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Do not fill this in! ===Position statements=== [[File:Seattle - Chinese Southern Baptist 06.jpg|thumb|Chinese Southern Baptist Church in [[Seattle, Washington]]]] In addition to the BF&M, the denomination has also issued position statements affirming the autonomy of the local church;<ref name="autonomy">{{Cite web |title=On Local Church Autonomy And Accountability - SBC.net |url=https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-local-church-autonomy-and-accountability/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |language=en-US}}</ref> identifying the Cooperative Program of missions as integral to the denomination;<ref name="coop">{{Citation |title=About us |type=position paper |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921171129/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscooperation.asp |contribution=Cooperation |contribution-url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscooperation.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=September 21, 2008}}.</ref> that statements of belief are revisable in light of Scripture, though [[the Bible is the final word]];<ref name="creed">{{Citation |title=About us |type=position paper |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921171135/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscreeds.asp |contribution=Creeds |contribution-url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscreeds.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=September 21, 2008}}.</ref> honoring the indigenous principle in missions without compromising doctrine or its identity for missional opportunities;<ref name="missions">{{Citation |title=About us |type=position paper |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921171140/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psmissions.asp |contribution=Missions |contribution-url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psmissions.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=September 21, 2008}}.</ref> that laypersons have the same right as ordained ministers to communicate with God, interpret Scripture, and minister in Christ's name;<ref name="priesthood">{{Citation | url = http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pspriesthood.asp | title = Priesthood of all believers | publisher = SBC | type = position paper | access-date = July 19, 2007 | archive-date = September 21, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080921171145/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pspriesthood.asp }}.</ref> that "At the moment of conception, a new being enters the universe, a human being, a being created in God's image", who as such should be protected regardless of the circumstances of the conception;<ref name="sanctity">{{Citation |title=Sanctity of life |url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssanctity.asp |type=position paper |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025102901/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssanctity.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=October 25, 2006}}</ref> that God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy is a lifetime relationship of one man and one woman, rejecting homosexuality; understanding the Bible to forbid any form of extramarital sexual relations;<ref name="sexuality">{{Citation |title=Sexuality |url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/positionstatements.asp |type=position paper |access-date=November 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727023904/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/positionstatements.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=July 27, 2020}}.</ref> affirming the accountability of each person before God;<ref name="soulcomp">{{Citation |title=Soul Competency |url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssoul.asp |type=position paper |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921114605/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssoul.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=September 21, 2008}}.</ref> and that women are not eligible to serve as pastors.<ref name="women">{{Citation |title=Women in ministry |url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pswomen.asp |type=position paper |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921171219/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pswomen.asp |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=September 21, 2008}}.</ref> In 2022, it passed a resolution against [[prosperity theology]], which it considers a distortion of the message of the Bible.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=So. Baptists denounce prosperity gospel as 'false teaching' in resolution at annual meeting |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/southern-baptists-denounce-prosperity-gospel-as-false-teaching.html |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=The Christian Post |language=en-US}}</ref> ==== Abortion ==== Like other conservative evangelical denominations, the Southern Baptist position on [[Abortion in the United States|abortion]] has changed significantly over time, evolving from general acceptance to opposition.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16" /><ref name=":17" /> In 1971, the SBC passed a resolution urging a loosening of abortion laws in the United States, stating:<ref name=":16" /><blockquote>Be it further resolved, that we call upon Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.</blockquote>In 1973, a "poll conducted by the ''[[Baptist General Convention of Texas|Baptist Standard]]'' news journal found that 90 percent of Texas Baptists believed their state's abortion laws were too restrictive".<ref name=":14" /> During this era, a majority of Southern Baptists, including conservatives within the denomination, supported the expansion of [[Abortion-rights movements|abortion rights]], seeing it as a matter of [[Freedom of religion|religious liberty]], what they saw [[Christianity and abortion|as a lack]] of [[Christianity and abortion|biblical condemnation]], and belief in [[Anti-statism|non-intrusive government]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balmer |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Balmer |date=August 30, 2021 |title=The Evangelical Abortion Myth: An Excerpt from 'Bad Faith' |url=https://religiondispatches.org/the-evangelical-abortion-myth-an-excerpt-from-bad-faith/ |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=Religion Dispatches |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Williams-2015">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |date=June 2015 |title=The Partisan Trajectory of the American Pro-Life Movement: How a Liberal Catholic Campaign Became a Conservative Evangelical Cause |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=451β475 |doi=10.3390/rel6020451 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |date=2022-05-09 |title=This Really Is a Different Pro-Life Movement |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/south-abortion-pro-life-protestants-catholics/629779/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Halpern |first=Sue |date=November 8, 2018 |title=How Republicans Became Anti-Choice |language=en |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/08/how-republicans-became-anti-choice/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref> Initial reaction among Southern Baptists and evangelicals to the ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' decision was one of support or indifference; they overwhelmingly viewed [[United States anti-abortion movement|anti-abortion movements]] as a [[Sectarianism|sectarian]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] concern. By the mid-1970s, this began to change, as political strategists sought to use the issue of abortion as a [[Policy|political tactic]] to incorporate [[Traditionalist Catholicism|traditionalist Catholics]] together with Southern evangelicals in order to prevent [[Segregation academy|segregation academies]] from being [[Racial integration|racially integrated]]. Southern Baptist opinion on abortion began to substantially change against abortion in subsequent years.<ref name=":16" /><ref name="Williams-2015" /> Today, the SBC strongly opposes abortion.<ref name=":16" /> ==== Gender-based roles ==== Officially, the denomination subscribes to the [[complementarianism|complementarian]] view of [[gender role]]s.{{sfn|Finn|2010|pp=68β69}} Beginning in the early 1970s, as a reaction to their perceptions of various "women's liberation movements",<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=1090 |title= Resolution on the Place of Women in Christian Service |publisher= SBC |access-date= December 10, 2011 |archive-date= January 18, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120118161933/http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=1090 |url-status= dead }}</ref> the church, along with several other historically conservative Baptist groups,<ref>See {{harvnb|Morris|Lee|2005|pp=355β363}}, for a discussion of attitudes regarding gender and their relationship to ministry.</ref> began to assert its view of the propriety and primacy of what it deemed "traditional gender roles" as a body. In 1973, at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, delegates passed a resolution that read in part: "Man was not made for woman, but the woman for the man. Woman is the glory of man. Woman would not have existed without man."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://feminist.org/resources/feminist-chronicles/the-feminist-chronicles-2/part-ii-1973/|title=Part II - 1973}}</ref> In 1998, the convention appended a male leadership understanding of marriage to the 1963 version of the Baptist Faith and Message, with an official amendment: Article XVIII, "The Family". In 2000, it revised the document to reflect support for a male-only pastorate with no mention of the office of deacon.<ref name="women" /><ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=228 | first = Tammi Reed | last = Ledbetter | title = SBC and Women Pastors, Comprehensive Report Does Not Sustain Inflated Statistics |date=October 2000 | newspaper = Baptist 2 Baptist | access-date = July 19, 2007}}.</ref> ===== In the pastorate and marriage ===== In 1984, when it had about 250 women pastors, the Convention adopted a resolution affirming the exclusion of women from pastoral leadership.<ref name="upi.com">David E. Anderson, [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/06/15/Southern-Baptists-oppose-womens-ordination/3365456120000/ Southern Baptists oppose women's ordination], upi.com, USA, June 15, 1984</ref> Since 1987, various local associations and regional conventions have considered churches that have authorized the [[Ordination of women#Baptist|pastoral ministry of women]] to not be in friendly cooperation (or "disfellowshipped"), without the intervention of the national convention on the subject.<ref>David Roach, [https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/tenn-assoc-disfellowships-church-with-female-pastor/ Tenn. assoc. disfellowships church with female pastor], baptistpress.com, USA, 20 octobre 2015</ref> By explicitly defining the pastoral office as the exclusive domain of males, the 2000 BF&M provision became the Southern Baptist's first-ever official position against women pastors.<ref>"Comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message". Online: http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfmcomparison.asp. Accessed: 7 Aug 2015</ref> As individual churches affiliated with the organization are autonomous, churches cannot be forced to adopt a male-only pastorate.<ref name="autonomy" /> Some churches that have installed women as their pastors have been disfellowshipped from membership in their local associations; a smaller number have been disfellowshipped from their affiliated state conventions.<ref>{{Citation | first = Kristen | last = Campbell | title = Baptist Church Ousted for Hiring Woman Pastor | newspaper = Religion News Service | url = http://www.beliefnet.com/story/202/story_20231_1.html | access-date = 2007-09-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071107170239/http://www.beliefnet.com/story/202/story_20231_1.html | archive-date = November 7, 2007 }}.</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Shellnutt |first=Kate |title=Southern Baptist Convention Disfellowships Saddleback Church |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/saddleback-church-southern-baptist-sbc-disfellowship-female.html |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Christianity Today |date=February 21, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> In February 2023, the Executive Committee for the first time deemed five churches that had appointed women pastors to not be in friendly cooperation. In June 2023, when two churches requested a review of the decision on this subject, 88% of church representatives at the annual convention voted to uphold the decision.<ref>Michael Gryboski, [https://www.christianpost.com/news/saddleback-churchs-ousting-from-sbc-upheld-at-annual-meeting.html SBC upholds ousting of Saddleback Church over woman teaching pastor], christianpost.com, USA, June 14, 2023</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-14 |title=Messengers sustain removal of 3 churches not in 'friendly cooperation' - The Baptist Paper |url=https://thebaptistpaper.org/messengers-sustain-removal-of-3-churches-not-in-friendly-cooperation/,%20https://thebaptistpaper.org/messengers-sustain-removal-of-3-churches-not-in-friendly-cooperation/ |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=thebaptistpaper.org |language=en-US}}</ref> ''American Reformer'' magazine estimated the convention would have 1,844 female pastors in 2023.<ref>Kevin McClure, [https://americanreformer.org/2023/06/how-many-female-pastors-are-in-the-sbc/ How many female pastors are in the sbc?], americanreformer.org, USA, June 10, 2023</ref> The crystallization of the church's positions on gender roles and restrictions of women's participation in the pastorate contributed to the decision by members now belonging to the [[Cooperative Baptist Fellowship]], which broke from the convention in 1991.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Eileen R | last1 = Campbell-Reed | first2 = Pamela R | last2 = Durso | url = http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-Campbell-pdf.pdf | title = Assessing Attitudes About Women in Baptist Life | year = 2006 | publisher = CBE international | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101229121648/http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-Campbell-pdf.pdf | archive-date = December 29, 2010 }}.</ref> Another denomination that broke off, the [[Alliance of Baptists]], also accepts women's ordination. The 2000 BF&M prescribes a husband-headship authority structure, closely following the [[Paul the Apostle|apostle Paul]]'s exhortations in {{Bibleverse |Ephesians|5:21β33}}:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Baptist Convention > Commentary on Article XVIII β The Family |url=http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/articleXVIII.asp |access-date=2018-12-25 |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225230210/http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/articleXVIII.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{blockquote|'''Article XVIII. The Family.''' The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to his people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead ''his'' family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page