A major Baptist university in Texas, buffeted by sharp criticism from conservatives, is rescinding a grant from a “progressive” Christian foundation to study the inclusion of LGBT individuals in churches.  

Baylor University announced this month that its Diana R. Garland School of Social Work had accepted a $643,000 grant to “foster inclusion and belonging in the church.” The grant was to provide for a study of the “disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”

On Wednesday, the university announced it would return the grant in the face of a backlash from conservative Christians. The president of the university, Linda Livingstone, said the school had returned the funds to the left-wing Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, which provided the grant.

“I support this decision and agree this is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests of Baylor University,” Ms. Livingstone said. “We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all — including our LGBTQIA+ students — because it is part and parcel of our University’s mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community.”

The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation describes itself as an organization that “supports progressive, inclusive, nonprofit organizations that reflect the love of Christ.” In a statement following Baylor’s decision to return the grant, the foundation said it is “deeply saddened.”

“We regret that Baylor has chosen not to be such a partner. We hope this moment will be a catalyst for reflection and will inspire other institutions to take up the important work that Baylor has abandoned,” it said. 

The university president said that as the school reviewed the “details and process” surrounding the grant, the school’s concerns “did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed as part of the grant.”

“Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality,” Ms. Livingstone said. 

The university’s statement on human sexuality reads, “The University affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God. Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.”

“It is thus expected that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching,” the statement adds. 

Baylor initially said the grant “will assist us in filling out the bigger picture of congregations’ practices that result in an environment of belonging.” The grant was expected to be used to recruit 25 young adults to discuss their experiences with religion and help develop “trauma-sensitive training resources” for churches that “emphasize inclusivity and institutional change.”

The grant sparked criticism from conservative Christians. In a post on X, journalist Megan Basham wrote that Baylor was “bringing in a program to teach its students how to use toxic empathy to steer Christian institutions so their schools, churches, ministries will bend to their will.”

A pastor at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Matt Kennedy, said on X it is “much better to send your child to a secular university, hostile to the faith, than to a ‘Christian’ university like Baylor. Better the wolf with bared fangs than the wolf disguised as a shepherd.”