The Southern Baptist Convention will address policies on in vitro fertilization, female pastors and other hot-button topics when it convenes this weekend for its annual business meeting.
During its June 9-12 gathering in Indianapolis, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination will vote on a policy that opposes in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and advocates for an unconditional right to life.
In IVF treatments, several embryos are created to achieve a single pregnancy; the unused embryos can be frozen or destroyed. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos have the legal status of children.
IVF “most often engages in the destruction of embryonic human life and increasingly engages in dehumanizing methods for determining suitability for life and genetic sorting, based on notions of genetic fitness and parental preferences,” reads the preliminary draft of a measure released May 31 by the SBC’s resolutions committee.
If the resolution passes, SBC members would be urged to “reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation.” It would make the SBC the first Protestant denomination to oppose IVF; the Catholic Church has long rejected the procedure.
Another item set for a vote is an amendment to the SBC constitution that would permanently embed a doctrinal statement barring affiliated churches from having women pastors.
The so-called Law Amendment says only those congregations that “affirm, appoint or employ only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture” can be members of the denomination. It will be the second consecutive ballot on the issue, and, if passed, would leave churches that employ or appoint women pastors subject to removal.
The Rev. Mike Law Jr. of Arlington Baptist Church in Northern Virginia originated the measure, which has the support of thousands of SBC ministers.
But some denominational officials say a constitutional amendment is unnecessary, given the doctrinal statement’s prohibition, and have urged a “no” vote.
According to the official Baptist Press news service, other resolution topics include “evangelism, … technologies, parenting, religious liberty, war, integrity in leadership and the usage of non-disclosure agreements.”
One measure condemns Hamas for its Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel and says the Palestinian militant group “unequivocally bears responsibility” for its atrocities and their repercussions on Jews and Palestinians in Gaza.
The resolution says Southern Baptists “deny assertions of moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas” and the group will commit “to standing with the Jewish people and those suffering in the region, and oppose all forms of antisemitism.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.