Thre are many issues with gay and lesbian marriage. It's possible for a Christian church, whether it's the Catholic or the Baptist, to opposed religious marriage and still find room in their outlook on civic matters for gay marriage or "civil unions." And it's possible to oppose both without encouraging people to view gays and lesbians with contempt and hatred.
William Perkins, Jr., the editor of the Mississippi (Southern) Baptist Record, chose the latter approach in his column of 01/08/04:
In the world of tomorrow, marriage will mean anything anyone wants it to mean. Homosexual and lesbian marriage will have the same status as heterosexual marriage, but so will marriages between multiple partners, simultaneous marriages, and marriages between children and adults. There may even be legally-recognized marriages between humans and animals. (Don't laugh; who would have thought we would have gone as far as we have?)
This is merely one battle among many in the war with the secularists and elitists who would destroy foundational institutions like marriage and the way of life that goes with it, simply so that they can live as they please. ...
Obviously, our liberal leaders are out of step with the Americans they are supposed to be leading.
What fantasy world does this guy live in? A "war" against people trying to "destroy" marriage? In his world, there are obviously a lot of Wilhelm Reich devotees running around.
And our "liberal leaders"? Would that be our "liberal" Republican President? Our "liberal" Republican House of Representatives or the "liberal" Republican Senate? The "liberal" Republican Supreme Court?
It's only fair to Perkins' fellow church members to say that many Southern Baptists do not share this attitude. And I would even guess that most of them would be opposed to this sort of cheap hate-mongering. A person can be a Southern Baptist without this. Whether someone can be an honest Christian with this attitude is seriously open to question.
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