American Baptist Vote to Condemn Gays Fails : Doctrine: General Board narrowly rejects a resolution calling homosexuality incongruent with the ‘Christian lifestyle.’

The American Baptist Churches has rejected a call to condemn homosexuality as outside the Christian lifestyle.

Voting Monday in Green Lake, Wis., the church’s top policy-making body, the General Board, narrowly rejected the resolution condemning gays with 88 yes votes, 91 no and two abstentions.

The vote comes just two weeks after the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, the largest of the nation’s Baptist bodies, expelled two North Carolina congregations for permissive stands on homosexuality.

The American Baptist resolution was submitted by the denomination’s West Virginia Baptist Convention.

James Johnson of Fairmont, W. Va., a supporter of the resolution, described it as “compassionate in intent and tone” and honoring “Christian moral and ethical imperatives.”

However, Glenn Barrett of Dayton, Ohio, spoke against the resolution, arguing that a number of gays have left the church because of “edicts of judgment” against them.

“There is homosexual behavior that is very loving and charitable,” he said, adding that gay and lesbian relationships, like those that are heterosexual, can be “authentic and blessed of God.”

The resolution stated, “In Scripture, the plan of our Creator God for the fulfillment of sexual union is to be between one man and one woman in the heterosexual, monogamous and lifelong institution of marriage. Jesus endorsed this plan. We find no scriptural endorsement of the practice of homosexuality as a Christian lifestyle.

“There is pressure by some to gain acceptance within our denomination of both the practice of homosexuality as a Christian lifestyle and the ordination to the Christian ministry of avowed practicing homosexuals.”

The vote was preceded by three hours of debate, including statements by 55 people.

Even though the resolution failed, Johnson said he believed “every effort was made” to air the issue fairly.

Dianne Wisemiller of Cincinnati, who voted in favor of the resolution, said she feared the vote would be interpreted as an endorsement of homosexuality.

The Rev. Daniel E. Weiss, general secretary of the 1.5-million-member denomination, said the vote “does not imply an endorsement of the other side of the issue.”

American Baptist Churches is an association of Baptist congregations based primarily in the northern United States. American Baptists are generally more liberal than Southern Baptists on most issues.

Virtually all of the nation’s major mainline denominations are deeply embroiled in discussion about the morality of homosexuality, usually centered on ordination of gays who are sexually active.

Most have rules against ordaining gays who are sexually active but encourage compassionate treatment of gays and lesbians.

The denominations with the most accepting views of homosexuality are the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Assn.