May 15, 2000
Wake Forest policy on gays addressed
___ATLANTA--Although it did not seek controversy, a North Carolina divinity school has sought to deal redemptively and openly with the issue of homosexuality, its dean reported.
___"Our university has an open-admissions policy," said Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School, which opened last fall.
___"We did not seek this issue. I would not have chosen this issue," Leonard said of the policy during a question-and-answer session at the inaugural meeting of the Network of Mainstream Baptists in Atlanta.
___The issue had immediate implications for the divinity school, whose inaugural class includes a lesbian, he noted.
___The university's--and subsequently the divinity school's--policy on homosexuality does not imply endorsement for the homosexual lifestyle, he said. Rather, it reflects a commitment to dialogue and even honest disagreement.
___While admitting his discomfort with the issue, Leonard pledged, "I'll die on this floor of non-discriminatory admissions. There needs to be some oases where we can talk about this, and the seminary needs to be one of those."
___That's true because a training school for ministers needs to prepare them for the real world, he said. "Our graduates are going to have to confront this issue in churches."
___The Wake Forest Divinity School is one of the schools of theology that receives funds for student scholarships from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal said the organization will continue to support the divinity school.
___"We consider Wake Forest as a valued partner in leadership development for our future," Vestal said. "As I understand the Wake Forest situation, the admission of homosexuals is part of the university policy which is mandated by law. We are not prepared to sever our relationship based on an open admission policy."
___Vestal stressed the Fellowship's support of the divinity school is not an endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle.
___"I want to be very clear that the CBF is not an advocate of the gay and lesbian lifestyle," he said. "We are often accused of that, but it is not true. I believe homosexuality is wrong and contrary to Scripture. I believe marriage is holy before God, and I'm not going to do anything that will undermine the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.
___"Now, if the Wake Forest Divinity School were to take an advocacy role concerning homosexuality, the CBF would have a problem," Vestal said. "But CBF does not interpret (the divinity school's) position as an advocacy for the gay/lesbian lifestyle."
___Vestal confirmed at least three or four churches that have some kind of homosexual advocacy send money to the Fellowship. He said the CBF nevertheless accepts donations from these churches.
___"We have not made that (homosexual issue) a litmus test for participation," Vestal said. "That does not mean that the CBF as an organization agrees with their positions."
___Todd Starnes of Baptist Press and Greg Warner of Associated Baptist Press contributed to this story
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