Southern Baptists’ Funds Are Slashed

Texas’ 2.7 million Baptists dealt a severe blow to the Southern Baptist Convention, withdrawing $5 million in funding on the grounds that the denomination is becoming too conservative. The vote in Corpus Christi is considered a watershed in the doctrinal conflict that has long roiled the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. In recent years, Southern Baptists have barred female pastors, declared that wives should “submit graciously” to their husbands and condemned homosexuality. The Texans will still send some $19 million, mostly for missionary work.