A coalition of conservative evangelical leaders laid out their beliefs on human sexuality, including opposition to same-sex marriage andfluid gender identity, in a new doctrinal statement.
It's called the Nashville Statement and the national coalition says it's theirresponse to an increasingly post-Christian, Western culture that thinks it can change God's design for humans.
Since it wasreleased Tuesday morning, the Nashville Statement has received both praise for its clarityand has been denouncedas harmful to LGBT people.
► More:Evangelical leaders issue Nashville Statement, a 'Christian manifesto' on human sexuality
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► More:Group counters Nashville Statement with pro-LGBT message, calls it The Accurate Nashville Statement
In recent years, attitudes toward those who identify as LGBT have shifted dramatically in the U.S. The Pew Research Center says the majority of Americans think society should accept hom*osexuality. A 2013 survey reported that 92 percent of LGBT adults said society accepted them more in this decade than they had in the previous one.
Here's what we know about the Nashville Statement:
What does it say?
The Nashville Statement lists 14 beliefs, which are referred to as articles. Each of the articles includes a statement of affirmation as well as a denial. They're not new.But they cover a range of topics from a prohibition on sex outside of marriage to the connection between biological sex and gender identity.
Here's what article 10 says:
WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of hom*osexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.
WE DENY that the approval of hom*osexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.
You can read all 14 and the rest of the statementat the bottom of this article.
Who put it together?
The Nashville Statement is the work of the The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. The Louisville, Ky.-based group was formed in 1987.
The council's website says it has helped several religious groups, including the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, promote "gospel-driven gender roles."
How did the Nashville Statement get its name?
It's named after Nashville because a coalition of scholars, pastors and other leaders finalized a draft of the statement in Nashville, said Denny Burk, president of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, in an email.
The group met last week at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center during the annual conference for the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The public policy arm of the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. hosted the coalition during their conference, which focused on parenting.
"There is a long Christian tradition of naming doctrinal statements after the places where they were drawn up: Council of Nicaea (325), Council of Constantinople (381), Council of Chalcedon (451), etc.," Burk said.
There's more recent examples too, including The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's founding document.
Who signed the statement?
More than 150 conservative evangelicals from across the countryare listed as initial signatories.
Among the signers who have been involved in national politics: James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in the District of Columbia.
Dobson and four others — Senior Pastor Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church, which has four campuses in northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri; Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas; President Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, N.C.; televangelist James Robison, founder of Fort Worth-based Life Outreach International — also are members of President Trump's evangelical advisory board.
Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention signed on, too: Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission andSteve Gaines, thepresident of theSouthern Baptist Convention andpastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis.
Who doesn't like it?
The mayor of Nashville for one.
Mayor Megan Barry,who as aMetro councilwomanofficiatedsome of the city's first same-sex marriages when they became legal in Tennessee, took issue with the statement's moniker. Shecalled it "poorly named" in a Tuesday morning Tweet and said it "does not represent the inclusive values of the city (and)people of Nashville."
Several other Nashvillians echoed the mayor's thoughts.
It's received opposition from across the country, including fromChristian and religious leaders.
What do the signers have to say in response?
Prominent conservative author David French took issue with Barry's statement in his Wednesdaycolumn for the National Review.
French, who lives in Maury County and signed the Nashville Statement, argued that Barry's comments are a declaration of the state against the church, not merely an argument for the separation of church and state. He also points out that Barry is speaking against what some of the people in her city believe.
"Megan Barry is expected to have a position on civil rights and civil liberties, but that’s a far cry from stating that Biblical orthodoxy is incompatible with the 'inclusive values' of a city that’s located in the heart of the Bible Belt," French writes.
Read the entire statement below:
Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.
