JACKSON, Tenn.â€â€Some conservative Baptists, thwarted in an attempt to have more say in the Tennessee Baptist Convention, are rethinking their financial support of the state body.
According to The (Nashville) Tennessean, a motion to revisit qualifications for serving on the Committee on Committees and the Committee of Boards was narrowly defeated 426-420. The measure was meant to limit the number of people perceived as liberals who could serve on the boards.
"It's going to cause many of us to rethink the way we support state mission giving," said the Rev. Glenn Denton, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Lebanon.
Denton said it is clear that some churches already are redirecting their financial support. The convention approved a $35.5 million budget, down more than $1 million from last year.
One of the key issues is a perceived liberal slant in the religion departments of Belmont and Carson-Newman universities, schools supported by the convention, the newspaper reported.
Many conservatives worry the two important committees are too closely associated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a moderate group that differs from the more conservative Southern Baptist Convention on such issues as the inerrancy of Scripture and the ordination of women, and has a less-conservative stance toward homosexuality.
The committees are key in appointments to every other major committee and board in the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
