Baptist Denomination Separates Itself From 'American Baptists' Arrested in Haiti

A U.S. denomination has become collateral damage in the ongoing horrible mess in Haiti. If you've been paying any attention at all, you surely know about the report of American missionaries arrested for trying to remove Haitian kids from the country without going through proper procedures.
Exactly what was going on is a tangle that may eventually get straightened out. But every day, another batch of stories starts out something like this one:

"Five of the American Baptists arrested while attempting to take a busload of Haitian children out of the country were questioned in Port-au-Prince yesterday, as the authorities decided whether to charge them with child-trafficking."

Which is both true and not true. You see, all of the people arrested in this case are from the U.S. And they are all Baptists, best I can tell. So they are American Baptists, yes?

No. Or not exactly. There are, it turns out, more than 100 flavors of "Baptist" in the U. S. of A. The largest and best known denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention (which news reports say is the home denomination for the folks nabbed in Haiti). But the list of "American Baptist" denominations is a long one. Here are a few:

Baptist Bible Fellowship International, Baptist Missionary Association of America, Central Baptist Association, Conservative Baptist Association of America, Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America. And my favorite: Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists.

Plus these two: American Baptist Churches (USA) and the American Baptist Association. The former group does, in fact, have members in Haiti working to help out, according to the denomination's Web site. For all I know, the second one may also. So in the interest of keeping the record straight, here's the full text of a news release posted to my e-box:

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 2/3/10) -- The 10 people arrested for child trafficking in Haiti are not members of churches affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA). Some media sources have labeled these individuals as American Baptists. While the people involved are Baptists from the United States, they are not members of the denomination known as ABCUSA.

ABCUSA currently has missionaries doing ministry in Haiti, but they are not involved in this incident in any way.

ABCUSA members continue to pray for the victims of the earthquake and all those working to aid Haitians during this difficult time.

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God's mission around the world.

Are we clear?