The Baptist World Alliance says it was "slandered" as being liberal on issues related to homosexuality when the Southern Baptist Convention decided to quit the organization.
Last month, SBC representatives voted at their annual meeting to leave the global federation of Baptist groups.
But the alliance's general secretary, Denton Lotz, said his group was misrepresented at the meeting. Its policy proclaims "the biblical definition of the family, a permanent, monogamous, heterosexual union, as the original divine plan for family life" and the foundation of society, he said.
Lotz took issue with a talk before the SBC vote by President Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Patterson complained of "gay-friendly congregations" in American Baptist Churches, a U.S. denomination of 1.5 million members in the alliance.
However, the SBC's Baptist Press said that Patterson did not cite stands by the alliance itself but American Baptist congregations in Washington state that condone homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Baptist Press said 50 American Baptist congregations belong to the pro-gay Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.
A response from American Baptist Churches cited its 1992 statement that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" and said "the great majority" of its members agree.
The SBC represented 16.3 million of the world alliance's constituency of 47 million Baptists. It provided $300,000 in annual funding for the group.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group of congregations that oppose SBC leadership, boosted its annual alliance support from $20,000 to $40,000 a year. Lotz told the fellowship's annual meeting that U.S. congregations are making up for the loss in SBC donations.