Alabama Baptists Won't Back Down on Opposing Same-Sex Couples as Foster Parents, President Says

By Greg Garrison

Southern Baptists in Alabama will not back down from their opposition to same-sex marriage, nor will they allow same-sex couples to serve as foster parents at their children’s homes, Alabama Baptist Convention President John Killian said today.

Killian, pastor of Maytown Baptist Church since 1998, completes his second one-year term as president of the Alabama Baptist Convention on Wednesday. The convention is meeting today and Wednesday at Lakeside Baptist Church.

In his outgoing message, Killian said that the Baptists would stand firm even as 32 states now have legalized same-sex marriage.

The Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes have six group homes statewide, about 145 foster homes in all, caring for about 425 children a year, who are often referred through the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

“We are seeing an issue as basic as marriage now challenged,” Killian told several hundred lay and clergy delegates today. “We all love and are proud of our Baptist Children’s Home. This great ministry does not accept state funding, however they will serve as a pass-through to children who receive state aid. If the day comes when that funding is cut because we will not allow same-sex couples to serve as foster parents – and (Children’s Homes President) Dr. Rod Marshall is firm on biblical morality – then will we make the difference in our giving? I pray that we will.”

After his sermon, Killian said that Southern Baptists will likely encounter social pressure to accept same-sex marriage. “I could see it affecting the children’s home,” Killian said.

He can’t foresee Southern Baptists ever allow same-sex couples to serve as foster parents, he said.

“Alabama Baptists will never change that policy,” he said.

In his sermon to the convention, Killian stressed maintaining an emphasis on the authority of the Bible.

“While music has changed, preaching styles have changed, our living arrangements have changed, we are still a convention of Baptists who hold to the Bible as God’s inerrant word and hold to the need of the world to be impacted by the Gospel of Christ,” Killian said in his sermon.

“Our job is not to make our preaching accepted. Our job is to preach the truth. Our combined ministries may catch the ire of the news media, may be mocked by religious leaders, and our love and kindness to our world may not be accepted. But we have no choice, we cannot waver on the absolute truths that will last for all eternity.”