Tennessee church blocks funds to SBC for supporting construction of mosque in New Jersey

A Baptist church in Tennessee has decided to withhold funds to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) because of the decision made by its entities to support the construction of a mosque in New Jersey.

Last June, the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and International Mission Board (IMB) joined an amicus brief to support the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge in its lawsuit against a New Jersey township that refused its application to build a mosque.

In late December, U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Shipp ruled in favor of Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and stated that the rejection of the application was a violation of Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Dean Haun, a pastor of First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tennessee, decried the participation of the IMB in the amicus brief and resigned as a trustee of the organization in November.

He said that he had received calls and emails from several pastors from Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky who also objected to the IMB's involvement in the case, The Christian Post reported.

In addition to his resignation, Haun said that the congregants at First Baptist Church, Morristown had voted unanimously to escrow the church's Cooperative Program funds, which are part of the church's undesignated receipts given in support of SBC missions and ministries.

Haun pointed out that his church was ranked fifth in Tennessee when it comes to the amount of money given to the Cooperative Program. He stated that the "substantial" funds will be withheld until a compromise is reached over the issue of IMB's inclusion in the brief.

"What we are doing is we are hoping we can work everything out. What we are doing is we are escrowing our funds. In other words, we still have them in our bank ready to send on if we can come to some kind of agreement or work this out," he told The Christian Post.

"We are hoping that the escrowing of these funds is a temporary thing because we have really been committed to SBC. We gave $151,000 to the Lottie Moon [Christmas] offering last year and all of our mission giving last year was right around a half a million dollars," he added.

The church still sends funds to the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board despite the escrow. Haun said that his decision to resign was not out of pressure from any outside group. He insisted that his resignation was based on his won personal conviction after he and the IMB leadership had reached an impasse.