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 at their Convention via Satellite Is Asked to Repudiate Conventioneers' Latest Hate Diatribes PFAW Deplores Sect's Fundamentalist Seizure in the 1980s |
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Compiled by GayToday People for the American Way Foundation
"At a time when President Bush has called Americans to unity, he should not be embracing leaders whose message is grounded in sowing division." President Bush told convention delegates: "Baptists have had an extraordinary influence on American history. They were among the earliest champions of religious tolerance and freedom. Baptists have long upheld the ideal of a free church in a free state. And from the beginning, they believed that forcing a person to worship against his will violated the principles of both Christianity and civility." Neas said that while it is true that for many years Southern Baptists were among the strongest proponents of church-state separation and individual conscience in matters of religion, since the fundamentalist takeover of the denomination in the 1980s, it has been a far different story. "Unfortunately, President Bush wasn't present to hear Southern Baptist leaders' own take on religious pluralism and civility," Neas said. The night before President Bush lavished praise on the SBC, the Rev. Jerry Vines, a former president of the SBC, told several thousand convention delegates that many of this country's problems could be blamed on "religious pluralism," according to news accounts. In addition, Vines harshly criticized Islam:
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