SBC President Criticizes Clinton

by    Jim Jones                                                                                                                                              Vol. VII, No. 6, August 1994

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention has harshly criticized the Clinton administration's new advertising campaign that urges the use of condoms to prevent AIDS and unwanted pregnancies. The Rev. Ed Young lashed out at Clinton in Fort Worth in January in front of more than 9,000 Baptists attending opening ceremonies of the Texas Baptist Evangelism Conference. Young said abstinence – not "safe sex" as promoted by the Clinton administration – is the only answer to AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.

Young also took the opportunity to criticize Clinton for separating his religious faith from the rest of his life. Young claimed Clinton demonstrated that from the very beginning – on the day he was inaugurated. "Early in the morning he went to a gospel meeting," Young said. "When they sang ... we saw tears coming down his face. And I saw this on television and said, `Oh, thank God.' But by the end of the day he had taken his daughter, Chelsea, and dropped her off at a hardrock concert. And he and his wife had gone to a gay and lesbian ball and finished the evening with a cocktail." [RNS]