Baptist Group Calls On Leaders To Denounce Hate Speech And LGBT Bullying From Pulpit
In the aftermath of the President’s and Vice President’s support of marriage equality for all US citizens, and the passage of Amendment One in North Carolina, there has been a stunning increase in hate speech coming from Baptist pastors in sermons, interviews, and podcasts. From Pastor Charles Worley in Maiden, North Carolina to Pastor Curtis Knapp in Seneca, Kansas, we have heard frightening rhetoric that promotes violence and even genocide against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the name of God.
The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, therefore, calls on all Baptists, everywhere, to enter into a time of penitence and prayer for the harm that has resulted – and that continues – all in the name of God. We call on all Baptist leaders from across the tradition to denounce all hate speech and the use of the pulpit as a weapon of terror against the LGBT community.
As followers of Jesus we are called to stand with the least, the last, and the lost (Matthew 25:44) and to see the image of God in each human being (Genesis 1:27). Jesus calls us to this no matter how we feel or think about someone’s “lifestyle” or their interpretation of scripture. We are all children of God and deserve to be treated as such.
Jesus, when answering the expert in the Law in Matthew 22:34-40, affirms that we are to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus, quoting the Law, declares that love is the highest command; love for God, love for our neighbors, love for ourselves. Because of Jesus’ foundational command, the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists does not believe there is room for hate speech against our neighbors no matter how strongly we disagree on the interpretation of these same texts.
As Baptists, we stand firmly in the belief that each person has a right and responsibility to discern the word of God. When we engage humbly and respectfully in faithful dialogue, we are following the teachings that say, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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