미국의 최대 교단인 남침례회 2014년도 정기총회가 지난 화요일 볼티모어에서 열렸다. 남침례회는 동성결혼과 동성애에 대하여 죄로 인정하고 강력히 반대하기로 하였다. 남침례교는 현재 1600만명의 교인이 있고 매년 줄어들기는 하지만 헌법조항에 동성결혼과 동성애를 인정하지 않기로 했다. 지난 2월에 남가주에 있는 뉴하트커뮤니티 교회의 담임인 데니 코테즈목사가 자신의 교회 성도들과 신의 아들이 게이임을 커밍하웃하면서 더 이상 교회안에 전통적인 결혼관을 대한 가르침을 따르지 않고 동성애가 죄가 아니라고 하였다. 이문제를 총회에서 다룬것인데 총회에서는 동성애와 동성결혼이 죄라고 강력히 선포를 하게 된것이다.
그 교회 교인들이 투표결과 담임목사인 데니를 해고하지 않고 대신 제3의 물결이라고 해서 동성애 커뮤니티를 받아들이기 하였다. 남칠레회 총회장 알버트 모허럴(Albert Mohler)은 남침례회는 모든 미국의 교회 회중이 이 문제에 대하여 입장을 분명히 공표해야 하고 남침례회는 동성애 교육과 동성애 행위와 관계는 죄라는 인정한다고 입장을 밝혔다.
Pew Research Center 가 조사한 자료들을 간략하게 3가가지 질문에 대한 답을 표시한 도표를 보면 현재 미국안의 개신교전체, 복음적인 백인, 일반 백인주류, 흑인교인, 천주교, 무소속 그룹이 다음 질문에 답한 비율을 볼수 있다.
1). 당신은 개인적으로 동성애를 도적적으로 받아들일수 있는가? 도덕적으로 받아들일수 없는가? 아니면 도덕적인 사안이 아니라고 보는가?
복음적 백인 일반백인 흑인교인 천주교, 무소속
1. 도덕적으로 받아들인다, 16% 11% 22% 27% 34%
2. 도덕적으로 받아 들일수 없다. 52% 66% 30% 33% 12%
3. 도덕적 이슈가 아니다 28% 20% 44% 32% 50%
4. 모르겠다 3% 3% 3% 6% 3%
2). 당신은 동성애가 죄라고 보는 아닌가? (%)
1. 죄라고 본다 64 78 79 33 18
2. 죄가 아니다 28 14 11 54 72
3. 모르겠다 8 8 10 13 10
3). 당신이 개인적으로 느끼기에 당신의 믿음과 동성애와 충돌이 있다고 보는가? (%)
1. 매우 크다 42 54 26 42 10
2. 적다 16 20 15 12 7
3. 없다 37 22 55 43 81
4. 모르겠다 4 4 5 2 3
Southern Baptists confront a ‘third way’ on homosexuality and sin
As the Southern Baptist Convention begins its annual meeting Tuesday in Baltimore, the country’s largest Protestant body will confront an issue agitating many conservative evangelical Christian churches: How to navigate the rapidly shifting landscape of same-sex marriage and homosexuality.
The denomination, which claims 16 million membersbut also has been struggling with declining membership, defines God’s plan for marriage and sexual intimacy as between “one man and one woman,” and teaches that homosexuality is “not a ‘valid alternative lifestyle.’” According to its constitution, if a congregation decides to “affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior,” it is considered no longer “in cooperation with” the wider body.
But in February, a California pastor told his Southern Baptist congregation that he no longer believed the traditional teachings of the church regarding homosexuality. The Rev. Danny Cortez said members of New Heart Community Church and his own son, who had recently come out as gay, had helped convince him that homosexuality is not a sin.
Last month, New Heart church members voted against firing Cortez, choosing instead to welcome the gay community as a “Third Way” congregation, described by the pastor as “agree to disagree…and not cast judgment on one another.” But in a blog post headlined, “There is no ‘Third Way’ – Southern Baptists Face a Moment of Decision (and so will you),” prominent evangelical leader Albert Mohler wrote last week that, “A church will either believe and teach that same-sex behaviors and relationships are sinful, or it will affirm them.”
Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote that eventually, “every congregation in America will make a public declaration of its position on this issue.” He also predicted that the Southern Baptist body “will act in accordance with its own convictions, confession of faith, and constitution” at this week’s meeting.
White evangelical Protestants are particularly likely to believe that homosexuality is a sin. In 2013, a Pew Research Center survey found that about eight-in-ten white evangelicals (78%) said it is a sin to engage in homosexual behavior, similar to the percentage saying the same 10 years earlier (82%). In 2013, about eight-in-ten black Protestants (79%) also said homosexual behavior is a sin, but far fewer white mainline Protestants (38%), Catholics (33%) or religiously unaffiliated people (18%) agreed. Overall, among the general public 45% said homosexual behavior is a sin.
In the same 2013 survey, six-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (59%) said homosexuality should be discouraged by society and 74% said there was a conflict between their religious beliefs and homosexuality, both more than any other major religious group besides black Protestants. In another 2013 survey, we found that 66% of white evangelicals said homosexuality is morally unacceptable. Overall, only 37% of Americans said this.
Young people tend to express more positive views of homosexuality and more support for same-sex marriage as compared with older generations. And the same pattern seems to be true of young evangelicals. In aggregated polling from 2012 to February 2014, 29% of white evangelicals under the age of 30 expressed support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, compared with 24% of evangelicals age 30-49, 19% among evangelicals age 50-64, and 14% of evangelicals age 65 and older.
But young evangelicals tend to look much more like other evangelicals than like other young people on this question. Among all adults under age 30, fully 67% expressed support for same-sex marriage in our aggregated 2012-2014 data, more than doubling the level of support from young white evangelicals.
