30 Years Later Southern Baptists and Roe v. Wade.

The Southern Baptist Convention, holding its annual meeting in Phoenix in June, passed with virtual unanimity a resolution reaffirming Southern Baptists' deep conviction that the "Bible affirms that the unborn baby is a person bearing the image of God from the moment of conception" and "all human life is created in the image of God, and therefore sacred to our Creator."

This, in and of itself, is hardly news. The Baptist Faith and Message, Southern Baptists' confessional statement of "those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely held among us," affirms that all children "from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord" and that Southern Baptists are obligated to "speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death."

The Southern Baptist Convention had also passed strongly worded pro-life resolutions beginning in 1980, followed by similar and often issue-specific pro-life resolutions in 1982, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993 (Freedom of Choice Act, Hyde Amendment), 1994 (RU486), 1996, and 2002 (partial-birth abortion).

So why did the Southern Baptist Convention decide the very next year to issue another ringing condemnation of abortion? The answer is two-fold. First, 2003 is, sadly, the 30th grievous anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision which has led directly to the holocaust of over 43 million American babies being killed before their birth because ...