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                    Vegetarians plan campaign to convert Southern
Baptists

                    By Jim Jones
                    Star-Telegram Staff Writer

                    Southern Baptists have targeted other groups for
conversion in the
                    past. Now, the tables are turned.

                    This week, when thousands of Baptists arrive in
Atlanta for their
                    national convention, they will be greeted by a
60-foot by 20-foot
                    billboard declaring, "Jesus Was a Vegetarian."

                    "We are taking our message to Baptists that killing
and eating
                    animals is inherently un-Christian," said Bruce G.
Friedrich, a
                    spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals. "Jesus
                    was the Prince of Peace, not a butcher."

                    Last year, Baptists met in Salt Lake City and
carried out
                    door-to-door evangelism campaigns among members of
the Church
                    of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Anti-Defamation League
                    officials objected three years ago when a resolution
was approved
                    calling for a "missionary" to Jewish people.

                    The vegetarian crusade could be one of the more
provocative
                    events in a convention in which about 14,000
delegates will focus
                    more on winning new converts than on conflict.

                    It won't be emphasized, but this year's meeting in
the Georgia Dome
                    on Tuesday and Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary
of the
                    beginning of the conservative rise to power over
moderates in the
                    country's largest non-Catholic denomination.

                    It may seem unlikely that the pro-vegetarian crusade
will win over
                    many of the Southern Baptists. But Friedrich said
the animal rights
                    group plans to have a man dressed like Jesus
parading outside the
                    Georgia Dome carrying a sign declaring, "For
Christ's Sake -- Go
                    Vegetarian." Another will dress like a chicken and
display a sign
                    saying "Meat is Murder."

                    Baptists have several banquets scheduled for the
meeting, and
                    none are likely to be meatless, predicted Jennette
Briggs, director of
                    alumni affairs at Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Fort
                    Worth.

                    She's in charge of an alumni luncheon where chicken
enchiladas will
                    be served.

                    "If we do have vegetarians, they are out of luck,"
she said.

                    One Texas Baptist preacher said biblical evidence
doesn't indicate
                    that Jesus refrained from meat.

                    "That's the biggest bunch of baloney I've ever
heard," said the Rev.
                    Charles Clary, pastor of the Tate Springs Baptist
Church in
                    Arlington. "All the Jewish feasts involved meat, and
Jesus was a
                    good Jewish man."

                    Clary said the stereotype about Baptists and chicken
dinners is
                    accurate.

                    "This Baptist here eats chicken, beef, pork --
anything that's not
                    moving on my plate," he said. "I've even eaten
rattlesnake."

                    The animal rights group's first "Jesus Was a
Vegetarian" billboard
                    was put up across from Oral Roberts University in
Tulsa in
                    December. The sign carries the Dulles, Va.,
organization's Web site
                    address, www.jesusveg.com.

                    When a "Jesus Was a Vegetarian" billboard was
displayed in Amarillo
                    on March 9, it received numerous protests. A sign
company quickly
                    took down the sign after the Amarillo Society for
the Prevention of
                    Cruelty to Animals reported that a caller had
threatened to burn one
                    cat per day until the sign was removed. No cats were
harmed,
                    police said.