'Mainstream' group organizes in Illinois 
By Michael Leathers

CARBONDALE, Ill. (ABP) -- In the wake of a state annual meeting where debate over the "Baptist Faith and Message" family amendment captured some of the limelight, a gathering of Southern Baptists has announced the formation of a group to keep Illinois a free-Baptist state, its first president said. 

The newly formed group, Mainstream Illinois Baptists, is patterned after similar statewide organizations that have issued a call for a return to what they call traditional Baptist principles and are at odds with the conservative leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

"We are trying to help keep Illinois free for people to be as conservative as they want to be," said Sam Foskey, president of Mainstream Illinois Baptists and pastor of University Baptist Church of Carbondale. 

"I want us all to have freedom to cooperate around the essentials of doctrine and around issues relating to evangelism and missions." 

Although a press release said the Illinois organization was conceived as a response to the so-called fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, Foskey said no particular incidents on the state level triggered the group's formation.  

"I personally have not seen a whole lot of political controversy in Illinois," he said, describing the group's formation as a preventative measure.

The press release said the group's two purposes are to protect the Illinois Baptist State Association from "fundamentalist aggression," while supporting its programs and personnel, and to "educate about and preserve traditional Baptist beliefs," such as the priesthood of the believer, local-church autonomy and soul competency.