This SBC Resolution Would Address One of the Prime Threats to Religious Liberty in Government Today
During their annual meetings in Dallas this year, a resolution has been presented to the Southern Baptist Church to oppose bans on so-called “conversion therapy” and reject the pervasive influence of “homosexual identity politics.”
The resolution, “On Ministry and Counseling to Lead People from Homosexuality to Heterosexuality,” proposes the SBC “offer loving assistance to people suffering from same-sex attraction, so that they may turn from homosexuality to heterosexuality” and to reject “as heresy any claims that God makes people homosexual.”
The resolution reads in part, according to The Christian Post:
The movement against so-called ‘conversion therapy’ poses an immediate threat to Christian obedience to the Gospel of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because it is possible that due to lack of support from Christian ministries, some people with same-sex attractions may err in defining themselves as ‘homosexual’ by nature, and may thereby invite a fatal sin into their hearts.
In both Christian and unbelieving political contexts, homosexual identity politics has prompted a dangerous movement to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ or ‘reparative therapy,’ banned in terms so broadly as to endanger the work of Christian ministries in aiding people with same-sex attraction to turn away from homosexuality toward heterosexuality.
The resolution was proposed by Robert O. Lopez, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, who was raised by same-sex parents and now speaks out against homosexuality. Lopez, CP says, was forced to resign from California State University at Northridge in 2016 due to LGBT activist pressure.
Speaking to CP, he said that the resolution is a response to churches and state governments who are making it increasingly difficult for those seeking faith-based counseling for same-sex attraction to do so.
“We saw that Southern Baptists who want to make a change from homosexuality to heterosexuality are not getting enough help from churches. New laws banning change therapy are likely to worsen the situation,” said Lopez.
CP says the trend of proposed bans on so-called “conversion therapy” has spread across several states, such as Delaware and Hawaii.
California is also considering a ban that would severely limit the ability of anyone seeking or offering any type of therapy that would seek to change same-sex attraction. If passed, this would be a devastating blow to not only to Christian counselors or ministries who provide guidance to anyone seeking biblical guidance through a same-sex attraction, but to the First Amendment liberties of Christians struggling with homosexuality who would like to receive said guidance.
