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Two of the memorable moments in this week's Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, had little to do with official actions by the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Both moments, when police ejected gay protestors from the hall and when a former convention president called Muhammad a "pedophile" gave newspapers their headline material.

But internally, SBC convention goers hailed a durable spirit of unity at the annual meeting. Delegates (called messengers) elected as president Jack Graham, pastor of the 20,000 member Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and as first vice president Texas judge Paul Pressler, one of the architects of the conservative resurgence who became a lightning rod in the bitter, decade-long battle for control of the denomination. Both men were elected without opposition.

Messengers approved with little discussion new initiatives to encourage evangelism at the local church level and to strengthen families, passed a resolution sharply critical of Today's New International Version of the Bible, and urged local congregations to be vigilant in protecting children from sexual abuse.

In a denomination where unity is news, the harmony of this annual meeting was upstaged first by gay demonstrators and then by attacks on Islam.

Messengers to the convention are accustomed to demonstrations by a variety of outside groups on the sidewalks around the meeting place, including in recent years a big chicken and the vegetarian Jesus (animal rights activists in costume). This is the first time demonstrators entered the meeting place and attempted to disrupt the convention business session.

The interruption by gay demonstrators was brief, and in the din of the domed stadium in St. Louis, largely unheard. SBC president James Merritt had refused to meet with Mel White, a gay minister and leader of Soulforce, which advocates acceptance of practicing homosexuals by Christian churches. White's group contends that the SBC's stance on homosexuality encourages hate crimes against gays.

Merritt had warned the crowd that some disruption was likely. As Merritt began to preach, protesters stood one or two at a time and shouted while police officers led them away. Merritt continued uninterrupted. "I've got news for the pornographer, the adulterer, the homosexual, and the pedophile, we [Southern Baptists] are not going away," Merritt said. "We are not going to march under the white flag of compromise."

The demonstration was over within ten minutes. In addition to the 12 protesters removed from the convention center, 38 were arrested outside.

Media attention quickly turned from the gay-rights protest. SBC leaders found themselves carefully defending or tactfully distancing themselves from the attack on Islam by former SBC president Jerry Vines. At the Pastors' Conference, a pre-convention event, Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, cited religious pluralism as a source of problems in America today.

"They would have us to believe that Islam is just as good as Christianity, but I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Islam is not just as good as Christianity," Vines told the pastors, urging them to preach the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. "Christianity was founded by the virgin-born son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a 9-year-old girl. And I will tell you, Allah is not Jehovah, either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people."

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June (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46