SOUTHERN BAPTISTS DISAGREE ON STANCE

As the nation's largest Protestant denomination holds its annual convention in Dallas, issues on the convention floor are also being discussed locally.

Local members of the Southern Baptist denomination had varying opinions about the convention's decision Wednesday to boycott Walt Disney Co. and a resolution that was introduced but not voted on concerning ordination of female ministers. Some also questioned whether a pre-marriage counseling resolution introduced by Cape Girardeau resident Roy Jones would be effective in reducing the nation's divorce rate.

Any resolutions passed by the convention are nonbinding because each church is autonomous.

"We're kind of a quirky denomination," said David Johnson, associate pastor of First Baptist Church of Sikeston. "The world is going to hell in a handbasket and we're declaring war on Mickey Mouse. I can't figure that out."

The denomination, which has a membership of 15 million, is boycotting Disney Co. in protest of "gay-friendly" policies. Proponents of the boycott insist the company has an "anti-Christian" direction and promotes "immoral ideologies and practices" because it offers benefits to same-sex couples and ran an announcement of Ellen Degeneres and her sitcom character being a lesbian on Disney-owned ABC.

Several local members said they don't support homosexuality but don't support the boycott because it focused on the wrong issues. "We just lost our focus on that one," Johnson said. "Let's focus on what we need to be focusing on, which is the souls of people and the word of God.

Wade Sanders, youth minister of the First Baptist Church of Chaffee, agreed. "I don't agree with the idea of open homosexuality being displayed in public like that," he said. "I think a family theme park like that should use a little judgment in terms of who the clients are they let in. I know you couldn't keep them out, but these gay days and things like that, I don't think they should be promoting them and they should give some notice so people will know what's going on."

Other members said the boycott won't be effective because Disney is found in every medium. "In order for it to be effective, Southern Baptists would have to crawl up into a closet and close the door," said Lewis Todd, pastor of Hooe Baptist Church of Oran.

Pat Thornton, a member who lives in the Sikeston area, said there's a saying in the Bible that parallels what the convention did by approving the boycott. "They're straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel," she said. "Too much emphasis is being put on something that's needless. I just think they are going about it the wrong way."

Johnson's church can identify with the resolution concerning ordination of women. If passed, the resolution would have embraced the ordination of female ministers, a move which many local members said should and will never happen.

The First Baptist Church of Sikeston was disfellowshiped from the Charleston Baptist Association last year because it ordained Billie Faire as a minister so that she could pursue hospital chaplaincy jobs. Faire is currently the church's outreach director and a pianist.

"We as a local church voted, and it was overwhelmingly in support of her," Johnson said. "What happened to us is silly. It was a colossal misunderstanding because people were not talking to each other. If it wasn't for the women, there probably wouldn't be a Southern Baptist church or others. They're what holds those churches together."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.