On Tuesday (June 10), the resolutions committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) celebrated the adoption of an “ exceptionally conservative” slate of resolutions during the annual meeting of the denomination in Dallas.
Every year, the SBC proposes resolutions to church delegates, called messengers, who vote on whether to adopt the resolutions. While resolutions are non-binding, they are intended to express the consensus among Southern Baptists on important cultural and theological issues.
Resolutions that were adopted this year focused on a wide range of issues, including banning pornography, reversing the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, standing against chemical abortion pills, advocating for international religious liberty, and warning of the dangers of sports betting.
While a number of the stances taken in the resolutions could be seen as controversial, they did not result in much debate from the convention floor, and they passed with the overwhelming support of the messengers.
“Every time there are resolutions before the SBC, there are always gonna be floor debates at some level. It’s a question of what types of floor debates there’ll be and how heated they will be,” Dr. Andrew T. Walker, who chaired the resolution committee, said at a press conference. “We saw some debates today, but I think by historical standards, those were pretty muted and few by comparison.”
“We saw also a very conservative slate of resolutions that the floor passed. And obviously I think that they would be perceived as perhaps exceptionally conservative by the culture’s standards,” Walker added. “But I think that the psychology of the SBC and what took place…Anyone who saw the actual votes themselves saw that these were not really close votes by any stretch.”
SBC Resolution on Overturning Same-Sex Marriage
Among the more eye-popping resolutions was one titled “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family,” which among other things called for “the overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family.”
No debate about this clause in the resolution was brought to the floor.
“ We would love to see Obergefell overturned,” said Walker, “I think what that means, practically speaking, is I would love to see a federal definition of marriage restored to the union of one man and one woman.”
Walker added, “ I’m clear-eyed about the difficulties in the headwinds in this resolution.” But, he said, the SBC is “ trying to keep the conversation going.”
“ I understand that [same-sex marriage] is largely ingrained in the American psyche at this point,” said Walker. “But the role of this resolution was to say, ‘Southern Baptists aren’t going anywhere.’”
SBC Resolution on the Dangers of Sports Betting
Speaking to the resolution that condemns “sports betting in all its forms” and denounces “the promotion and normalization of this predatory industry in every athletic context,” Walker said, “ Even as someone who is very ignorant of sports…It’s undeniable that sports betting has etched its way into every vestige of collegiate and professional sports in a way that growing up as a child in central Illinois watching the Chicago Bulls was not the case.”
, the resolutions committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) celebrated the adoption of an “ exceptionally conservative” slate of resolutions during the annual meeting of the denomination in Dallas. ){kind=link}