New Baptist Covenant Celebration Refuses to Address GLBT Issues
Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were among a number of speakers advocating for GLBT inclusion at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta. The star-studded program aimed to create a new, unified Baptist voice in North America was sadly quiet about GLBT issues. Although the event organizers decided that the nation’s Baptists weren’t ready to include sexual orientation as part of their official vision of unification, Southern Baptist Convention critic and bestselling author John Grisham called for the church to love and respect one another without regard for sexual orientation. Despite this missed opportunity, the New Baptist Covenant demonstrated clear signs of hopeful change. Read the Op-Ed by the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists director and council chair.