Dr. Russell Moore offers counsel to local churches regarding the recent Supreme Court decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.
Russell D. Moore is President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s official entity assigned to address social, moral, and ethical concerns.
This week, Mark Mellinger interviewed Dr. Moore with his thoughts regarding the Supreme Court striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. You can listen here.
Dr. Moore has also interacted with the decision on his web site. He writes:
The Supreme Court has now ruled on two monumental marriage cases, and the legal and cultural landscape has changed in this country. The court voted to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act and remand the decision of the Ninth Circuit in the Proposition 8 case, holding that California’s Proposition 8 defenders didn’t have standing. The Defense of Marriage Act decision used rather sweeping language about equal protection and human dignity as they apply to the recognition of same-sex unions. But what has changed for us, for our churches, and our witness to the gospel?
In one sense, nothing. Jesus of Nazareth is still alive. He is calling the cosmos toward his kingdom, and he will ultimately be Lord indeed. Regardless of what happens with marriage, the gospel doesn’t need “family values” to flourish. In fact, it often thrives when it is in sharp contrast to the cultures around it. That’s why the gospel rocketed out of the first-century from places such as Ephesus and Philippi and Corinth and Rome, which were hardly Mayberry.
In another sense, though, the marginalization of conjugal marriage in American culture has profound implications for our gospel witness. . .
Read the rest here.
Good article. I appreciate this line: “The gay and lesbian people in your community aren’t part of some global ‘Gay Agenda’ conspiracy. They aren’t super-villains in some cartoon.” Yes, they are our co-workers, bosses, neighbors, friends, students, and family members. Sometimes I feel the church fails at these relationships because of the attitude RM describes above. We’ve got to keep finding ways to interact just the way Jesus would (and has and does). (I’m preaching to myself!)
I agree Alice. I really appreciated that as well.