Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130419
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
Two motions that would have derailed plans by the executive committee to drastically reduce funding for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs were defeated Tuesday morning.
The substitute plans challenged the proposal to cut funding to the committee by almost 90 percent and transfer that money to the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission, which now will become the denomination's primary lobbying group as well as the official voice of the denomination on moral issues.
Funding for the joint committee will be reduced from almost $400,000 to $50,000 if the budget receives final approval today. The joint committee represents nine Baptist denominations on religious-liberty issues in Washington.
It has been the object of numerous attacks by the ultraconservative faction of the convention for being too liberal and not reflecting the desires of the majority of Southern Baptists.
The joint committee's president, James Dunn, was singled out for criticism as well in the executive committee's explanation of its recommendation.
Dunn was at one time on the board of directors of People for the American Way, a Norman Lear-led group that has opposed some fundamentalist Christian groups. The Lear group is widely held in disrepute by a broad spectrum of Southern Baptists who feel it opposes the values they hold.
The general counsel for the joint committee, Oliver Thomas, charged in an interview that convention President Jerry Vines had deliberately obscured the issue for those voting at the convention by not allowing publication of a rebuttal of some of the charges against the committee.
The status of the joint committee has been a sore spot in several state associations of Southern Baptists which have supported the committee.
The Baptist General Association of Virginia, for instance, sent a formal declaration to the Southern Baptist Convention declaring its support of the joint committee and its work.
In other business Tuesday, the convention received its first flurry of resolutions and motions, most of which will be considered today and Thursday.
They ranged from the conduct of those attending the convention, to repentence and reconciliation for past and present racism, to protests against the Prudential Insurance Co.'s support of Planned Parenthood.
The convention will continue today with reports from numerous denominational agencies. There also will be a meeting of the Southern Baptist evangelists' group this afternoon that will conclude with evangelizing on the streets of the French Quarter.
by CNB