*NOTE:  William O. Crews was elected president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary October 13, 1986, but was asked to remain as a member; Cecil E. Sherman resigned from the Special Committee Oct. 22, 1986, and was replaced by Peter James Flamming; Charles F. Stanley and W. Winfred Moore served by virtue of office as president and first vice president of the Convention, and were asked to remain after their terms of office expired.

 Since its creation, the Peace Committee has met 14 times.  Following each meeting, a report was given to Southern Baptists by Chairman Charles G. Fuller through the denominational news service, Baptist Press.

 Dr. Herschel Hobbs, a member of the Peace Committee and chairman of the committee which wrote the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message Statement, explained the phrase "truth without any mixture of error for its matter..." by reference to II Timothy 3:16 which says, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God."  He explained:  "The Greek New Testament reads 'all'--without the definite article--and that means every single part of the whole is God-breathed.  And a God of truth does not breathe error."  Dr. Hobbs made the comments during the 1981 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Los Angeles, California.

 Using Article I of the Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963 as a yardstick, Peace Committee subcommittees visited each of the Southern Baptist seminaries and five other agencies:  the Foreign Mission Board, the Home Mission Board, Baptist Sunday School Board, Historical Commission and Christian Life Commission.  Following those visits, the committee adopted a "Statement on Theological Diversity."

 "The Peace Committee has completed a preliminary investigation of the theological situation in our SBC seminaries.  We have found significant theological diversity within our seminaries, reflective of the diversity within our wider constituency.  These divergencies are found among those who claim to hold a high view of Scripture and to teach in accordance with, and not contrary to, the Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963.

 Examples of this diversity include the following, which are intended to be illustrative but not exhaustive.

 (1) Some accept and affirm the direct creation and historicity of Adam and Eve while others view them instead as representative of the human race in its creation and fall.

 (2) Some understand the historicity of every event in Scripture as reported by the original source while others hold that the historicity can be clarified and revised by the findings of modern historical scholarship.

 (3) Some hold to the stated authorship of every book in the Bible while others hold that in some cases such attribution may not refer to the final author or may be pseudonymous.

 (4) Some hold that every miracle in the Bible is intended to be taken as an historical event while others hold that some miracles are intended to be taken as parabolic.

 The Peace Committee is working earnestly to find ways to build bridges between those holding divergent views so that we may all legitimately coexist and work together in harmony to accomplish our common mission.  Please pray that we may find ways to use our diversity to win the greatest number to faith in Christ as Savior and Lord."

 Early in its second year, the Peace Committee continued to discuss theological concerns, including the fact that there are at least two separate and distinct interpretations of Article I of the Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963, reflective of the diversity present in the Convention.  One view holds that when the article says the Bible has "truth without any mixture of error for its matter," it means all areas--historical, scientific, theological and philosophical.  The other holds the "truth" relates only to matters of faith and practice.

 The Committee discussed whether the faculties of the SBC seminaries adequately reflect the views of many Southern Baptists who believe in the first interpretation.  A Peace Committee subcommittee met with the six seminary presidents to communicate the need for the faculties to reflect the beliefs of these Southern Baptists.

 In October, 1986, the Peace Committee held a prayer retreat at Glorieta Baptist Conference Center near Santa Fe, New Mexico, attended by the Peace Committee and leaders of all national agencies.  During that meeting, the seminary presidents presented a statement of their intentions which has become known as the "Glorieta Statement:"

 "We, the presidents of the six SBC seminaries, through prayerful and careful reflection and dialogue, have unanimously agreed to declare these commitments regarding our lives and our work with Southern Baptists.

 We believe that Christianity is supernatural in its origin and history. We repudiate every theory of religion which denies the supernatural elements in our faith.  The miracles of the Old and New Testaments are historical evidences of God's judgment, love and redemption.

 We believe that the Bible is fully inspired; it is 'God-breathed' (II Tim. 3:16), utterly unique.  No other book or collection of books can justify that claim.  The sixty-six books of the Bible are not errant in any area of reality.  We hold to their infallible power and binding authority.

 We believe that our six seminaries are fulfilling the purposes assigned to them by the Southern Baptist Convention.  Nevertheless, we acknowledge that they are not perfect institutions.  We recognize that there are legitimate concerns regarding them which we are addressing.

 We commit ourselves therefore to the resolution of the problems which beset our beloved denomination.  We are ready and eager to be partners in the peace process.  Specifically:

(1) We reaffirm our seminary confessional statements, and we will enforce compliance by the persons signing them.

(2) We will foster in our classrooms a balanced, scholarly frame of reference for presenting fairly the entire spectrum of scriptural interpretations represented by our constituencies.  We perceive this to be both good education and good cooperation.

(3) We respect the convictions of all Southern Baptists and we repudiate the caricature and intimidation of persons for their theological beliefs.

(4) We commit ourselves to fairness in selecting faculty, lecturers and chapel speakers across the theological spectrum of our Baptist constituency.

(5) We will lead our seminary communities in spiritual revival, personal discipleship, Christian lifestyle and active churchmanship.

(6) We will deepen and strengthen the spirit of evangelism and missions on our campuses while emphasizing afresh the distinctive doctrines of our Baptist heritage.

(7) We have scheduled for Southern Baptists three national conferences.

 A Conference on Biblical Inerrancy--*1987

 A Conference on Biblical Interpretation--1988

 A Conference on Biblical Imperative--1989

*NOTE:  The first conference, focusing on biblical inerrancy, was held at Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center May 4-7, 1987, with more than 1,000 in attendance.

 We share these commitments with the hope that all Southern Baptists will join us in seeking "the wisdom from above" in our efforts toward reconciliation:

 "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity." (James 3:17)

 The Peace Committee affirmed the Glorieta Statement and ceased its official inquiry, referring unanswered questions and unresolved issues back to the administrators and trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, hoping the results of their actions would be satisfactory to the Convention-at-large.

 During the Committee's December, 1986, meeting, additional questions arose as to the meaning and the implementation of the Glorieta Statement.

 The seminary presidents report that their efforts to implement the Statement have included an effort to recruit conservative scholars to fill faculty vacancies, expansion of reading lists, invitations to conservative scholars to address chapel and other events, a commitment to treat all persons fairly and expanded evangelistic and missions activities on campus.

 The question for the majority of the Peace Committee, however, remains not whether there is diversity in the Southern Baptist Convention but how broad that diversity can be while still continuing to cooperate.

Political sources:  In the opinion of the Peace Committee, the controversy of the last decade began as a theological concern.  When people of good intention became frustrated because they felt their convictions on Scripture were not seriously dealt with, they organized politically to make themselves heard.  Soon, another group formed to counter the first and the political process intensified.

 The Peace Committee, primarily through its Political Activities Subcommittee, has studied charges and counter charges regarding political activity.  It has looked at many issues, including:

 Restructuring the Constitution and Bylaws of the Southern Baptist Convention to limit the appointive powers of the president; restructuring the way in which the annual meeting is held, specifically shifting the pre-Convention meetings to post-Convention meetings; cooperation between the Pastors' Conference and the SBC Forum; discussing the coverage of personalities and issues in the controversy by the official and unofficial news media outlets; the use of descriptive terms and labels for the various groups, "de-politicizing" the Convention by asking the various groups to "standdown" from political activities; instituting stricter means of messenger registration and voting to prevent misuse of the registration and voting processes at annual meetings.

 A primary area of discussion was changing the Constitution and Bylaws of the Convention to restrict the appointive powers of the president.  However, the majority of the committee's members feel the basic Convention structure has served Southern Baptists well and should not now be changed.

 The Committee investigated numerous charges of political malfeasance and voter irregularity.  It heard a detailed report, complete with statistical analysis, on messenger participation at annual meetings, presented by the SBC Registration Secretary and Convention Manager, as well as the chairman of a special study committee appointed by the SBC Executive Committee.  Although the reports included isolated instances of registration and ballot abuse, there was no evidence of widespread or organized misuse of the ballot by any political group and no evidence of massive voter irregularities related to annual meetings.

 The Political Activities Subcommittee, as well as a special ad-hoc committee, dealt with the question of a parliamentarian for the annual meeting.  The matter was deferred in 1986, because then SBC president Charles F. Stanley appointed a certified parliamentarian to assist him at the Atlanta annual meeting.  The Committee is recommending a new bylaw be prepared concerning the appointment of a certified parliamentarian and two assistant parliamentarians for the annual meeting.

 A special subcommittee also looked into the possibility of "negative designation" or "selective support" of agencies through the Cooperative Program, but concluded that a change in the basic structure of the unified giving plan would not provide significant help in resolving the crisis.

 The Committee also adopted the more elaborate statement on Scripture.

 The "Statement On Scripture:"

 We, as a Peace Committee, affirm Biblical authority for all of life and for all fields of knowledge.  The Bible is a book of redemption, not a book of science, psychology, sociology or economics.  But, where the Bible speaks, the Bible speaks truth in all realms of reality and to all fields of knowledge.  The Bible, when properly interpreted, is authoritative to all of life.

 We, as a Peace Committee, reaffirm the Baptist commitment to the absolute authority of Scripture, and to the historic Baptist position that the Bible has 'truth without any mixture of error for its matter.'  We affirm that the narratives of Scripture are historically and factually accurate.  We affirm that the historic accounts of the miraculous and the supernatural are truthful as given by God and recorded by the biblical writers.

 We, as a Peace Committee, have found that most Southern Baptists see 'truth without any mixture of error for its matter,' as meaning, for example, that

 (1) They believe in direct creation of mankind and therefore they believe Adam and Eve were real persons.

 (2) They believe the named authors did indeed write the biblical books attributed to them by those books.

 (3) They believe the miracles described in Scripture did indeed occur as supernatural events in history.

 (4) They believe that the historical narratives given by biblical authors are indeed accurate and reliable as given by those authors.

 We call upon Southern Baptist institutions to recognize the great number of Southern Baptists who believe this interpretation of our confessional statement and, in the future, to build their professional staffs and faculties from those who clearly reflect such dominant convictions and beliefs held by Southern Baptists at large.

 However, some members of the Peace Committee differ from this viewpoint.  They would hold that "truth without any mixture of error" relates only to faith and practice.  They would also prefer a broader theological perspective.  Yet, we have learned to live together on the Peace Committee in mutual charity and commitment to each other.  We pledge our mutual efforts to fulfill the Great Commission and we call on others within our Convention to make the same pledge.

On Politics:  The Committee has found that the sources of the political aspect of the controversy are long standing.  Historically, informal political groups or coalitions have emerged in Southern Baptist life.  Prior to the last decade, most of these groups operated informally by word-of-mouth among mutual acquaintances interested in selecting the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention.  More recently, these groups have developed organized coalitions centered around theological perceptions and committed to electing leadership committed to a particular viewpoint.  The effort has been largely successful but led to the formation of a counter-effort which has increased hostility and turned up the heat on the controversy.

 After its investigation, the Peace Committee found "that the extent of political activity…at the present time creates distrust, diminishes our ability to do missions and evangelism, is detrimental to our influence and impedes our ability to serve our Lord."

 The Committee adopted two statements, one a "foundational" statement and the other a more elaborate statement.

 The "Foundational Statement On Politics:"

 It is the unanimous conclusion of the Peace Committee that fairness in the appointive process will contribute to peace.

 Therefore, we exhort the present and future presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Committee on Committees and the Committee on Boards to select nominees who endorse the Baptist Faith and Message Statement and are drawn in balanced fashion from the broad spectrum of loyal, cooperative Southern Baptists, representative of the diversity of our denomination.

 The more elaborate statement on politics also was adopted.

 The "Statement On Politics:"

 Politics are intrinsically a part of congregational policy, i.e., voting, public and private discussions, influencing others to share one's view.

 Historically, informal political groups or coalitions have emerged in Southern Baptist life.  Prior to the last decade, most of these groups operated informally by word-of-mouth among mutual acquaintances interested in selecting the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention.  More recently, these groups have developed organized coalitions centered on theological perceptions and individual leaders committed to a defined viewpoint.  These coalitions have adopted political strategies for electing officers of the Convention, appointing committees, and changing or preserving the character of accepted institutions.  These strategies have included extensive travel, numerous informational and ideological meetings, mailouts, network of representatives who share in this common strategy, and sustained efforts to recruit messengers to attend the Convention.

 We as a Peace Committee recognize that these political coalitions and strategies were born in part, at least, out of deep conviction and concern for theological issues.

 But, we believe that the time has come for the Convention to move beyond this kind of politics.  We find that the extent of political activity within the Southern Baptist Convention at the present time promotes a party spirit, creates discord, division and distrust, diminishes our ability to do missions and evangelism, is detrimental to our influence and impedes our ability to serve our Lord.

 If allowed to continue unchecked, such political activity in the Convention can have disastrous consequences affecting our ability to serve our Lord and do His work.

 Steps have been taken and additional steps are recommended in this report to resolve the theological issues involved in our present controversy.  Because of our fear of the consequences of continued organized political activity within our Convention, and since steps have been and will continue to be taken to resolve theological issues, we feel that continued organized political activity within the Southern Baptist Convention is no longer necessary, desirable, or appropriate.  We think the continuation of such political activity in the future would be unacceptable and could be disastrous.

 We recommend that the Southern Baptist Convention request all organized political factions to discontinue the organized political activity in which they are now engaged.  We think the following specific activities are out of place and request all groups to discontinue these specific political activities:

(1) Organized political activity.

(2) Political strategies developed by a group with central control.

(3) Holding information/ideological meetings.

(4) Extensive travel on behalf of political objectives within the Convention.

(5) Extensive mail-outs to promote political objectives in the Convention.

 In 1986, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted the report of the Peace Committee which found:

 (1) Some spokesmen on both sides of the political spectrum have used intemperate, inflammatory and unguarded language, i.e., "going for the juglar," "Holy War," "independent fundamentalist," "flaming liberal," and other pejorative terms.

 (2) Some spokesmen on both sides of the political spectrum and the autonomous independent journals on both sides of the issue have labeled and attributed improper motives to people with whom they disagree.

 (3) Distribution of news is necessary in a democratic society.  There have been instances when news releases have been altered, distorting the intent of the article and oftentimes creating confusion.  In some denominational papers and in some autonomous independent journals, there has been prejudice against the conservative political activists and in some autonomous independent journals there has been prejudice against the moderate side.

 The Convention in Atlanta adopted the recommendations of the Peace Committee as follows.

 --That the Convention deplore the use of the type of intemperate, inflammatory and unguarded language used by some spokesmen on both sides of the political spectrum.

 --That the Convention urge Baptist Press, the state Baptist papers and the autonomous independent journals to be especially careful to be fair and accurate in reporting events in the Convention and refrain from labeling and attributing improper motives.

 Despite these recommendations approved by the Southern Baptist Convention, the Peace Committee finds that some of the state Baptist papers and the autonomous journals--The Southern Baptist Advocate, SBC Today, Baptists United News and The Baptist Laity Journal-have continued to use intemperate, inflammatory language and have labeled individuals and impugned motives.

 We renew again our request to these papers and journals to contribute to the process of reconciliation and the promotion of our cooperative work together as we seek to do the work of Christ.  We again call upon all state Baptist papers and the independent autonomous journals to comply with the action taken at the Atlanta Convention and outlined above.  We call upon individual Southern Baptists to use their influence to help stop these divisive actions.

 How then can we survive intact or substantially that way?

 First, the hostility must cease within the heart of each of us.  That brings peace.

 Second, our leaders must have and must demonstrate a view of Baptist life that reaches beyond the limits of their own personal theology.  No effort should be made or should be permitted to be made which would seek to eliminate from Baptist life theological beliefs or practices which are consistent with the Baptist Faith and Message Statement and which have found traditional acceptance by substantial numbers of our people.  Proponents of extreme positions at each end of the current Baptist theological spectrum should be encouraged to major on those things which lead to cooperative efforts and to minimize divisive issues and controversies.

 Third, and most important, nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of genuine cooperation in missions, Christian education, evangelism and our other traditional causes.  While different leaders may arise, the nature and work of our Christian cooperative enterprise must continue unabated.

 Finally, we should recognize and freely admit that the greatest source of our strength as a denomination lies in the thousands of local church congregations that support our cooperative undertakings.  Through long years of experience, they have learned to trust our leaders, our agencies and institutions and, because of that trust, they have provided magnificent support and responded to that leadership.