Southern Baptists declare ‘spiritual warfare’ against same-sex marriage
The Southern Baptist Convention has declared war against same-sex marriage.
The group is the largest Protestant denomination in the US, with over 15 million members across America.
Convention president Ronnie Floyd told a crowd ahead of the Supreme Court verdict on the issue that the church was at war.
He said: “We are in a spiritual warfare. This is not a time for Southern Baptists to stand back!”
“The Supreme Court is not the final authority, nor is the culture itself! I declare to everyone today as a minister of the Gospel: I will not officiate over any same sex unions or same sex marriage ceremonies!”
Ever the rationalist, Floyd has previously claimed that homosexuality is a “con job” conceived by Satan.
He said in a 2003 sermon: “I rise to speak on this issue out of brokenness, realizing the many families in our own church who have lost family members to the homosexual lifestyle.
“I have had some say to me, ‘Pastor Floyd, it would have been easier to have lost my child to death than to homosexuality. It is killing me’.
“Do you know what is happening on television? The newest is called ‘Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.’ Five gay men who call themselves ‘The Fab Five’ do a makeover on a straight guy. Another show, ‘Boy Meets Boy’, is where a gay bachelor chooses one man among 15 other men to be his partner. Then there is the television show, ‘Will and Grace’, and another one called ‘Queer as Folk’.”
He continued: “I have never seen any of these and do not intend to do so, but understand, the goal is to baptize you into their lifestyle where it becomes normal for you to hear and see it, making you accept eventually that it is a non-threatening norm in our society.
“It appears now that everywhere you look, everything you read and everything you hear is about the gay lifestyle. Satan has taken his tool of homosexuality, a gross and evil sin, and done a con job on the American culture, making it seem like all is okay when you are gay.”
Also this week, the Southern Baptist Convention published a guide on how to avoid hiring LGBT people without breaking non-discrimination laws.
