South Carolina Baptist Convention messengers on Nov. 15 approved resolutions calling for transparency in public education and requesting that elected officials ensure that religious liberty “for all Americans” is protected.
Messengers also approved a resolution encouraging South Carolina Baptists to practice purity when using technology, another calling for Christian unity, and one expressing appreciation.
The five resolutions were presented by the SCBC’s resolutions committee and were adopted, without discussion, by a show of ballots.
The follow resolutions were approved:
Transparency in Education
Noting that there are approximately 700,000 students in South Carolina’s public schools, where “secular information (including Darwinian evolution, homosexuality, sinful sexual behavior, and other issues contrary to biblical teaching) is often highlighted by educators and guidance counselors,” and where parents cannot depend on children to “provide an accurate, in-depth, transparent review” of what is being taught, messengers urged South Carolina lawmakers to support legislation that would require public schools to post curriculum materials on the Internet.
The resolution also called on parents and guardians to be “actively engaged in their children’s education and aware of that which they are being exposed [to].”
Protecting Religious Liberty Through Public Policy
Messengers adopted a resolution calling on South Carolina’s local, state and federal elected officials to “ensure the complete religious liberty for all Americans, as guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
“Religious exercise cannot be confined to clergy,” the resolution stated. “It necessarily involves people of faith whose freedom must be accessible to, and in, the business community (including the right of expression through for-profit and non-profit corporations undergirded with Christian convictions).”
The resolution noted that the Department of Health and Human Services has issued amendments that would require group health plans and insurance providers to cover contraception, abortifacients, sterilization and FDA-approved reproductive health counseling, which “infringes on the free exercise of religion in that it provides no exemption for individuals of faith.”
“The Rule, as written, constitutes an unprecedented government intrusion into religious belief and practice, setting a precarious precedent for further intrusions in other areas like the sanctity of marriage and family,” the resolution stated.
Purity in Technology
Messengers approved a resolution to “encourage our members to actively pursue purity in their personal use of current and emerging forms of technology.” The resolution also called on parents to monitor their children’s use of technology and to give children biblical instruction “to help them develop discernment in protecting their hearts and minds as we diligently work to protect ourselves.”
Christian Unity
Nothing that “our testimony and witness to the world is dependent on how we interact with each other,” messengers proclaimed “our intent to foster a climate of unity through Christian communication that brings honor to our Lord.”
Appreciation
By way of resolution, messengers expressed appreciation to the staff of the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, city officials, SCBC officers and staff, and platform speakers, worship leaders and musicians.