Membership in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will hinge on one single issue -- whether a church accepts gays -- if a bylaw change is approved by delegates at the convention's annual meeting in Greensboro this week.

Those churches that "affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior" will be excluded from membership, according to the proposed bylaw approved in September by the state convention's board of directors. There is no other requirement for membership aside from donating money.

Proponents of the change say it is needed to counter an aggressive cultural effort to redefine homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. The measure would go further than many Protestant denominations in making opposition to homosexuality the only test for membership.

Proposed by the Rev. William Sanderson of Wendell, the bylaw change needs a two-thirds majority of the delegates, called messengers, to pass. It is expected to exceed that margin.

"We have been forced to it by the pro-homosexual movement," said the Rev. K. Allan Blume of Boone, the vice president of the convention's board of directors. "It's been aggressive and forceful. They've been trying to shove this issue on others ... saying homosexuality should be accepted as it is."

Over the past two decades, homosexuality has gained momentum as a civil rights issue, with advocates seeking mainstream acceptance and equality. Just last week, Arizona became the first state to defeat a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage, bucking a national trend to approve such measures. And last month, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution guarantees same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage, though it stopped short of approving same-sex marriage.

Yet in elevating this one issue above all others, North Carolina Baptists, who make up the largest religious body in the state, are showing that they are willing to enforce doctrinal absolutes. The Old Testament prohibits homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22 says, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." In the New Testament, Jesus makes no mention of the practice.

"I believe this issue is to the Baptist State Convention what inerrancy was to the Southern Baptist Convention," said the Rev. Tommy Justus, pastor of Mars Hill Baptist Church north of Asheville, referring to the drawn-out battle of the 1980s and '90s in which Baptists sparred over whether the the Bible was without error. "It polarizes people and has them draw lines."

Christians torn

Unlike the inerrancy battle, homosexuality has divided far more than Baptists. Few Protestant denominations have been able to avoid the contentious wrangling over gays. The United Methodist Church views homosexuals as people of "sacred worth" but denies them church weddings or ordination. The Episcopal Church USA is now fighting to remain a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion after it elevated an openly gay man to the position of bishop three years ago.

But the Southern Baptist Convention has consistently taken a stricter line on homosexuality, viewing any kind of gay relations as sinful and a disqualification from church office.

Its counterpart, the state convention, with 4,080 churches, has increasingly followed in the footsteps of the larger denomination, alienating moderates along the way. In 2003, the convention expelled a Cabarrus County church that admitted a gay couple.

More recently, it has disqualified from leadership positions members of churches that affiliate with groups supportive of same-sex marriage. If the bylaw change is approved this week, at least a dozen churches may be asked to leave. These churches affiliate with the liberal Alliance of Baptists, based in Washington, D.C., which supports same-sex marriage.

An Alliance-affiliated church, Greenwood Forest Baptist in Cary, cut its ties with the convention in September, anticipating that the convention would force it out. Others say they will phase out their participation -- and monetary support.

Leaders of the convention say the churches that welcome gays contribute $128,000 a year to the convention out of a budget of $37 million. They feel no angst if the churches were to sever ties.

But at least one gay man -- a lifelong Baptist -- said he was saddened by the move. "We're stronger together," said Wes Isley, a deacon at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro. "When you think of mission groups and the support we give each other, it's better to work together."

The new face of sin

Historians say Baptist conventions have always disciplined churches they believed were straying from the Christian message.

"A hundred years ago, it could have been dancing or gambling or drinking," said Andrew Wakefield, professor of biblical studies at Campbell University in Buies Creek. "For whatever reason, homosexuality is now the visible face of sin."

Baptist leaders said that although it is not considered a worse sin than others, homosexuality is an issue that increasingly distinguishes church followers from the larger society.

"If churches would discipline their people, it would be dealt with," said Sanderson, the author of the bylaw change and the pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell. "But churches don't want to discipline their people."

Under the guidelines proposed by the convention's board of directors, at least two people must file a complaint against a church alleging it supports homosexuality. An investigation would then be launched. Churches can appeal any decision.

The Rev. Michael Usey, the pastor of College Park Baptist, said his church, like many moderate churches, has been seeking other ways to affiliate with groups to do missions and projects.

"Christian churches are forgetting what they're about," said Usey. "There's a lot of people in need in North Carolina. Is this what Jesus would have us do, get together and argue about who to work with?"