I suppose it's the ''soulish'' [carnal] thing to do??? >>>> Liberal religious leaders endorse homosexual unions, ordination By Tom Strode
WASHINGTON (BP)--More than 850 religious leaders have endorsed a declaration
sponsored by the country's primary sex-education organization calling for
same-sex unions, ordination of homosexuals and abortion rights.
Unsurprisingly, leaders from liberal religious groups dominate the
endorsement list, which contains a large number of Unitarian Universalist,
mainline Protestant and female ministers, as well as Jewish rabbis.
The document, which was released Jan. 18 by the Sexuality Information and
Education Council of the United States, calls for the "[f]ull inclusion of women
and sexual minorities in congregational life, including their ordination, and
the blessing of same-sex unions." It also calls for a religious commitment to
"sexual and reproductive rights," including abortion, and "[l]ifelong,
age-appropriate sexuality education."
Instead of calling for faith communities to depend on the Bible, the
"Religious Declaration on Sexuality Morality, Justice and Healing" calls for
"[t]heological reflection that integrates the wisdom of excluded, often silenced
peoples, and insights about sexuality from medicine, social science, the arts
and the humanities."
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious
Liberty Commission, called the document "yet one further sign of the increasing
paganization of our culture sexually."
"[T]o the extent that its sub-biblical, pagan sexual mores are endorsed by
those claiming to speak from a Judeo-Christian tradition, it illustrates the
significant apostasy of many within formerly Christian traditions which have
made that paganization possible," Land said.
Christians, Land said, should address the Bible's teaching on sexuality,
which he called "clear, forthright and substantial."
"In so doing, we must reject all sub-biblical views, including those that
would seek to repress sexuality and those which rebel against and deny the
parameters and limits around sex established by God in Holy Scripture," said
Land, who was teaching his annual elective on the Bible and human sexuality at
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary when the SIECUS statement was released.
"God created us as sexual beings," Land said, "and [he] intends for us to
express our sexuality within the confines of a lifelong covenant marriage
relationship between one man and one woman in which we are designed by him to
experience an intimacy and a knowing and being known that is beyond all other
human relationships."
Bill Merrell, vice president of convention relations for the Southern Baptist
Convention Executive Committee, told Associated Press the SIECUS statement was
"not new ground for liberal religious leaders."
"There has been a history of radical departure from the teachings of the
Scriptures on these topics," Merrell said. "I do not believe that the moral
confusion and the moral incoherence that characterizes the time is relieved by
such statements. Rather it is made worse."
SIECUS President Debra Haffner denied the declaration is "a statement of
anything goes. It is, I believe, a rigorous standard for promoting morality,
justice and healing," she told Baptist Press.
Not only does the document affirm homosexual relations, but Haffner would not
deny sexual intercourse between single heterosexuals might fit within this
ethic. "Marriage is not the only criteria for an ethical sexual relationship,"
she said. The statement recognizes "single adults also can have ethical sexual
relationships," she said.
When asked if that includes sexual acts that traditionally have been
considered appropriate only for marriage, Haffner said she was "reluctant to go
beyond this statement," citing a sentence in the document that says all people
"have the right and responsibility to lead sexual lives that express love,
justice, mutuality, commitment, consent and pleasure."
The ethic promoted by the endorsers "accepts no double standards and applies
to all persons, without regard to sex, gender, color, age, bodily condition,
marital status or sexual orientation," the declaration says.
The two-year project resulting in the statement was initiated because "many
religious denominations have been quite concerned and, in some cases, fractured
by the discussion of sexuality," Haffner said. "It was felt that it was
important to bring together people who have been" considering this issue to
offer a "vision of sexuality justice," she said.
Among those endorsing the statement are Nancy Hastings Sehested, a former
Southern Baptist pastor; Peggy Campolo, a council member of Welcoming and
Affirming Baptists and wife of well-known author/speaker Tony Campolo; Steven
Baines, a former Southern Baptist church staff member, an acknowledged
homosexual and staff member of Equal Partners in Faith; and George Cummings,
academic dean at American Baptist Seminary of the West.
Other signers include Edmond Browning, retired presiding bishop of the
Episcopal Church; Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for
Separation of Church and State and a United Church of Christ minister; Harvey
Cox, Harvard University divinity professor; Jimmy Creech, a United Methodist
minister who was defrocked for performing same-sex unions; David Saperstein,
director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism; Mel White, cochair
of Soulforce Inc. and an open homosexual; James Cone, Union Theological Seminary
professor; Troy Perry, founder of the largely homosexual Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches; Paul Sherry, former president of the United
Church of Christ; Virginia Mollenkott of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's
Caucus; Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice; Katherine
Ragsdale, chair of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; Mark Justad,
associate dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School; and Herbert Valentine,
executive presbyter in Baltimore for the Presbyterian Church (USA) and founding
president of The Interfaith Alliance.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky.,
joined the SBC's Land and Merrell in noting, "The arrogance of this
'Declaration' is breathtaking. These self-appointed moral revolutionaries will
reject the clear teachings of Scripture in order to justify sexual perversions
and destructive behaviors. In utter arrogance they claim a 'religious' mandate
for their declaration. In a cloak of distortions they seek to overthrow biblical
morality and put a humanistic ethic of sexual liberation in its place. "The
result will be ruined lives and devastated marriages, lost innocence and broken
hearts," Mohler said.
Mohler noted that the signers of the declaration "represent a very thin slice
of the radical religious left. They are certain to gain media attention, but
most persons have enough common sense and biblical memory to see this for what
it is -- a publicity stunt by theological liberals. Nevertheless, it is a
horrible sign of the times that 850 'religious leaders' would add their names to
this declaration of sexual immorality.
"The most radical part of the document is its call for no sexual restrictions
based upon age," Mohler commented. "These people intend to sexualize childhood
and send our adolescents on a free experiment of sexual expression. Debra
Haffner and the SIECUS organization have been pushing free adolescent sex for
years, calling for condom distribution and opposing abstinence-based sex
education. Now she has arranged for a crowd of religious cronies to stand behind
her sexual agenda."
The declaration and the list of endorsements are available on the Internet at
www.religionproject.org >>> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ EAGLE 1 OBSERVER "Observing the world around you" http://www.crayon.net/read.cgi?[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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