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May 31st, 2013
04:19 PM ET
Baptists plan exodus from Boy ScoutsBy Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - For Southern Baptist pastor Tim Reed, it was Scripture versus the Scouts. “God’s word explicitly says homosexuality is a choice, a sin,” said Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church of Gravel Ridge in Jacksonville, Arkansas. So when the Boy Scouts of America voted to lift its ban on openly gay youths on May 24, Reed said the church had no choice but to cut its charter with Troop 542. “It’s not a hate thing here,” Reed told CNN affiliate Fox 16. “It’s a moral stance we must take as a Southern Baptist church.” Southern Baptist leaders say Reed is not alone. Baptist churches sponsor nearly 4,000 Scout units representing more than 100,000 youths, according to the Boy Scouts of America. That number could drop precipitously. The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, will soon urge its 45,000 congregations and 16 million members to cut ties with the Scouts, according to church leaders. The denomination will vote on nonbinding but influential resolutions during a convention June 11-12 in Houston. “There’s a 100% chance that there will be a resolution about disaffiliation at the convention,” said Richard Land, the outgoing head of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, “and a 100% chance that 99% of people will vote for it.” “Southern Baptists are going to be leaving the Boy Scouts en masse,” Land continued. Roger “Sing” Oldham, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, emphasized that local congregations make their own decision on the Scouts. But he, too, said he expects Baptist delegates, which the church calls “messengers,” to voice their disagreement with the BSA's decision to allow gay youths. “With this policy change, the Boy Scouts’ values are contradictory to the basic values of our local churches,” Oldham said. Several religious groups with strong Scouting ties support the new policy. “We have heard from both those who support the amended policy and those who would have preferred it would not have changed,” said BSA spokesman Deron Smith. Faith-based organizations charter more than 70% of Scout chapters, providing meeting space and leadership, according to the BSA. “There have been some organizations that have decided not to renew their charters with Scouting," said Smith, "but we can’t quantify the impact of the amended policy." The National Jewish Committee on Scouting, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors more Scout units than any other faith, all endorsed the change. The National Catholic Committee on Scouting, which is run with oversight from a bishop, said Thursday that allowing gay youths in the Scouts does not conflict with church teaching. Each bishop will decide whether or not to allow churches in his diocese to charter Scout units, the committee added. “We ask that Catholic Scouters and chartered organization heads not rush to judgment,” said Edward Martin, chairman of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. But the Rev. Derek Lappe, pastor of the Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Bremerton, Washington, has already made up his mind. “I do not feel that it is possible for us to live out, and to teach, the authentic truth about human sexuality within the confines of the Boy Scout’s new policy,” said Lappe. The priest told CNN affiliate FOX16 that his parish will part ways with the Scouts and develop its own programs. There may soon be an alternative to the Scouts for social conservatives like Lappe. John Stemberger, founder of On My Honor, a group that opposed the Scouts’ change in policy, plans to convene conservatives in Louisville, Kentucky, in June to consider forming a new Scout-like group, which could be up and running by the end of 2013. “Churches and Scoutmasters are looking for leadership and direction,” said Stemberg, an attorney in Orlando, Florida. A number of conservative religious denominations already sponsor their own groups. For instance, the Southern Baptists have the Royal Ambassadors, an explicitly Christian program founded in 1908 for boys in first through sixth grade. (A similar group called Challengers equips older boys in “mission education.”) The name comes from the New Testament, in which the Apostle Paul tells Christians to be “ambassadors for Christ.” The estimated 31,000 Royal Ambassadors pledge “ to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ; to have a Christlike concern for all people; to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ; and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body." While not as outdoorsy as the Boy Scouts, Ambassadors do camp and play sports, said Land, who was a member of the group during the 1950s. But instead of merit badges for archery and bird study, young Ambassadors earn patches for memorizing Bible verses and mission work. Southern Baptists said they are preparing for a surge of interest in the Royal Ambassadors at their upcoming convention in Houston. “We really have an opportunity here to strengthen our RA programs,” the Rev. Ernest Easley, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, said in a sermon last Sunday, “and to get the boys in a program where they’re going to be protected, where there’s a high moral standard and where they will have an opportunity to learn about camping, missions, evangelism in the local church.” soundoff (10,821 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 Next » |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Leviticus 24:16
Whoever utters the name of the Lord must be put to death. The whole community must stone him, whether alien or native. If he utters the name, he must be put to death.
Deut. 28:53
Then because of the dire straits to which you will be reduced when your enemy besieges you, you will eat your own children, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord has given you.
Genesis 16:8
And he said “Hagar, Sarai’s slave girl, where have you come from and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my mistress.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to ill treatment at her hands.”
Deut. 25:11
When two men are fighting and the wife of one of them intervenes to drag her husband clear of his opponent, if she puts out her hand and catches hold of the man by his privates, you must cut off her hand and show her no mercy.
Just saying that the Bible might not be the best source for moral codes so let's stop using the Bible's texts as a guide for how to gays.
"how to treat gays"
I guess that anyone can pull scriptures out of context and quote them.
bobwilliams1950 @ hotmail com
your twisting the word of GOD!!
Sweeeeet.... perfect response
leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Hey pentacostal – since it never says anything about women, then lesbians are totally cool, right?
Sam…
Romans 1-26 – For this cause God gave them up unto VILE AFFECTIONS: for even their WOMEN did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; MEN WITH MEN working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, THAT THEY WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Hey Pentacostal: This isn't "twisting" the word of god, it's reporting it. Or are you agreeing that the bible really ISN'T the insipred word of god?
Of course the Baptists will say that you picked and choose just the verses you wanted out of thousands just so you could make your point. Few of them would be smart enough to see the irony in that.
He is most definitely twisting them to suit his agenda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2839yEazcs
what orchestrated the change in policy? was it the scouts themselves or some evil and satanic force pushing this agenda on them. the time of the great divide is here folks. we are called to stand up and be counted will you stand for truth and the kingdom of GOD of for falsehood, perversion and the kingdom of darkness? the choice is there for us all to make.maranatha come jesus christ of nazareth.
Good, I hope the end comes soon, and the faithful get whisked up into the sky or whatever so progress can continue down here with the sane people.
Time to take your meds, Samuel.
I choose the Kingdom of God, not the perverse Southern Baptist who turn their back on God's creation, young children at that. I will be in heaven at the end and the false religions will be where they should be. These people profess to follow God's teachings, but they do not and thus they are lost to God.
Paul I hate to say this, but I'll just bet they'd say the same thing to you. Sad but true.
what New Testament are you reading? If you want to be like Christ, you will suffer people calling you a bad Christian because you have lunch with and love up on sinners. Stop masturbating to your own picture and do something for the world.
i am with you on this samuel as the BIBLE says. as for me and my household we will serve the LORD!
Halp! Halp! It's de debbil, the debbil!
If you really believe that.....and the scary part is that you DO....then you should welcome it, since you're so eager for the world to end so you can sit on your cloud and point and laugh at all us unbelievers writhing in eternal torment....because god loves us so much!
Oh my god, I actually agree w/ most the people here. WOW.
You KNOW something has to be messed up when that happens!
Bye! Bye!
The Baptists make a choice of their own free will based on their views of a moral question.
Thank goodness the atheists (not all mind you) are here to show their closed minded idiotic att itudes about those merely expressing themselves..
Yeah, it's ok to have the freedom of choice but only if you choose the way the atheists do. Otherwise....you will be made fun of.
No – your ideas will be made fun of. That's what forums like this are for.
No, if you disagree with any Progressive, Liberal PC agenda, you are a rascist, bigot. Obama and the current Libs have made an art of of name calling instead of talking facts or using common sense.
When your freedom of choice marginalizes others, you're going to get that same shit right up the snoz. And you deserve it.
Pushover, your Paranoid TinHat of False Righteousness is on too tight.
Well that was a big bowl of stupid.
My my Colin. You didn't tell us you were among the comment board gestpo on here.
I didn't realize you where against the freedom of expression.
Go join your mentor George W and squash someone else's freedoms you closed minded bigot.
"When your freedom of choice marginalizes others"
Thank goodness the Baptists leaving isn't doing that Sam. Now those like Colin that basically say that people will be made fun of because of their beliefs, those are the type that marginalize others. Right?
Stop with the pretzel logic, Gord. It's disingenious. You know what I'm talking about – calling gays sinners, leaving because of 'immorality'.
It's discriminatory bullshit. It's declaring others as less than.
Feel free to bask in it like it's the right thing to do – but don't pretend not to understand what you're really doing. Or is it that you don't actually know what the word 'marginalize' meant?
acting like holier than thou weirdos is what gets you made fun of.
sorry you don't like being treated the same way you treat people. irony
House of Gord: HoG, for short.
Sam, I have hardly been disingenious. I merely stated a fact.
If the Baptists are calling them sinners, what of it? Does it hurt them? Nope.
Does leaving the Boy Scouts hurt anyone? Nope.
It is times like these when you will truly find out who's of God and who is not. Any church, religion, or individual that is truly of God will not cave due to pressure from the gay groups and from the ungodly. We who are saved and who believe in God know what the bible says. And no amount of pressure from the ungodly is going to change it. In short, do you want the Boy Scouts to be ruled by people who are morally upright and of God, or ruled by people who are ungodly and feel that everything goes…
Psalms 37:1 – Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
I'm always grateful online and in real life when the craziest of fundies start their shit. You guys make yourselves so obvious, it makes it easy to steer clear of you. Keep up the bullshit.
instead of 'ungodly', though, let me suggest you use the words you really mean: "Does not agree with my worldview".
Sam… FYI, my worldview is God's worldview. And there is nothing more crazy and more stupid than a person who "does not agree with God's worldview."...
You pretending you have the answers – that you know the mind of any god – is pathetic and almost unbearably smug.
The sane world is not going to put up with your crap forever, special snowflake.
Dont get me wrong I do believe in GOD.. But what I dont understand is how can you and some other Christians believe that just by being called a Christian you get a window seat to heaven even though you, yourselves are committing sins everyday just like those gay people whom you are disgusted with? Come on! I mean why cant you just let God do the judging and condemning? If he will do that.. Cause honestly, people who pretend to be holy and know it all and call themselves SAVED etc are full of CRAP. Our beliefs and religions DOES NOT give us the RIGHT to judge and hurt others and tell them you're going to hell and Im Saved etc., cause I'd doubt you're what you claim to be.
"my worldview is God's worldview" has to be the most condescending and arrogant thing I've heard an evangelical say in a long time. Jesus actually talked about this in one of his parables (Luke 18:9-14).
Dear Southern Baptists:
God here.
I have no problem with gays in the Boy Scouts. I fact, I don’t have a problem with anything, because, you see, I do not exist.
The concept of a 13,700,00,000 year old being, capable of creating the entire Universe and its billions of galaxies, monitoring simultaneously the actions and thoughts of the 7 billion human beings on this planet is utterly ludicrous.
Scondly, if I did exist, I would have left you a book a little more consistent, timeless and independently verifiable than the collection of Iron Age Middle Eastern mythology you call the Bible. Hell, I bet you cannot tell me one thing about any of its authors or how and why it was compiled with certain writings included and others excluded, nor how it has been edited over the centuries, yet you cite it for the most extraordinary of supernatural claims.
Thirdly, when I sent my “son” (whatever that means, given that I am god and do not mate) to Earth, he would have visited the Chinese, Ja.panese, Europeans, Russians, sub-Saharan Africans, Australian Aboriginals, Mongolians, Polynesians, Micronesians, Indonesians and native Americans, not just a few Jews. He would also have exhibited a knowledge of something outside of the Iron Age Middle East.
Fourthly, I would not spend my time hiding, refusing to give any tangible evidence of my existence, and then punish those who are smart enough to draw the natural conclusion that I do not exist by burning them forever. That would make no sense to me, given that I am the one who elected to withhold all evidence of my existence in the first place.
Fifthly, in the same vein, I would not make about 5% of the human population gay, then punish them for being that way. In fact, I wouldn’t care about how humans have $ex at all, given that I created all of the millions of millions of species on the planet, all of whom are furiously reproducing all the time. Human $ex would be of no interest to me, given that I can create Universes. Has it ever occurred to you that your obsession with making rules around human $ex is an entirely human affair?
Sixth, I would have smitten all you Christian activists, and all evangelicals and fundamentalists long before this. You people drive me nuts. You are so small minded and speak with such false authority. Many of you still believe in the talking snake nonsense from Genesis. I would kill all of you for that alone and burn you for an afternoon (burning forever is way too barbaric even for a sick, sadistic bast.ard like me to contemplate).
Seventh, the whole idea of members of one species on one planet surviving their own physical deaths to “be with me” is utter, mind-numbing nonsense. Grow up. You will die. Get over it. I did. Hell, at least you had a life. I never even existed in the first place.
Eighth, I do not read your minds, or “hear your prayers” as you euphemistically call it. There are 7 billion of you. Even if only 10% prayed once a day, that is 700,000,000 prayers. This works out at 8,000 prayers a second – every second of every day. Meanwhile I have to process the 100,000 of you who die every day between heaven and hell. Dwell on the sheer absurdity of that for a moment.
Finally, the only reason you even consider believing in me is because of where you were born. Had you been born in India, you would likely believe in the Hindu gods, if born in Tibet, you would be a Buddhist. Every culture that has ever existed has had its own god(s) and they always seem to favor that particular culture, its hopes, dreams and prejudices. What, do you think we all exist? If not, why only yours?
Look, let’s be honest with ourselves. There is no god. Believing in me was fine when you cringed in fear during the Dark Ages and thought the World was young, flat and simple. Now we know how enormous, old and complex the Universe is.
Move on – get over me. I did.
God
As always, great stuff, Colin!
ThanksOvaltine (love the name by the way. Wonder when our resident nutjob will be back.)
Oh boy oh boy oh boy....more asinine copy/paste that will be praised by the ignorant on here.
Great job Colin!! Maybe one day you'll have a few original thoughts of your own and evolve up from Reaily to that of a Chad. I hope that expresses just how low I consider your opinions, well..whomever's opinion you stole to post on here that is.
I bet Colin cannot tell me one thing about any of its authors or how and why it was compiled with certain writings included and others excluded, nor how it has been edited over the centuries, yet you cite it for the most extraordinary of supernatural claims.
Because Colin is a tool that wants to use ignorance of a topic as evidence to the contrary.
Exodus 20:7 – Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
House of Gord – My apparent personality defects aside, do you actually disagree with anything I said or are you just irritated that I said it.
PS: I can assure you I wrote this. I have been posting it in various forms for over 2 years.
To "Nestle Foundation"… If you love that nonsense, then you're going to just LOVE Lucifer…
Hopefully, one day I will have an original thought of my own that doesn't come from religious dogma.
God – same question Jehovah – tell me what you disagree with.
Lucifer doesn't exist – stop the whole creepy 'threat of hell' stuff. It makes you look like a little kid.
Psalm 137:9 – Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Hey GetReal, I see you cited Exodus with approval. My favorite part of Exodus is Exodus 21:7 "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her."
That's a real pearl of wisdom that one!!
HOG's post was stupid. It's one to talk.
Oh some people are so jocular on here. They take my username and imply something about dogma where none has been expressed.
I bet these same people never even read the artcile or understand it. So tragic but so funny at the same time. Atheists, cut yourselves loose from these idiots.
H.O.G kind of starting to sound desperate, not a good thing
You lost this one man! Go back to whatever message boards you usually go to that love baptists and hate gays. They miss you
Oh Dot, you are too precious. Declaring victory where you haven't done a thing. Btw, how does one sound desperate when writing? Do they declare victory when none has been won? Like you 😉
And Clin, I do have issues with your mishmash of pseudologic. You take the position of what is suppose to an infinite all knowing being. Obviously you are limited and very finite. That alone makes your whole supposition faulty. You have no concept of what such a being would think or feel.
You mention, "collection of Iron Age Middle Eastern mythology" and we know that is a bold face lie or people like you could show the evidence. But all you can show is when something seems similar. Being similar is not the same as taking from right? Yes, you may believe that it does but that is just a belief devoid of something we call facts.
How funny. But if you really were God, you wouldn't bother with explaining yourself. You wouldn't have to. You're God. But I would expect such from someone who has no clue.
Hi lord... I have a question. them dinie-sore fossils that yew hid wuz just a joke to make scientists look like fools... right? Or did jeeeeeeezus really ride on one? If he did, who put the saddle on and how did he evade T-Rex?
small, closed-minded little bigoted people. Uneducated, low-born, fear-mongering azzhats. Please do the rest of the country a favor and move t texas and secede from the country. Start your own compound for lunatics and pragmatic little subnormal archie buncker life. I loathe you and all you stand for. FO&D.
Not sure what this person is talking about. I would guess that a higher percentage of the people who oppose this change have greater education than those who are in favor. I am guessing that they also earn more and pay more taxes. If they were to leave who on earth would pay for the housing projects, welfare and ObamaCare? It seems that his opinion is not based on fact, which isn't surprising given his views.
I know I'd donate at least a hunnert bucks to their 'new world' if they'll ALL leave now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me2H7Ja93Wg
Good riddance!
Like the Mormons, the Baptists used Scouting as a proselytizing vehicle. Their loss is our gain!
Yeah, can you feel that good ole Christian hatred.
That is not factually accurate. I was a Scout for many years. Religion was never discussed. Scouting is about good values, moral character and being a good citizen. I would not want my son sleeping next to a boy who wanted to poke him in the rump.
So what?
@Jason
Just remember that the person most likely to poke your son in the rump is not another little boy, but the priest at your church
Take care
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0-04VDrCbM
Nice one!
Here's another.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lvU-DislkI
And we have been running away from the Baptist for years. They have such power and arrogance. They know and only they know what is best in spite of their sins.
Take my Ar-15 ans shove it where the Sun doesn't shine, you Baptist Maggots!
What? I am guessing that the Baptists are pro-2nd Amendment. They just might take their 50 cal and return the favor.
At least Catholics have been around since 300 AD...
...these NEW Christian faiths are just plain insane...
Yeah, bring back the old Catholic Spanish Inquisition, witch burning, and crusades. They were pretty sane.
I'll bring fixin's for s'mores!!
So long... Farewell... Auf wiedersehen... Goodbye... Adios and Sayonara.
Yep, kiss all that money goodbye, Boyscouts. You will be pretty much kaput within 3 years.
I'm just kidding. They'll go back to meeting in/being sponsored by schools, like the old days.
What a bunch of SCHMUCKS.
So appropriate considering the translation of the Yiddish word Schmucks.
Perhaps Tim Reed is in the closet, like Marcus Bachmann.
You can say one thing for the Southern Baptists. They never stop trying to live down to their reputation.