(AgapePress) - The Howard Johnson hotel chain is feeling the wrath of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC, which is the largest non-Catholic denomination in the country, says it is offended by an event due to be held at one of the chain’s hotels in St. Louis.

Southern Baptist officials have cancelled a block of rooms they had booked for delegates to the denomination’s annual convention in St. Louis in June. The SBC made the move after finding out the Howard Johnson hotel near the St. Louis airport is hosting what the Convention calls "a private sex bash" later this month.

According to Baptist Press, a group calling itself St. Louis Leather and Lace has booked the hotel for a weekend of events that most Christians would regard as debauchery. The group's website says it endorses and educates about "free expression of alternative lifestyles and forms of loving" -- including "bondage, domination and sadomasochism, regardless of sexual orientation."

Jack Wilkerson is a vice president with the SBC Executive Committee. In a letter he has written to Howard Johnson officials, he says the chain has had a history of supporting the traditional family, but he says this event represents a departure from that -- he calls it "a direct attack on the fabric of traditional family values."

The SBC also says that as a result of what is happening in St. Louis, the convention does not feel comfortable recommending other Howard Johnson locations for future meetings.

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