World National
©World National / Roger-Luc Chayer

Gay-rights protesters infiltrate Southern Baptist meeting in St. Louis; 50 arrested

ST. LOUIS - The head of the Southern Baptists condemned homosexuality from the podium Tuesday as gay rights protesters shouting slogans marched through the convention hall and into the arms of police.

Twelve protesters were arrested inside the hall, and 38 more were taken into custody outside, where riot police stood near the main doorway.

The dozen protesters who infiltrated the annual meeting of the nation's largest Protestant denomination were charged with ethnic intimidation and trespassing.

"Stop killing us! Stop the spiritual violence!" one man shouted as police dragged him behind the curtains at America's Center. A woman from the group Soulforce, which claims Southern Baptist teachings lead to violence against gays, shouted: "God loves his gay children!"

"You need Jesus!" shouted back the Rev. Robert Smith, a pastor from Cedar Bluff, Alabama. Others hissed as protesters were led away.

The protesters tried to disrupt Southern Baptist president James Merritt's keynote address to nearly 9,000 delegates and their families.

Merritt took aim at the media and Hollywood, citing surveys that show nearly unanimous acceptance in those groups of homosexuality. He said Southern Baptists have a "biblical responsibility" to preach against such things.

"We now face the fact that there are certain groups that are going to protest us every year," he said. "They have let me know in their correspondence, `We are not going away.' Well, I've got news for the pornographer, the adulterer, the homosexual, the pedophile, the abortionist: We are not going away either."

Meanwhile, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that the convention condemn "bigoted" and "hate-filled" statements made by one of its pastors in a speech Monday evening.

The Rev. Jerry Vines, a former SBC president, told conventioneers that many of this country's problems can be blamed on religious pluralism and said "Islam is not just as good as Christianity."

"Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives — and his last one was a 9-year-old girl. And I will tell you Allah is not Jehovah either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people," Vines said.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, said the comments were outrageous.

"It's really unfortunate that a top leader in a mainstream Christian church ... would use such hate-filled and bigoted language in describing the faith of one-fifth of the world's population," Hooper said Tuesday.

William Merrell, a spokesman for the SBC executive committee, said the comments were made outside the actual meeting, and that it was not the SBC's place to comment.

On Tuesday, the Baptists elected a new president, the Rev. Jack Graham, pastor of the 22,000 Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. Graham was the only nominee.

Also Tuesday, President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) greeted delegates via satellite from the White House.

"I want to thank you all for your good works," he said. "You're believers and you're patriots, faithful followers of God and good citizens of America."

The Southern Baptists claim more than 16 million members.