Hi Zac, we're glad you found us. I forwarded the link to the article Joe posted onto the
Equality Riders because what they are on the road speaking out against is happening in our state too.
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So I'm working on my letter to the newspaper. Here's the first draft.
Dear Editor,
I read with sadness the news of the University of the Cumberlands expelling student Jason Johnson for revealing on his personal webpage at MySpace.com that he is gay.
President Jim Taylor defended the Southern Baptist school’s action by stating, “We are different by design, and are non-apologetic about our Christian beliefs.”
It is bad enough that the school administration committed this sin, but they double it when they link their discrimination to Jesus. To comprehend how they could justify such injustice, one must be aware of the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. They are the one denomination born specifically out of a belief that slavery was biblical. In the 161 years since they broke away from other Baptists, they have exchanged one prejudice for another – favoring slavery and Jim Crow laws, opposing women’s suffrage, resisting civil rights for blacks, limiting women’s role in ministry, and fighting against equality for gays and lesbians. A review of history shows Southern Baptists have done all these things while citing scripture.
Southern Baptist fundamentalists may never understand how expelling students due to sexual orientation is unfair, but middle America is certainly coming around. Actually, some Southern Baptists in the pew are starting to see the injustice as well. Sadly, when they voice their beliefs against discrimination, they too find themselves in trouble with the leaders of their denomination.