By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Religious leaders across the country are speaking out about a certain section in a California judge’s decision to uphold same-sex marriage that call the Christian position on homosexuality harmful to gays because it could result in curtailing the free speech rights of Christians.
CNSNews.com is reporting that Christian leaders are sounding an alarm about statements made in U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s August 6 decision declaring a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. In his ruling, Walker found that “Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.”
Walker based this finding on quotations taken from documents from the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
He specifically cited a document published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons.” In it, the Church states that Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts as “a serious depravity.” Walker claimed this statement “hurts” homosexuals.
Another document he cited as being harmful is a resolution passed by the Southern Baptist Convention in June of 2003 that says the legalization of same-sex marriage “would convey a societal approval of a homosexual lifestyle, which the Bible calls sinful and dangerous both to the individuals involved and to society at large.”
For a judge to include such statements in an official court decision could have ominous implications for Christians who want to present the Bible’s position on homosexuality.
“It’s an astounding statement by a judge, and if that finding were to be upheld, it would criminalize Christian beliefs, because the Bible and Christian beliefs historically have clearly indicated that homosexuality is sex outside of marriage – and is contrary to God’s design,” said Mathew Staver, dean of the Liberty University Law School and chairman of the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, to CNS.
“For this judge to say that Christian beliefs or religious beliefs contrary to homosexuality are actually harmful – what that essentially says is, if that’s the case, then you’ve got to change your religious beliefs, and if you don’t, you’re going to be penalized as result. That is a very dangerous aspect of this court decision.”
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention, also found the judge’s finding disturbing.
“We filed an amicus brief case in this case because we had already heard that this was out there, and that the people who were making the appeal to overturn Proposition 8 were going to say that the religious beliefs of Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics and other groups ‘create an animus’ and were ‘the products of centuries of hate,’” Land told CNS.
The biblical position on homosexuality isn’t “hate speech,” he said.
“The confession of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention, which states what the Bible says about the family and about marriage – those are not the products of centuries of hate or animus toward homosexuals. They are adherence to the revealed teachings of the Creator of the universe — God Almighty. These are religious affirmations of revealed truth,” Land said.
“It is quite clear that God condemns same-sex relations as particularly abhorrent. And if that is indeed the case, and we believe it is, it is an act of love towards those who are engaged in such relationships to tell them that they are violating the most sacred laws of God,” he said. “It would be indifference – or worse – to not tell them.”
Christian counselor and former gay activist, Joe Dallas, who operates a center that uses Scripture to counsel people on homosexuality, is also concerned about the implications of the judge’s finding.
“For a judge to say that it is literally damaging to homosexual people when churches simply express and maintain a clearly defined biblical approach to homosexuality, is to introduce the concept that the ‘damage’ that’s being done to homosexuals needs to be stopped. That damage will have to be stopped by silencing the Church,” Dallas said. “There’s really no other way to read that particular finding.”
However, there is no indication that these Christian groups are willing to be silenced, irregardless of what the courts may find in the case.
Dr. Land said Southern Baptists will not change their position on homosexuality, and will not bow to political correctness.
He told CNS: “Let me spell it out for you, If they say that telling what the Bible says about homosexuality is hate speech, and cannot be allowed – we will be arrested in our pulpits. We will obey God rather than man.”
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