SOUTHERN BAPTISTS TO BEGIN WORK ON "MARRIAGE PRESERVATION AMENDMENT"

Following the lead of 11 states whose voters approved constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages, Florida may be next on the list if the Southern Baptists and other conservative groups have their way.

At a meeting Friday near Orlando, the Florida Baptist Convention's State Board of Missions approved a strategy to bring an amendment to the voters next year. It would be part of an effort that includes several other groups such as Florida's chapter of Focus on the Family, Liberty Counsel, the Christian Coalition, and possibly even the Catholic Church

The campaign will be officially launched February 14 with a news conference in Orlando. Gay couples across the state are expected to attempt obtaining marriage licences the same day, according to Jim Narbone, a spokesman for the group Equality Polk County which has been holding weekly protests across from Lakeland's First Baptist Church at the Mall. The church's pastor, Dr. Jay Dennis, introduced a resolution which was approved at the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention calling for an amendment in Florida to legally define marriages in Florida as being between one man and one woman.

I liked what Equality Polk County spokesperson Jim Narbone told the Lakeland Ledger:

"My first reaction is to get angry, but it saddens me that these people, who are supposed to believe in a loving God, are so willing to exclude God's creatures. Baptists, for all their efforts, can only stop marriage in the eyes of the state, not in the eyes of God."