WASHINGTON – Prominent evangelical leaders assailed a bill that would give special rights to homosexuals in the workplace, calling it bad policy and denouncing attempts to tie it with the black civil rights movement.
“In recent years there has been a strange reversal of things,” Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, said Friday.
“[A]ggressive activists who are involved in gay rights have made an odd role reversal,” he continued. “In the name of liberty this group has begun to infringe upon the liberty and rights of others.”
Jackson was speaking in reference to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), HR 3685, which seeks to make it illegal for employers to make decisions on hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on sexual orientation.
The bill, if passed, would add “sexual orientation” to a list of federally protected classes under a 1964 act that prohibits job discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Jackson, who represents thousands of black ministers, said the black civil rights movement is being “hijacked” by gay activists who claim the gay employment issue is similar to the black civil rights issue.
“I find it is an insult for myself as an African American that you are granting through this law special protection for sexual orientation that might only be imagined,” said the senior pastor of the 3,000-member Hope Christian Church in the Washington, D.C.-area.
ENDA seeks to add to the protected class “actual or perceived” sexual orientation, Jackson pointed out, while the other protected classes are “immutable” and “unchangeable” characteristics.
“Someone once said I was born black and I will probably stay black for awhile,” said the black Christian leader, drawing laughter from the media.
In addition, ENDA infringes on religious liberty and puts the integrity of faith-based ministries in jeopardy.
Hope Christian Church, for example, runs a daycare and aftercare program that reaches some 300 children.
If ENDA passes, children in the ministry could be sent “unclear signals” with Jackson preaching against homosexuality while the children are sent a “radically different” message by a church daycare employee.
The evangelical leader is also against the legislation because it expands civil rights protection on the vague basis of perception. In other words, an employee can sue their employer based simply on “perceived” sexual orientation.
Adding to Jackson’s comments, Colin A. Hanna, founder and president of the conservative grassroots organization Let Freedom Ring, pointed out that the current ENDA legislation includes some provision to exempt churches but no language for the exemption of parachurch organizations or pro-family movements.
An organization “whose entire focus” and “reason for being” is to promote a particular social view based on scripture would be forced to hire a person with a “diametrically opposing” view on the issue, Hanna contended.
“That is about as upside-down and about as perverted a reading as what the first amendment is about as I can imagine,” he said.
Hanna contends he is not opposed to non-discrimination laws but rather opposed to “perverting” the language of discrimination to enable the further “political aims” of the homosexual agenda.
“That is where our objection is based,” he said.
Others raised questions on how human resource managers would apply the bill in the real world. They emphasized that someone can easily be identified as black, female or of a particular religion, but there is no way to identify someone’s sexual orientation besides a confession by the individual.
As a result, it would be difficult to distinguish if a person was fired because of their poor performance or for their sexual identity.
“It (ENDA) is not needed, all that is needed is men and women to decide who they are and go to work everyday and do their job,” stated the Rev. Rick Scarborough who heads Vision America – a grassroots movement to restore Christian values in society.
The Baptist preacher said his organization is opposed to the bill morally, on biblical grounds, and because it is “insanity” and will “wreck the economy of this country.”
Others who spoke in opposition to the legislation included former homosexual Randy Thomas, vice president of Exodus International – the world’s largest Christian ministry promoting freedom from homosexuality.
“The liberal democrats, who support the advancement of the homosexual agenda, cannot agree on this,” concluded Tony Perkins, president of the influential Washington-based Family Research Council. “Even they think this is a bridge too far, policy too radical and there is disagreement in the rank.”
Perkins added, “I believe the vast majority of Americans would come to the realization that this will take us to a place that we do not want to go.”
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on ENDA on Wednesday.
On the Web: www.traditionalvalues.org
Comments
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (New King James Version)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 6:9 That is, catamites
Peter 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us[a] in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime[b] in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
I wish we could edit our posts. I went back and re-read my post about homosexuality and realized I juxtaposed two sentences in my mind and only wrote part of it.
where I wrote"The law was intended to lead us to Christ by showing us our need - we can not be righteous with Him "
I means to write: "The law was intended to lead us to Christ by showing us our need - we can not be righteous by it, not can we be righteous without faith in Him."
ifeelfine72,
I did address your post. and I did not talk down to you. I responded to your comment:
"It's fine to read the Bible like a fourth grader if you're in fourth grade, otherwise, read it like and adult."
I think to try to ignore what scripture says about what is sin is being childish and willful. You're free to do it. We all have areas we are blind to not being in line with God's word. But it is most definitely the word of God. Just because you dont like the way it reads does not mean God made a mistake. To ignore scripture when its very plain is dangerous and wrong.
But as I said, you're free to do as you wish - just dont think your decisions, choices, and actions will not have consequences.
Only the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can cleanse us of all unrighteousness and filthy sin - this does include many other things, but as it pertains to this article - adultery, fornication, and yes, homosexuality. Too many in today's church want to cover up sin, and be politically relevent to today's "culture". They water-down the Wrod of God, and twist it to make it seem more "pleasant" to the ears. Many people want to hear what feesds their ego; they don;t want to hear the truth that transforms lives for their own good and for God's pleasure.
The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are without sin. The Good News is that Jesus Christ became God in the flesh for us! He decended from his exalted heavenly place, and willfully shed His Prescious Blood and gave up His life so that we may have a relationship with God the Father our Creator.
We need to first acknowledge that we are all sinners; we need to repent - that is to literally and willfully choose to turn away from our old life of living in sins; we need to ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior of our lives (this means we hand over our free will to Him, and choose toi obey His commands and teachings). We must put our total trust and confidence ino Him, and then follow Him.
The question is, have we trully repented, and turned back from our sin. That is to say, if we're willfully, and rebelliously living in sin, have we made a conscious choice to turn from that sin, die to ourselves, pick up our crosses daily and follow Christ?
None of these sins are unpardonable, but God has given us a free choice. We must choose this day whom we will serve. Are we going to choose to gratify our flesh and live in sin, or are we going to die to ourselves, and choose to follow Christ Jesus?
Whoever doesn't truly know Christ on this site, please give your life to him. You will not regret it. He will never bring up your past. We all have pasts, but God can make you a new person, and as you continue to seek after Him and as you surrender your life to Him, He will continue to mold you and make you into the vessel of honor He wants you to be. I hope this touches someone out there, and may the Lord turn your heart to repentance. God Bless You.
ZoeB: Pick and choose? You quoted verses that should be obeyed by Christians. You did not mention any that call sodomy an abomination. I wonder who's picking and choosing?
Let's see what God says about homosexuality: he called it sinful, shameful, impurity, degrading, unnatural, indecent, depraved, something that ought not to be done - Romans 1:22-32
By putting your desires above God's you are putting yourself, a created creature, in the place of God in your life. By refusing to accept what God has said about homosexual sex being a sin, you are refusing to honor God. By ignoring His word, you are being ungodly, and suppressing the truth. By saying that your thoughts on the subject are more important that God's thoughts on it, you are exchanging the truth of God for your own thoughts. If you want to sin and ignore God, you are certainly free to do so. God will eventually give you more and more of it, until you reap what you sow. When anything takes the place of God in your life (whether its a TV, a job, a person, yourself, your desires, your fears, money, fame, a carved idol, etc), then you are sinning. If you continue to do so, you are hardening your heart. God will eventually give you over to that sin - He will eventually harden your heart. Your sin will eventually move from a personal hidden thing to a public thing, to a thing where you approve of others doing your sin. And your sin will cause you to do other unrighteous things
People who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
The law was intended to lead us to Christ by showing us our need - we can not be righteous with Him - Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Now if we have Christ, we are to leave behind our lives of sinfulness and not present our bodies to sin, but to God as interuments of righteousness.
Romans 6:11-16
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Just because we are under grace does not mean the consequence of our sinful desires will not come to us. We need to leave sin, not embrace it.
Romans 8:13
13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live
I'd give my opinion on interpretation and picking-and-choosing of the new law, but I'm forbidden to, aren't I, John5796? wbmoore?
Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:11-12)
Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35).
wbmoore - you still didn't address my post - you just talked down to me like I'm your ten year old. Do you stone adulterers? Do you tell remarried divorcees that they are going to hell for living in a constant state of adultery? Biblically, your arguments don't hold water.
rcinsocal: Are you that ignorant of the bible, that you copy and paste the same OT passages all over this web site? Those old laws were taken care of at the cross. This disgusting, degenerate lifestyle of sodomy that you are apparently championing is condemmed as an abomination numerous times in the new testament. Try reading it sometime.
I dont live by the law, but I can use it to recognize what God says is wrong -- that's what scripture says to do.
You're free to reinterpret scripture all you like. You can think yourself more mature, I know my 10 year old son often thinks he knows better than his father - but then finds out later that he was wrong. I try to not to reinterpret scripture; I try to take the whole of scripture and use it as a users manual. Its pretty clear what God likes and does not like. I think we should love people who live lives of sin. That does not mean we should let them define what is right and wrong - God's already done that.
God also said that there are people who try to justify themselves and ignore what God says.
Psalm 361:-3 1 An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. 3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.”
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter
Romans 14:16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil
So you go ahead and call good that which God said is evil.
wbmoore - But we as Christians interpret the Word every single day. I don't own any slaves, I've never stoned an adulterer, I only have one wife, I eat plenty of shellfish, etc. You interpret the Bible according to your own prejudices. Stop saaying it's God's Word! It's your interpretation of his Word. You ignore the stuff that isn't pleasing or culturally relavent and live according to the Word as best as you can.
It's fine to read the Bible like a fourth grader if you're in fourth grade, otherwise, read it like and adult.
As I see it, the issue is not whether homosexuality (or adultery or fornication) is a sin -- any Christian who hold to the Bible as God's word and do not try to reinterpret it can recognize that homosexual sex is sin, according to God, even if we are not justified by, or subject to, the Law, we are still to use it to recognize sin (Romans 3:20, Galatians 3:19-25; Romans 5:13-14; Matthew 15:18-20; Mark 7:20-23 ; Romans 1:24-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Lev 18; Lev 20:13; Gen 20:1-7; Deut 5:18; Heb 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 7:2; 1 Thes 4:3-8).
But the real issue is what we as Christians should do for people who live in a state of sin. It seems to me that Christ and Paul both went to where the sinners were and preached the word of God. They hated the sin but loved the sinners -- enough so that they were killed for what they believed (granted, in Christ's case, it was prophesied and it needed to happen so those who believed could have eternal life, but that does not make it any less love). They went among the sinners - not the righteous. They taught people their need to repent and turn to God, sin no more (live lives that reflect the repentance) and to love and obey God and love others (Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 22:36-40; John 14:15; John 14:21; Acts 26:20; James 2:14-17; Acts 5:29; Romans 6:11-23; Romans 8:13; Hebrews 5:9; 1 John 5:2-3; 1 John 3:7-10).
But Christ and Paul also said that if someone who calls himself a Christian sins, they should be gently reminded of what they are doing. If they continue, they should be spoken to about it with two or three others. If they continue to sin, then they need to be sent away from the church until such time as they repent. (Matthew 18:15-22; Galatians 6:1-2; 1 Timothy 5:19-22; Hebrews 3:12-13; James 5:19-20; Titus 3:9-11; Ephesians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 5:11)
I think scripture is clear, we need to not have sinners in our midst. But that does not mean we should not go out to them and love them as Christ and Paul loved them.
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev.24:10-16)
Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev.20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Titus 3:9-11 “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they ar unprofitable and vain. A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”