Southern Baptist Church Faces Expulsion After Pastor Decides to Be Less Bigoted

Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia may be kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention early next week because its leader committed an unforgivable sin.

He allowed a same-sex couple to become members of the congregation.

That’s seriously the entire “controversy.” Rev. Jim Conrad says a third of his congregation already abandoned the church because he let the gay couple in, and now the entire church is in danger of not being Real Baptists™.

Many churches that run afoul of SBC rules choose to withdraw from the denomination themselves. Towne View decided it would rather be forced out than walk away. “We thought it would be best for the people that helped plant this church to tell us that they didn’t want us around anymore,” said Conrad.

…

That decision [to kick them out] will purportedly be made at the Executive Committee’s scheduled meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 23). According to a member of the denomination staff who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity, Towne View’s fate is all but sealed.

“It’s about the bottom line, and that more churches than not in the Cobb County region would be against the acceptance of the LGBTQ community being members in their churches,” the staffer said.

I can’t say I’m surprised. I can’t imagine Conrad is either.

Seriously, what did he think would happen? That the Southern Baptists would suddenly do the kind and compassionate thing? Why start now? Unfortunately, Conrad is learning the hard way that the SBC isn’t a club decent people should ever want to join.

It’s appalling that his act of mild inclusion — letting a gay couple be part of the church while he continued to denounce same-sex marriage — ends up being a career killer. But the Southern Baptists have never been subtle about their bigotry. If you didn’t read the rules of the game, you can’t get upset when you lose.

The irony is that the gay couple that began this whole kerfuffle has left the state. They’re not even members of the congregation anymore. But because he decided to be somewhat compassionate two years ago, the pastor may still be punished for what he did.

(via Religion News Service. Image via Shutterstock)