University Faces Possible Lawsuit Over Rift With Tennessee Baptists
by Jim Brown
May 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - After rejecting a proposal to end its 55-year relationship with Belmont University in Nashville, the Tennessee Baptist Convention may be suing the school over its decision to add non-Baptists to its governing Board of Trustees. Officials with Belmont University have said broader representation on the Baptist-affiliated school's board would better reflect the wider Christian mission of the institution. The school officials offered to pay the Tennessee Baptist Convention $5 million to sever ties with the university.
However, opponents of Belmont's request say the convention could ask for the return of nearly $50 million -- all the money the state Baptists have ever given Belmont -- if the Tennessee Baptist Convention loses control over the selection of Belmont trustees. The Convention recently voted overwhelmingly to oust Belmont's 35 trustees.
Pastor Tim McGehee of Grace Baptist Church in Tullahoma, Tennessee, is an alumnus of Belmont and feels the school has become progressively more liberal since he graduated 20 years ago. "That concerns a lot of us, and we hated to see that," he says, "but I think Belmont decided years ago that they were going to go the music business route rather than a Christian, Baptist religion route."
McGehee believes the Tennessee Baptist Convention may have no choice other than to take the Belmont University officials to court. "I just felt like they have done this illegally, and they have been really deceptive," he says.
The university has been lying to and stealing from the Convention, the Tennessee pastor asserts. He believes the educational institution needs to be taken to court and compelled to account for its wrongful actions.
"It's like somebody coming into your house and saying, 'I'll give you $20 for your house, and if you don't take it, then you have no alternatives except to sue, because I'm taking over your house,'" McGehee says.
Belmont University did not return calls seeking comment; however, the chairman of the school's Board of Trustees, Marty Dickens, issued a statement expressing disappointment that the Convention turned down Belmont's $5 million offer.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
