Conservative churches confront new reality on gay marriage

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ^ | June 28, 2015 | Rachel Zoll

[Cincinatus' Wife]

At First Baptist Dallas, where the pulpit was adorned Sunday with red, white and blue bunting to honor the Fourth of July, the pastor called the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling "an affront in the face of Almighty God."

The iconic rainbow colors that bathed the White House Friday night after the court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide represent "depravity, degradation and what the Bible calls sexual perversion," the Rev. Robert Jeffress said.

"But we are not discouraged," Jeffress said. "We are not going to be silenced. This is a great opportunity for our church to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ and we are going to do it."

On the first Sunday after the high court ruling, theological conservatives grappled with their new status as what the Southern Baptists call "a moral minority" on marriage. Ministers were defiant about publicly upholding their views, and warned church members to prepare themselves for a rough time ahead.

"Welcome to the new world. It's just changed for you Christians. You are going to be persecuted," Alabama's Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said from the pulpit at the Kimberly Church of God, in Kimberly, Ala.

Moore, who fought a losing battle to keep a Ten Commandments monument he erected inside Alabama's state judicial building, said the decision went against the laws of nature.

"Is there such a thing as morality anymore? Sodomy for centuries was declared to be against the laws of nature and nature's God. And now if you say that in public, and I guess I am, am I violating somebody's civil rights? Have we elevated morality to immorality? Do we call good, bad? What are we Christians to do?"..........

....Sixty-two percent of white evangelical Protestants and 54 percent of non-white Protestants oppose same-sex marriage, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.".....

[LouAvul]

This should not force a church to perform a ceremony of Holy Matrimony against their will.

And one would not have thought a Christian baker should have been forced to bake a faggot cake, but one would have been wrong.

I would fear that fags might demand a conservative preacher to perform a ceremony, then, when the preacher refuses, said fags take it to scotus. I'd hate to guess what the scotus pimps would say about it.

[The Great RJ]

Gee how many gay marriages will be performed in mosques and will any gay activists have a problem if that number is zero?

[HarleyLady27]

I have a question:

I haven’t heard anything about the Aryan Nation and their thoughts, are they still around???

I remember in the late 80’s in Denver, they came in a large group stooling down Leetdale road, something to do with the kids at George Washington High School, and you couldn’t see anything but skin heads for a week....

[Fightin Whitey]

The black churches will roll over just like they did on everything else. The Pastors stay in power by keeping their congregations hooked on entertainment and prosperity preaching.

[RushingWater]

This is from the majority opinion[PDF link], Page 27:

Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations andpersons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to theirlives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations tocontinue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons. In turn, those who believe allowing same-sex marriage is proper or indeed essential, whether as a matter of religious conviction or secular belief, may engage those who disagree with their view in an open and searching debate. The Constitution, however, does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on thesame terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex.

[hinckley buzzard]

Tax exemption is in the gun sights of the Left-wingers, the next target in their war on Christianity. They as much as said so in their argument. Conservative faithful churches will need to consider that at a certain time in the not so distant future, their donors will no longer have charitable write offs and their revenues will be taxed in turn.

Obama has called homosexual marriage a "civil right" which sets the table for lawsuits under the Civil Rights Act, from which the churches' nonprofit religious status will not protect them.

[Graybeard58]

Churches will marry people and place it in the books. The gov’t, state requirements will be ignored as they should have been back in the 1860’s. Get gov’t out of marriage business, we don’t need their blessing.

And if you want to file a joint return with the I.R.S., you're S.O.L.

Not agreeing with that, it's just a fact.

[fwdude]

Then, a next step is for a conservative president to refuse to renew the Civil Rights Act, which comes up for renewal periodically.

Regardless, no mere policy of a church is going to stop a fascist government from doing whatever it whats. That’s a fool’s errand.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you for the link and quote.

It will be interesting to see if there will be “religious liberty” or if there will be The State.