Members of Maryland congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, have been invited to join a regional organization of Southern Baptists unhappy with the conservative leadership of their church.
The regional group -- the Mid-Atlantic Fellowship -- is an offshoot of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which was formed nationally to work within the denomination to oppose what members say is a conservative takeover of church agencies, boards and theological faculties.
Since 1979, the self-styled moderates say, mainstream Baptists out of step with the church's right wing have increasingly been shut out of leadership positions.
One of the points of disagreement between the two wings of the Southern Baptist Convention is the role of women in the church.
The more conservative fundamentalists oppose appointing women as pastors.
The Rev. Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, former executive director of the Southern Baptist Woman's Missionary Union, is moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
At an Oct. 22 meeting of the mid-Atlantic group at Woodbrook Baptist Church in Towson, she said, "I joined the CBF because I had to have a home."
When she ran for the office of first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1990, Ms. Crumpler said, the conservative males dominating the church "pushed me out."
In the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, "I am free to be me as a minister," she said.
At the Woodbrook meeting, the mid-Atlantic group adopted a provisional constitution and bylaws and elected officers. Ken Meyers, minister of education at Redland Baptist Church in Derwood, Montgomery County, was named moderator.
Jeanette Holt, associate director of the Alliance of Baptists in Washington, is vice moderator and the Rev. David Lohff, associate pastor of Montgomery Hills Baptist Church in Silver Spring, is treasurer.
Elected secretary was Joye McPeake, a member of First Baptist Church in Cambridge.
Associated Baptist Press, a 4-year-old news agency of the less conservative wing of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, says moderates have been "disenfranchised" as the result of the elections of fundamentalist SBC presidents for the last 16 years.
The purpose of the cooperative fellowship is to protect
"cherished Baptist freedoms," the agency says.
Nietzsche and religion
"Religion, Art and Transcendence" is the subject this evening of a free, public lecture by Evelyn M. Barker at Towson Unitarian Universalist Church, 1710 Dulaney Valley Road, Lutherville.
The presentation by the University of Maryland faculty member is the first of three 7 p.m. programs at the church. They continue tomorrow with a lecture entitled "Moral, Cultural and Religious Issues of the Madman Parable, Is God Dead?" by Alexander E. Hooke of Villa Julie College.
The concluding lecture Sunday, on "Nietzsche's Diagnosis of the Virtue of Humility," is by Alan Udoff of Baltimore Hebrew &L; University.
The series received a grant from the Maryland Humanities Council. Information: 825-6045.
Catholic publications
Debra A. Franklin, an associate professor at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, will speak on "The Catholic Press in America: Past, Present and Future" at 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church, 740 N. Calvert St. Admission is free.
She will summarize a series that has included talks by the Rev. Joseph Gallagher, a former editor of The Catholic Review, and the Rev. George W. Hunt, S.J., editor of America. Information: 727-3848.
Election eve
Cokie Roberts of ABC News and her husband, Steve Roberts of U.S. News and World Report, will discuss politics at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road, Pikesville.
The reporters' appearance is part of a program to raise funds for the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, which has a goal of $23.5 million this year. Information and reservations: 727-4828.
Public invited
"America, You're Too Young To Die!" is the title of a free multi-media show at 7 p.m. Sunday at Perry Hall Baptist Church, 3919 Schroeder Ave., Perry Hall. Information: 256-8880.