
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 13, 1995                   TAG: 9504130068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7 NATL/INTL   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.                                LENGTH: Short

CHURCH 'ACCIDENTALLY' BAPTIZES JEWISH BOY

A Jewish mother just wanted her two children to come back with an appreciation for another religion. Instead, one came back ``accidentally'' baptized, she says.

Audrey Ausgotharp said she specifically told Cornerstone Baptist Church members who invited her children to Sunday school that she didn't want them baptized - especially since she was aware of a lawsuit against the church alleging that children were coerced into disrobing and then being baptized.

``They said, `OK, that's fine, we won't,''' she said.

Ausgotharp signed a permission slip allowing her children, Wayne, 7, and Cindy, 5, to visit the church.

Later, two women from the church who accompanied her children home said Wayne had been baptized ``by mistake,'' she said. ``I was so furious and hurt I couldn't say anything.''

Cornerstone Assistant Pastor Mark Rossi said church officials are investigating her allegations.

- Associated Press

by CNB