition of family, the Southern Baptists made their stance on homosexuality clear.

When the theological pendulum swung to the right, a group called Cooperative Baptist Fellowship broke away from the fold. Despite great differences on the matter of homosexuality, the CBF still holds a primary role in the church’s view of sexuality.  This realm of influence exists through its literature, which is broadly distributed throughout the denomination.

Their main pamphlet HIV/AIDS Ministry: Putting A Face On AIDS is considered a major tool for churches establishing a ministry geared toward AIDS patients.  However, a close evaluation would show that it does more than attempt to minister; it utilizes the banner of AIDS to suggest a radical sexual orientation agenda.  It states that “The church needs to be a place where sexual identity and orientation can be discussed, developed, and fostered.”  The CBF resource packet also states, “No longer is family defined as a mother, father, son, daughter, a dog, and a station wagon . . . Family may be defined as a basic, primary group of caring relationships within intimate boundaries.”  This “caring group”  which are said to hold enduring covenants may include “couples who have no intent of marrying, and gay or lesbian couples.

Not only does the publication redefine family but it holds that “[no] one sexual orientation is more correct, although heterosexual orientation is by far the norm in our society.”  Southern Baptists would argue that heterosexual orientation is not merely the “norm in our society,” but the norm in God’s design for family and sexuality.

Theologically liberal, moderate, and conservative Baptists are all organized under the CBF to spread the gospel, but now many Southern Baptists are wondering if the “big tent” has allowed tolerance to replace the real gospel message of love.

Click here for a later correction on this article.
 
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst