Compiled By GayToday
Soulforce, Inc.
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Laguna Beach, California-Southern Baptist Convention President Dr. James Merritt has been invited to repudiate a "legal opinion" crafted by Southern Baptist Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, which stated, "The state must use…confinement and even execution" to prevent gays and lesbians from parenting children.
If Merritt refuses to repudiate Justice Moore's statement during a 10:45am outside press conference, a delegation of Soulforce supporters plans immediately to carry a prepared case against anti-gay SBC teachings to the podium inside the America's Center during Merritt's opening statement. |
 Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore: Support execution of gays and lesbians |
Hundreds of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders (GLBT) and allies from Soulforce, Inc. will be on the front lines of the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC's) annual meeting for the third year in a row to protest anti-gay Southern Baptist teachings and policies. The SBC's annual meeting will be held at the America's Center in St. Louis this year.
"For three years now Dr. Merritt has refused to consider the evidence that homosexuality is not a sickness or a sin," stated Reverend White, Executive Director and Co-founder of Soulforce. "So we are giving him the opportunity to take a stand against inflammatory rhetoric that convinces us that Southern Baptist teachings lead to intolerance, suffering, and even death for God's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender children."
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In a May 23, 2002 letter to Merritt, Mel White invited Dr. Merritt to hear "tragic true stories" of personal suffering by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender that resulted from "anti-homosexual Southern Baptist teachings and actions."
These "hearings" will take place on Monday June 10 from 9 AM - 4 PM at Centenary United Methodist Church.
Soulforce will be providing workshops and training in nonviolence from June 7 -- 10 at Centenary United Methodist Church, 55 Plaza Square in St. Louis, Missouri in preparation for the direct action on June 11. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, will be the keynote speaker on June 8.
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Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Rev. Mel White: Why We Can't Wait to End this Debate
28 Arrested Protesting at Southern Baptist Convention
Mrs. Judy O'Christian of Landover Baptist Church
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Soul Force
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Dozens of Soulforce supporters were arrested during nonviolent civil disobedience at previous Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings, and Soulforce leaders have vowed to escalate the protests this year.
Letter to Merritt & Schedule of Events: www.soulforce.org
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