June (Web-only) 2000

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ThoughThe Washington Post's coverage of the Southern Baptist Convention's new Statement of Faith and Message says the document "drops the concepts of 'the priesthood of the believer' and the 'soul's competency before God,'" the preamble to the proposed Statement of Faith and Message was in fact amended the day of the vote to include the concepts. The preamble says, "We honor the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of believers, affirming together both our liberty in Christ and our accountability to each other under the Word of God."

The big news of the day is the Southern Baptist Convention's voted to adopt its proposed Statement of Faith and Message, which includes a line limiting the office of pastor to men. The vote wasn't a surprise and has collected headlines all week, but it's nonetheless one of the day's top stories.

Timesays the denomination is trying to scare away moderate and liberal members and churches. The Chicago Tribune leads off with the women pastors angle ("Without a word about women, or from a woman, the nation's largest Protestant denomination declared Wednesday that the Bible permits only men to lead the nation's 41,000 Southern Baptist churches") but then goes on to note other controversial votes, such as a support of the death penalty. For the second day in a row, religion writer Steve Kloehn notes that the changes at this convention are only the latest in a long shift to the right for the denomination. "The conservative leaders who took control of the denomination nearly 20 years ago not only have championed controversial social causes, but also altered ...