Background:The American Baptist Churches in the USA (ABCUSA) 2 is the descendent of the Northern Baptist Convention that was founded in 1907. They have about 1.5 million members among 5,800 congregations distributed among 34 regions. They are a mainline Christian denomination whose membership is "...gifted by a variety of backgrounds, [who] find unity in diversity and diversity in unity." 3 Like other mainline faith groups, they are currently experiencing a crisis over "the issue:" whether to extend inclusiveness and acceptance:
Being a Baptist faith group, the ABCUSA follows centuries-long traditions of:
Conservative members who want to continue the denomination's discrimination against homosexuals by expelling inclusive congregations from their region or denomination can only do so by violating these fundamental Baptist traditions. This adds an extra level of complexity to the homosexual issue that is not seen in other religious traditions.
Topics covered in this section:
References used
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