MACON, Ga. -- Georgia Baptists have for the first time in their 177-year history expelled churches, taking the step against two congregations because they have homosexual leaders.
At the close of their annual convention Tuesday, delegates voted overwhelmingly to expel Oakhurst Baptist of Decatur and Virginia-Highland Baptist of Atlanta. Both have gay deacons and Oakhurst has a gay assistant pastor.A year ago, the Georgia Baptist Convention changed its constitution to exclude congregations that "affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior."
"It's kind of like sending a child away from the house when they don't follow the rules," said Gerald Harris, the convention's outgoing president. "It breaks my heart."
Also Tuesday, Southern Baptists attending California's annual convention voted against dropping "Southern" from their name. Supporters of the change said it would be simply a way to attract more members. Opponents feared the move would have shown a softening of a conservative movement within the church.
The name-change proposal received 60 percent of the vote from 2,000 Southern Baptists at the meeting in Sacramento, short of the required two-thirds.
And in North Carolina, delegates at the Baptist State Convention rejected a shared leadership plan between the denomination's conservative and moderate factions. The plan -- which supporters said would avert a split between the two groups -- required two-thirds majority approval from the 3,700 delegates, but received support from only 55 percent.
In Georgia, the expulsion vote means each church loses its affiliation with the convention and will stop sending financial contributions, although Virginia-Highland Baptist has not sent money since 1993, said the Rev. Tim Shirley, the Atlanta church's pastor.
Texas and North Carolina state conventions previously have expelled churches over the issue of homosexuality. In 1992, the national convention expelled the two North Carolina churches, in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
Harris said the Georgia convention and the churches disagree over the Bible's teaching on homosexuality.
While the convention considers it sinful, the churches say that sexual orientation is not chosen but an inherent trait dictated by genetics.
"We read the Bible and we come down on different sides of this issue," said Harris, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta. "I don't know that the convention can compromise its position on this issue."
The convention represents 1.3 million Georgia Baptists in 3,415 churches.
The Rev. Lanny Peters of Oakhurst said he was disappointed but not surprised by the vote. He said he was very upset that the convention had no interest in discussing the topic: His motion to refer the resolutions for additional dialogue was rejected.
"There seemed to be a fear about having face-to-face conversations among Christians, among Baptists, and that's unsettling to me," he said.
There are about 16 million Southern Baptists nationwide, making the Protestant denomination second only to the Roman Catholic Church in membership.