Atlanta, USA - More than 30 groups representing over 20 million Baptists will gather next week in Atlanta for what is being touted as the broadest meeting of Baptists in the United States since slavery tore the faith apart more than a century ago.
The gathering -- a brainchild of former president Jimmy Carter, co-chairman of the event with former president Bill Clinton -- aims to give moderate Baptists a stronger national voice. Many hope it will also serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, which has been closely aligned with the Republican Party.
"In the public eye . . . Baptists only seem to be either denouncing somebody or fighting among themselves," said Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest Divinity School, a member of the conference's program committee. "And there is a new generation of Baptist ministers -- conservative and liberal -- who are tired of that."
But fissures are already appearing in the delicate coalition. Baptists who support gay rights are unhappy at being blocked from an official role, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has backed out after Carter made remarks against President Bush, and there are complaints that the meeting is taking on political overtones.
And leaders of the 16.3 million-member Southern Baptist Convention aren't attending, saying it is aimed solely at boosting support for the Democratic Party.
"This is a meeting that is being called by two former Democratic presidents -- one of whom has a wife who is a major candidate for the Democratic nomination for president -- and the meeting is being held less than a week before Super Tuesday," said the Rev. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "Coincidence? I think not."
Organizers expect upward of 10,000 participants for the New Baptist Covenant meeting that begins Wednesday. The three-day gathering will feature a host of political heavyweights. Along with Clinton and Carter, former vice president Al Gore and Republican Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Charles E. Grassley (Iowa) are on the agenda. Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund and a Hillary Clinton supporter, is a speaker.
Organizers have high hopes for the gathering, which will focus on promoting evangelism, dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, fighting poverty, reforming the criminal justice system, and other social issues.
After some participants expressed concern that the meeting was too heavily Democratic, organizers added Grassley and Graham to the lineup. But that led to complaints that there were too many politicians.
Organizers point out that the political leaders are Baptists and that other speakers include novelist John Grisham, football coaches and preachers.
"We have people of all kinds of political persuasions coming," Carter said in an interview last week.
But one who isn't coming is Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister. He had accepted an invitation to attend but withdrew last May after Carter called the Bush administration the "worst in history" in international relations. In a statement, Huckabee said the comment was "unbecoming to the office as well as unbecoming to one whose conference is supposed to be about civility and bringing people together."
Last week, Carter called Huckabee's withdrawal a "deep disappointment" but said he believed it was related to his run for president.
Politics hasn't been the only source of conflict. Theological differences over homosexuality have also caused tensions. Two Baptist organizations that support gay rights were told they could not participate because it could damage the alliance of diverse Baptists.
The issue is an awkward one for participants. Most Baptist groups believe that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings, while others do not believe the Bible takes such a position.
The pro-gay groups -- the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, representing about 160 congregations -- applied to join the North American Baptist Fellowship, the group coordinating the event, but were turned down.
In an e-mail last July, Alan Stanford, general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship, apologized for the rejection.
"It is a recognition that we can not hold together the large coalition of Baptists needed to create a new Baptist voice in North America and address the issue of sexual orientation at the same time," Stanford said in his e-mail, adding, "In order to get the many Baptist groups in N. America to participate together we have had to focus on the issues on which we have broad agreement."
Activists from both organizations say members plan to attend individually and will erect an exhibit on site.
"We're going to be active and participatory . . . and very positive," said the Rev. Ken Pennings, executive director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.
Although leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, who represent about half of U.S. Baptists, don't plan to attend, not all Southern Baptists are staying away. Two moderate SBC-affiliated organizations -- the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Baptist General Convention of Texas -- are participating.
The New Baptist Covenant developed out of meetings with Baptist leaders organized by Carter, who, like Clinton, was raised a Southern Baptist but grew disillusioned by the denomination as it became theologically and politically conservative. Carter severed ties with the SBC in 2000.
"These are Baptists who feel like they've been essentially silenced," said Nancy Ammerman, a Boston University sociology professor who studies the Baptist movement.
"The other Baptists have had the limelight and have formed in the larger public imagination the image of what constitutes a Baptist. . . . The Jerry Fallwells and Pat Robertsons of the world -- people look at them and say, 'Oh, well, that's what a Baptist is.' "
The New Baptist Covenant's coalition includes black churches, such as the National Baptist Convention USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and predominantly white groups, including the American Baptist Churches USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Latino and other ethnic churches are also sending members.
Carter said he hopes the gathering will serve as a model for other Christian denominations, such as Episcopalians, that are facing divisions over key theological issues, demonstrating "that Baptists can work together in a spirit of harmony and cooperation."