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November 16, 2005

Mercer. ARRRGH.

As promised, news links from the Macon Telegraph, the AJC, and the Associated Baptist Press.

I want you to especially pay attention to the last one, because it's evidence that it's not just about the "begone vile Mercer so we can be rid of these gays" storyline:

David Hudson, an Augusta attorney and longtime Mercer trustee, said the most recent problem cited by Georgia Baptists "has been remedied; the university has already taken steps to deny use of facilities for such a group of students."

He said the homosexuality issue was merely a "pretext" for a parting of ways long desired by many conservative Georgia Baptist leaders.

"Anybody that's intellectually honest, that is concerned about students being exposed to the gay agenda because Mercer has some students who speak for equal rights for gay people should immediately have their children stop using their computers and take them out of their homes -- because there's no greater avenue for deviant sexual information than the computer," he said. Hudson is a member of First Baptist Church in Augusta.

"Put it this way," Hudson said. "I think it's more than coincidence that that [article about the symposium] surfaced in the Christian Index the week before the convention..."

Mercer trustee Jimmy Elder, pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbus, said the decision was worse for the convention than for the university. "They have an institution that faithfully and strongly has been teaching future leaders based on Baptist principles and on Baptist values, and they have basically turned their back on them and walked away -- and that's sad."

He said limiting scholarships for its own students will hurt the convention. "It's sort of like, you get mad at the institution and you hurt the people who are least able to defend themselves," Elder said.

Y'know, I was wondering why Kirby Godsey was so willing to give the Christian Index a snap interview on that Mercer Triangle Symposium issue. He apparently understood what was stirring far better than I did.

There is something going on here that is far bigger than a gay student group. I don't know what it is. But it's something.

Posted by Chuck at November 16, 2005 05:30 AM

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Comments

Maybe I'm missing something here, but about the only change that's going to occur at Mercer is that $3.5 billion dollars is going to be taken away from scholarhsips given to Southern Baptist students. The Convention doesn't control the academics, athletics, appointments to the board of trustees, or even the groundskeeping crew, for that matter. So...basically, the GBC is redistributing it's wealth and name away from these college students into something else I'm sure will be an equally worthy endeavor.

Posted by: Mack F. at November 16, 2005 12:33 PM