A coalition of over 50 Michigan pastors held a
press conference on Monday blasting same-sex marriage ahead of today's trial
challenging the state's ban on gay marriage and gay adoption,
the Detroit Free Press reports:
Quoting from Martin Luther King Jr. and the Bible, the
pastors said that gay marriage violates the teachings of Christianity. Swimp
quoted from King’s famous letter ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’ to say that
“we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” that don’t conform the
law of God. The majority of pastors at the press conference were
African-American.
“It’s going to tear the foundation of the family asunder,”
Pastor Caldwell said of gay marriage. “It’s going to have a devastating
effect.”
“We ... stand by both our Michigan Constitution and our
Judeo-Christian values,” said Pastor Lennell Caldwell of First Baptist World
Changers. “We believe that marriage between one man and one woman creates the
best possible environment for the health and wellness of children ... no one is
entitled to redefine marriage.”
The pastors said their coalition represents Baptist, Church
of God in Christ (COGCI), Pentecostal, and Catholic denominations.
The pastors brought
their collective voices in support of traditional marriage between one man and
one woman as a federal bench trial, DeBoer vs. Snyder, is set to begin in
Detroit on February 25, 2014, that will debate the 2004 marriage amendment as
well as the state’s adoption law.
The trial "is an
unjust threat to voting rights," said minister Stacy Swimp of Revive Alive
ministry in Flint, Mich. "We are standing here united ... not ashamed to
stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the institution of marriage.
God defined marriage and 2.5 million people went to the polls (in 2004) to
reaffirm what God has said."
The pastors said they are
part of a silent majority who support traditional marriage, but whose voices
are being drowned out by those supportive of same-sex marriage.
"We're trying to send
a message to our elected officials that the people spoke in 2004," said
Pastor Roland Caldwell Sr. of Burnette Inspirational Chruch in Detroit.
Supporters of gay marriage
point out that views have changed over the past 10 years. A majority of
Michiganders now back gay marriage, according to a survey released last week by
the LGBT group Equality Michigan.
But the pastors said Monday
that the laws of God are eternal and can't change because of the shifting
culture.
Quoting from Martin Luther
King Jr. and the Bible, the pastors said that gay marriage violates the
teachings of Christianity. Swimp quoted from King's famous letter 'Letter from
a Birmingham Jail' to say that "we have a moral responsibility to disobey
unjust laws" that don't conform the law of God. The majority of pastors at
the press conference were African-American.
"It's going to tear
the foundation of the family asunder," Pastor Caldwell said of gay
marriage. "It's going to have a devastating effect."
"We ... stand by both
our Michigan Constitution and our Judeo-Christian values," said Pastor
Lennell Caldwell of First Baptist World Changers. "We believe that
marriage between one man and one woman creates the best possible environment
for the health and wellness of children ... no one is entitled to redefine
marriage."
The pastors said their
coalition represents Baptist, Church of God in Christ, Pentecostal, and
Catholic denominations. The Catholic Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron, the
spiritual leader of about 1.3 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan, has
also spoken out strongly against gay marraige. Last year, he told the Free
Press that people who support same-sex marriage should not offer themselves to
receive Communion.
The president of the
Southfield City Council, Sylvia Jordan, attended Monday's press conference to
show her support of traditional marriage, along with her husband, Larry Jordan,
the pastor of Family Victory Fellowship Church in Southfield.
"The Bible can't be
changed," she said. "We don't change what truth is."
