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Larry Greenfield, the president of the Midwest chapter of the American Theological Society, told ENI that the appearance, in the past 30 to 40 years, of women's and gay rights movements had fundamentally changed American society. Church teachings had begun to reflect those changes, he said. "Of course that is going to cause some stir."

What was needed now, he told ENI, was a broader examination of how religious institutions viewed sexuality and how, ultimately, they would recognize and foster the talents of women and sexual minorities. "How many lives, for example, have we wasted in not recognizing the talents of women in ministry?"But R. Albert Mohler Jr, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist news agency: "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," Mohler said. "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 Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a sexual education organization, sponsored the drafting of the statement.Copyright © 2000 Ecumenical News International. Used with permission.

Read the full text of the declaration and a list of endorsements at SIECUS's Religion Project site.

In the Baptist Press article referenced above, Richard Land notes, "[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."

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January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44