Autonomy Loses Out

From an editorial in today's Winston-Salem Journal:

The relatively few moderate and liberal Baptists who made it to the annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina this week once again took a beating from conservatives. But the real loser was autonomy, which was long the tie that bound Baptists and helped them in concert to provide a multitude of needed services for those outside their doors.

Autonomy took its latest hit as Baptists gathering at Joel Coliseum this week discussed homosexuality. The messengers, or delegates, to the meeting voted overwhelmingly to break away from any member church that "knowingly affirms, approves or endorses homosexual behavior." The convention's board of directors still has to hammer out the details of how that resolution will be carried out. But the message is clear: The state convention, just as the Southern Baptist Convention that most of its active members support, is setting more of the rules - not the local church, as had long been Baptist tradition.