A Suggestion

If the Southern Baptist Convention would like to make it clear that it, as a body, loves sinners even though it hates sin, it should vote against any resolution that might seem to condone the beating-up of gay people. Some members of the SBC are opposed to school anti-bullying programs because such programs work against the condemnation of gays.

We at the Blasphemy Blog do not expect the Southern Baptist Convention, which of course is very big on defined gender roles, to stop condemning homosexuality. But, there is a line here, and the line is the line between hateful speech and hateful action. If the SBC chooses to criticize anti-bullying education in schools on the grounds that it is part of some gay agenda, it's going to seem like the organization wants to make sure bullying is a tool available for those who wish to fight said gay agenda.

We know for a fact that there are many Southern Baptists who have no real problem with their gay neighbors. We also know that there are many Southern Baptists who do have a problem with their gay neighbors, but who consider it up to those same neighbors to answer to God for their proscribed homosexual behavior. These Southern Baptists could do a lot of good by pushing the SBC to say, unequivocally, that bullying is wrong.

Presumably, the ministers offering this resolution don't mean that they would actually approve of gay kids getting beaten up. That would be completely unChristian. Presumably, the ministers object to the collateral implication, in anti-bullying education, that homosexuality is legitimate and normal. All it would take for the anti-bullying education to be okay in the ministers' books, in other words, would be for the programs to teach that, even though gay people are deviant sinners, it's still wrong to beat them up.

So, why don't they just say that, instead of roundly condemning all attempts to prevent bullying? Are we missing something? It's not like the SBC actually thinks bullying is a good idea, is it?

Right?