Staying in the fray

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Staying in the fray

Many Southern Baptists resolve to remain in public schools, fight for beliefs

By Ken Garfield, The Charlotte Observer, June 18, 2006

GREENSBORO -- Seeing how this was a religious body that once boycotted Disney over some of its programs and policies, the consensus building among many Southern Baptists this week seems remarkable.

Rather than run from a culture that concerns and often offends them, many say their call now is to engage the culture -- especially if that means fighting for what they perceive is the soul of children in public schools.

The Southern Baptist Convention Tuesday and Wednesday generated the usual headline or two over stands that some see as principled and others as extreme. Messengers, or voting delegates, to the annual meeting passed an anti-alcohol resolution that urges convention boards not to appoint those who would let even a sip of alcohol pass their lips -- no matter that Jesus had a little wine in his day.

But in declining even to vote on a call for Southern Baptist parents to pull their children from public schools, the faithful made a statement that may resonate beyond the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Their place, many Southern Baptists say, is in the fray, fighting for what they believe.

Santiago Betancur-Parr, a 16-year-old rising senior at a public high school in Woodstock, Ga., put it as eloquently as any preacher standing behind a Sunday morning pulpit: "I believe we're supposed to be standing up for our beliefs in public schools."

`We can not withdraw'
With little debate Wednesday evening, the convention approved by a wide margin a resolution urging Southern Baptists to engage the public schools. Rather than removing their children because they believe teachers and principals promote homosexuality and evolution and outlaw prayer, the faithful were told to take on the public schools on their turf. Run for school board. Affirm Christian teachers. Encourage youth who view teaching as a calling to get into the public school classroom.

The Rev. Tommy French, a New Orleans pastor and seminary professor who led the resolutions committee, said some Southern Baptists can't afford to send their children to Christian private schools. With two parents working, not everyone is in a position to home-school. In French's eyes, the schools aren't the enemy; they're the mission field waiting for salt and light.

"We can not withdraw from the world," he said.

`Eternal destiny of our children'
Some Southern Baptists insist on seeing public schools as Public Enemy No. 1.

The Rev. Wiley Drake, a California pastor who has become a Southern Baptist Convention folk hero after years of offering various resolutions at annual meetings, said many believe public schools are dangerous places "morally, spiritually and physically."

Roger Moran, a Missouri businessman, noted that the evangelical church is losing many of its children once they grow up. He wants the convention to study what public school education might have to do with it.

"The eternal destiny of our children," he said, "is at stake."

Moran said his wife, Ronna, home-schools their nine children, ages 1 to 18.

"She's busy and wore out," he said.

While opponents of public schools were disappointed the convention stopped short of an exit strategy, Southern Baptist Convention critics don't believe the call to engage is a positive alternative.

In an e-mail to the Observer, Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville, Tenn., said Southern Baptist fundamentalists are smearing public schools with false charges of teaching the homosexual lifestyle and indoctrinating students with the theory of evolution.

He said school board candidates whose only agenda is to politicize races from a theocratic perspective are a divisive force.

"Perhaps more profoundly, however," Parham wrote, "the ...resolution really doesn't encourage Southern Baptists to send their children to public schools. It acknowledges that Christians send their children to `government schools.' That's all.

"Unlike fundamentalists," Parham wrote, "good-will Baptists seek to strengthen public schools to provide the best education possible to all citizens for the common good, not sneakily make classrooms into Sunday school classes."

Said Parham: "The SBC at its heart has an anti-everything agenda."

`A mission field to go into'
The hallmark of the Southern Baptist church is that no matter what resolution flies or falls at these annual meetings, the faithful are free to follow the whispers of their heart.Most agree that the convention as a whole made a statement by embracing a call to engage the public schools rather than a call to withdraw from them.

Conventioneers, one by one over two days in a coliseum chilled by an overworked air- conditioning system, echoed that conviction in their own lives.

Kelli Carlisle, a preacher's wife and former public and private school teacher from Alcolu, S.C., near Florence, looked defiant when asked about those who advocate withdrawal.

"Personally," she said, "I find it to be a mission field to go into rather than avoid."

A political dimension to this issue: It's hard for Southern Baptists to condemn public schools when so many of the faithful were educated there -- and so many today teach there, including preacher's wives.

Maria Aldridge, who teaches ESL at Newland Elementary School in the small N.C. mountain town, said parents failing to support teachers and getting involved in their children's education is a bigger problem than no praying in school.

Betancur-Parr, the Georgia youth who attends Woodstock High, started in private school before switching to public.

Yes, he said, there are more drugs and drinking, more problems to make a Christian wince.

But there's also more of a variety of people, he added, more to see and learn and help influence.

Two teens, one spirit
In Southern Baptists seeking to engage public schools, there probably will be some who see this as a chance to witness and convert rather than talk and listen. As Parham put it, "A few words don't whitewash the leadership's agenda."

But in a denomination that once wanted its members to avoid even the most wholesome side of Disney, the spirit of at least thinking about opening new doors was captured by a couple of buddies from Morehead City enjoying the Southern Baptist Convention together.

Micah Fields, 15, is home-schooled -- an opportunity that gives him the flexibility to play four instruments, sing, dance and get involved in scouting.

He loves it.

David Taylor, 15, attends West Carteret High School -- an opportunity that gives him the chance to get a good education and talk and pray with all sorts of kids.

He loves it, too.

Two Southern Baptist friends from the N.C. coast, each sharing the same story from a different place:

Said Micah the home-schooler: "I really think the public school system is a really great thing."

Said David the public-school student: "I wish there was more about God, but as long as you have good parents and upbringing...."

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