NC Baptists square off over gay marriage

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) – Baptists are lining up on opposing sides of an upcoming ballot referendum to amend North Carolina’s constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is on record supporting the amendment that will appear on the state primary ballot May 8. North Carolina Baptists are among leaders of a coalition called Vote For Marriage NC supporting what it calls the “North Carolina Marriage Protection Amendment.”

“We look forward to a dialogue with North Carolina citizens about the definition of marriage in our state,” said Mark Creech, a former Southern Baptist pastor who serves as executive director of the Christian Action League. “Voters in 30 other states have already had the opportunity to protect marriage in their own constitutions and we are pleased that we will finally be able to do so as well. We’re the last state in the South to be able to vote on marriage and we are confident of victory.”

Meanwhile, Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., will host an event Feb. 25 called “NC Baptists Against Amendment One: Justice, Equality and Personal Freedom.” The gathering is the first of three events planned in a national campaign sponsored by the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and Alliance of Baptists.

The “Many Voices, One Love” campaign recognizes that Christians hold differing views about sexuality and gender but says they cannot ignore the Bible’s message that God loves and accepts all people.

“We particularly want to affirm that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people deserve the same freedoms and responsibilities when it comes to sacred covenants that straight people do,” said Robin Lunn, executive director of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. “Love is love.”

The Feb. 25 event at Myers Park will feature a panel of Baptists from diverse backgrounds who oppose the proposal called Amendment One for various reasons.

"Many Baptists from a wide variety of perspectives oppose North Carolina's proposed Amendment One,” said LeDayne McLeese Polaski, program coordinator for the Charlotte-based Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. “Within our differences, we are united in a core belief that it is simply wrong to write discrimination into the founding documents of the state.”

Stated goals of the Feb. 25 event are to “demonstrate publically that there is more than one Baptist voice on the issue of marriage equality; to gather, equip, and mobilize Baptists in North Carolina who are opposed to the amendment; and to give those Baptists the tools they need to organize and advocate on this issue (or any issue of justice) in an effective way.”

The second event in the campaign will be sponsored by the Alliance of Baptists this fall and held in Florida at a location to be announced. The third event is planned for fall in New York, the largest of eight U.S. jurisdictions that currently allow gays and lesbians to wed.

–Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.