Baptists will stay in schools

But don't endorse mass withdrawal

June 15, 2006|Tim Whitmire, Associated Press

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- There will almost certainly be no Southern Baptist exodus from the nation's public schools -- at least for now.

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, refused yesterday to support a resolution that would have urged the denomination to form an ``exit strategy" for pulling members' children from public schools in favor of home or private Christian schools.

The proposal, by Roger Moran of Troy, Mo., and Texas author Bruce Shortt, was offered at a time when many of the nation's 16.2 million Southern Baptists are concerned about how classrooms are handling topics such as homosexuality and ``intelligent design."

Instead of putting the exit strategy before delegates to the convention's annual meeting, the denomination's resolutions committee called on members to ``engage the culture of our public school systems" by exerting ``godly influence," including standing for election to local school boards.