244 WHERE IS EVANGELICAL FEMINISM TAKING US?
with Christian teaching,” and they voted 674 to 262 (72 percent to 28
percent) to retain a ban on the ordination and placement of practicing
homosexuals as ministers.^19 The votes show significant minorities in the
General Conference (somewhere around one-third) advocating the
approval of homosexuality, but these vote margins suggest that they are
unlikely to win majority approval in the near future.
5. AMERICAN BAPTIST CHURCHES
Religion writer Edward Plowman reported that the 1.5 million member
American Baptist Churches (U.S.A.) “has a strong position on homosexual
practice as incompatible with Scripture. But its liberal-dominated governing
board has blocked all efforts to enforce the policy on member churches on
grounds Baptist churches are autonomous, don’t have creeds, and have the
right to interpret the Bible as they wish.”^20 Plowman predicted that the
denomination “will fracture” over this issue in the summer of 2006.^21
In fact, Plowman’s prediction proved correct in May 2006, when “The
governing board of one of its largest and most thriving regional units, the
American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest, voted unanimously
to withdraw from the ABCUSA.”^22 This action removed some 300
churches in Southern California, Arizona, northern Nevada, and Hawaii.
The article added that “The American Baptist Evangelicals renewal group,
reportedly representing some 500 churches, recently announced that there
is no hope left for Bible-based renewal of the ABCUSA; leaders disbanded
it.. .”^23 Other regions are considering withdrawing as well, and it appears
the denomination may soon be only a shell of its former self. The end of
the slippery slope is the destruction of a denomination.
6. CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
Nor is this movement confined to liberal denominations. The Christian
Reformed Church (CRC) is still thought to be largely evangelical, and
it was only in 1995 that the CRC approved the ordination of women.
(^19) Edward E. Plowman, “Four More Years,” World, May 22, 2004, quoted from http://www.world
mag.com/world/issue/05-22-04/national_5.asp.
(^20) Edward E. Plowman, “Mainline Mess,” World, January 14, 2006, 28.
(^21) Ibid.
(^22) “Cracked Foundation,” World, June 10, 2006, 72.
(^23) Ibid.