So. Baptist Report Assailed
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DALLAS — An unreleased report by a Southern Baptist committee says most Baptists believe that Adam and Eve were real people, and that is what seminary professors should teach, the Dallas Times Herald reported Friday.
The report seeks to ease tensions in the denomination, but some Baptists who have heard about it say such statements are the first step in forcing conformity and stifling academic freedom, the newspaper said.
The report of the Peace Committee, a 22-member panel established in 1985, will be presented Tuesday to the Southern Baptists’ annual meeting in St. Louis.
“There’s a genuine concern that they may be moving beyond a statement of faith and telling you how to interpret Scripture,” said the Rev. Roy Honeycutt, president of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky. “That’s so far from the Baptist heritage.”
The 14-million-member body has been fighting for eight years. Conservatives say they are battling theological liberalism in the denomination’s seminaries. Moderates say conservatives are engaged in an administrative takeover.
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