Columbus, USA - The Georgia Baptist Convention severed ties with Mercer University during its annual meeting, citing the school's lack of commitment to the national Southern Baptist Convention. The decision only becomes final with a second vote next year.
Meanwhile, a Tennessee Baptist Convention meeting voted to end funding for Belmont University, weeks after Belmont said it was prepared to give up the money as part of a plan to elect more non-Baptist trustees. The Baptists, in turn, increased support for two other Tennessee schools, Carson-Newman College and Union University.
Belmont plans to reorganize its board so that up to 40 percent of its members are Christians from other denominations, rather than accepting exclusively Baptist nominations from the state convention. Baptists provide about 3 percent of the university budget.
In Georgia, Baptist spokeswoman Diane Reasoner said church members were "deeply troubled" by news articles that teachers in the religion department supported Mercer Triangle Symposium, the school's first gay student group, which participated in National Coming Out Day.
"For these and many other reasons, Georgia Baptists from around the state recognize that Mercer and the convention have grown apart in their values and commitment," an official statement said.
A Baptist panel also said university President R. Kirby Godsey had deviated from biblical theology in a 1996 book.
The Baptist affiliation has existed for 175 years. The Baptist convention provides Mercer about $3.5 million a year.
In May, Georgia's Supreme Court rejected Shorter College's attempt to sever its ties with the Georgia Baptist Convention and ruled that Baptists have sole power to appoint the board. Shorter sought to break away after a regional accrediting agency questioned the school's independence.