In the wake of an interfaith Vatican conference on marriage in November 2014, a coalition of Roman Catholics and evangelicals — including Alabama Baptist Timothy George — has issued a statement calling the legalization of “same-sex ‘marriage’ a graver threat” to society than either “easy acceptance of divorce” or “widespread cohabitation.”
“We must say as clearly as possible that same-sex unions, even when sanctioned by the state, are not marriages,” the statement titled “The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage,” said. “Christians who wish to remain faithful to the Scriptures and Christian tradition cannot embrace this falsification of reality, irrespective of its status in law.”
The statement was written by a consortium of Catholics and Protestants known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), which articulates views shared by Catholics and evangelicals on theology, social issues and public policy. ECT is an initiative of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, an organization founded in 1990 by Catholic social commentator Richard John Neuhaus. The statement will appear online and in print in mid-February.
George, dean of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, and the only Southern Baptist listed as a member of ECT, said “The Two Shall Become One Flesh” represents three years of work by the group.
‘United witness’
Catholics and evangelicals “continue to disagree on lots and lots of issues,” George said. Still the members of ECT “felt the complementarity of man and woman in marriage under God” was an issue on which evangelicals and Catholics could present a united witness.
Among the other members of ECT are Catholics R.R. Reno, editor of First Things, and George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Other Protestants are Kevin Vanhoozer of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Robert Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Gagnon is among the leading biblical scholars to challenge contemporary assertions that Scripture permits homosexual behavior.
“The Two Shall Become One Flesh” summarizes biblical teaching and historic Christian views on marriage, concluding, “Marriage is a unique and privileged sign of the union of Christ with His people and of God with His creation — and it can only serve as that sign when a man and a woman are solemnly joined together in a permanent union.”
Despite the longstanding Christian consensus that marriage is only the union of one man and one woman, “marriage is in crisis throughout the Western world,” the statement said. It also said declining marriage rates, sexual promiscuity and the normalization of gay “marriage” all undermine the foundations of society.
But same-sex “marriage” represents a particularly pernicious threat, the statement said.
“The revolution in our marriage and family law, already well advanced, marches under the banners of freedom and equality. But these noble ideals are here gravely misapplied. When society systematically denies the difference between male and female in law and custom, our fundamental dignity is diminished, the image of God within us is obscured, unreality becomes legally established and those who refuse to conform are regarded as irrational bigots,” the statement said.
(Baptist Press)
Share with others: