Public school critics get scant support from state Baptist conventions

(RNS) Only one state convention affiliated with Southern Baptists passed a resolution last fall criticizing public schools, but leaders of an effort to move Christians away from public education say they will continue to press their cause.

A resolution passed at the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention urged that state's Southern Baptists "give serious consideration to the inherent dangers of the secular educational philosophies" within public schools. It urged them to consider "the importance of systematically training ourselves and our children in the ways of authentic, biblical Christianity."

Roger Moran, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said he wrote and introduced the resolution out of concern that a large percentage of children leave the evangelical church at age 18 never to return. He told Religion News Service that he believes the public schools play a role in young people not sticking with the faith into which they were baptized.

In June, the resolutions committee for the annual national meeting of Southern Baptists in Indianapolis chose not to recommend a resolution to convention attendees that would have rejected their involvement in public education. A supporter of the resolution made an unsuccessful attempt to amend another resolution to address his concerns.