Conservatives applaud after Baylor rescinds $644,000 LGBTQIA+ grant from the progressive Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation
Baylor University in Waco, Texas, the world’s largest Baptist-affiliated university, received fierce backlash recently after it accepted a nearly $644,000 grant from The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation. Baylor has since rescinded the grant.
The Baugh Foundation “seeks to support progressive nonprofit organizations that reflect the love of Christ by providing assistance to those in need, enriching the lives of children and youth, keeping faith communities informed and engaged, and protecting individual freedoms.”
After it was reported that Baylor’s Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) had accepted the grant to fund research on the “exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations,” the university was hammered online by conservative Christian leaders. According to numerous reports the foundation has been funding Baylor for more than 40 years.
The study aimed to research how women and LGBTQIA+ individuals experience institutional betrayal within faith communities. It would have recruited 50 university students to participate in confidential surveys, interviews, and focus groups and used the information to create congregational training resources on “inclusivity and institutional courage,” according to a report by the Religion News Service.
“Courage from the Margins: C3I awarded research grant,” a since-deleted online article posted on June 30 stated, “Through academic research, this grant will help us better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”
As media outlets shared news of the grant, conservative Christian leaders took to social media to condemn the move, calling it a sign of Baylor’s wavering values.
In declining the grant, Linda Livingstone, Baylor University president, issued a statement for Baylor faculty, staff and alumni on July 9, the Texas Baptist Standard reported.
“We recognize that this situation has caused concern and confusion for many within the Baylor Family and among our broader community of churches, partner organizations, and supporters. This has been a learning opportunity for many involved in this situation, and we aim to work alongside our college and school leaders, faculty, and research community, particularly during these challenging times for higher education," Livingstone said.
Baylor’s Baptist Ties Loosened
In August 2024, Baylor announced that its University’s Board of Regents had affirmed a task force recommendation to lower the percentage of board members from Baptist churches from 75 percent to 67 percent. Until 2011, Baylor was represented by 100% of Baptists.
In May 2024, the Board of Regents voted to expand Baylor’s longstanding motto – Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana (For the Church, For Texas) – by adding Pro Mundo (For the World).
The change in Baptist representation was in response to changing denominational demographics and the need to “recruit the most qualified Christian leaders,” according to a memo from the board.
Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the first educational institutions west of the Mississippi River.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) provides about $1.3 million annually to Baylor in the form of scholarship dollars in support of pastoral and ministerial education through George W. Truett Theological Seminary, financial aid for BGCT-affiliated pastors and ministers and their families, and in support of Baptist Student Ministry activities. The BGCT reaffirmed its relationship with Baylor in 2023. The BGCT is one of two Baptist Conventions serving Texas Baptists. The other is the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.