Texas Approves Split From Southern Baptists

C O R P U S  C H R I S T I,  Texas, Oct. 30 -- Texas’ 2.7 million Baptists dealt asevere blow to the Southern Baptist Convention today,withdrawing $5 million in funding on grounds thedenomination is becoming too conservative.

After a brief, civil debate, the 6,000 representatives of theTexas Baptists approved the move by a sizable majority by holdingup voting cards.

The vote is considered a watershed by both sides in thedoctrinal conflict that has long roiled the nation’s largestProtestant denomination, with 15.8 million members.

Texas accounts for 17 percent of the members and 13 percent ofthe money that supports Southern Baptist Convention programs.

“Texas Baptists are at a crossroads,” Kenneth Camp, the state convention’s news director, said Sunday. “This meeting is thedecisive turning point for the next century.”

Rebelling Against Rigid CreedEarlier this month, former President Carter severed ties to theSouthern Baptist Convention because of its “increasingly rigid”creed.

In recent years, the Southern Baptists have barred womenpastors, declared that wives should “submit graciously” to theirhusbands, boycotted Disney and issued resolutions condemninghomosexuality.

In recent years, many moderate congregations have broken awayfrom the Southern Baptist Convention because of its shift to theright.

Today, the Texans voted to cut the amount of money they giveto Southern Baptist seminaries by about 80 percent next year andsend the $4 million instead to three moderate campuses in Texas.Also, the Texans virtually cut off support for the denomination’sheadquarters in Nashville, Tenn., and its social-issues agency — acut amounting to $1 million.

‘Baptists Want Your Money, Not You’The Texans will still send some $19 million to the denomination,mostly for missionary work in the United States and abroad.

At issue: How strictly to interpret the Bible.

The Rev. Bob Campbell of Houston charged that professors at theSouthern Baptist seminaries are being required to uphold thedenomination’s increasingly conservative doctrinal platform.