David over at Blue Mass Group called my attention to his timely post about the American Baptist Church — not, as he quickly points out, to be confused with the Southern Baptist Convention. But the ABC, a member of the National Council of Churches, is like all of the mainline protestant denominations grappling with how to develop a contemporary Christian approach to homosexuality.

David reports that the ABC recently held their biennial meeting in Denver where on July 1, the General Secretary, Dr. Roy Medley, delivered a remarkable speech.

“He makes plain,” David writes, “that his personal views are not exactly gay-friendly, but that he values above all the American Baptist traditions of ‘soul freedom’ (meaning the right of every individual to his or her personal relationship with God, with no church-imposed creed or other doctrinal gobbledygook standing between them), radical discipleship, and radical love.” David then points to the part of this speech that struck him.

Here is the part that stood out to me:

“Some today set the principle of soul liberty against the principle of Biblical authority. Baptists have never understood it thus. Our deep commitment to soul liberty is because it is essential to Biblical authority in our lives…. Through soul liberty we recognize God’s own respect for our free will. Through soul liberty we recognize that no one else can answer for us — neither priest, nor preacher, nor creeds or councils. Through soul liberty we honor the primacy of every soul’s encounter with the living God. This is the very heart of what it means to be a Baptist Christian and what the priesthood of all believers means. Our commitment to biblical authority through soul freedom has been precious to us. And it is precious to us now! It doesn’t make our life together easier, but it is essential for radical personal discipleship.”

“That is why American Baptists grant the majority the right to say, ‘This is what we believe’ and also protect the right to speak a minority point of view.”

“Many of us became American Baptists because we saw in this family of faith a profound intertwining of biblical authority with the freedom to explore, examine, and even question. We can testify that coercion in matters of faith does not work…. Other Baptists may have forgotten how precious this soul freedom is. American Baptists; don’t you forget it.”