Source: The Boston Globe

On September 6, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that "a prominent group of Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars, in a major boost to Christian-Jewish relations, yesterday declared that Jews, like Christians, have a covenant with God and that a belief in the divinity of Jesus is not necessary for salvation. As a result, the group denounced 'missionary efforts directed at converting Jews.' One of the authors of the statement, which was released at a news conference at Boston College, is a Southern Baptist, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, which has been widely criticized for promoting the conversion of Jews. 'I utterly disagree with their conclusion and in doing so I'm in really good company: the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and Jesus Christ, who were all Jews," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.  'They would be shocked and dismayed that a group of Christian scholars could come to such an erroneous conclusion.' He said Walter Harrelson, a Southern Baptist scholar at Vanderbilt University who voted to approve the document, is 'out of step with his Southern Baptists brothers.'"