WHEREAS, In May 1993, the Hawaiian Supreme Court ruled that the state’s exclusion of same-sex couples from marital status may be contrary to the Hawaiian state constitution because it amounts to invidious discrimination; and
WHEREAS, The Hawaiian Supreme Court has instructed the state of Hawaii to prove compelling state interests for limiting marriage to heterosexual couples; and
WHEREAS, The instructions of the Hawaiian Supreme Court shift the burden of proof from persons seeking to change existing law and places it instead on officers of the government who support norms of conduct long established in the Western legal tradition; and
WHEREAS, The compelling state interests standard is extraordinarily difficult to prove before a court already disposed to regard the exclusion of same-sex relationships from the definition of marriage as a matter of invidious discrimination, and therefore the state of Hawaii is soon likely to grant full legal status to the marriage of homosexual couples; and
WHEREAS, Under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution of the United States, any marriage performed in the state of Hawaii will, apart from the enactment of state-by-state exceptions or the enactment of a new and comprehensive federal law, have to be legally recognized in every other state; and
WHEREAS, Homosexual couples from every other state are preparing to obtain marriage licenses in Hawaii and then to challenge the courts, legislatures and institutions in their home states to treat their same-sex relationship as having identical status to the recognition of marriage between a man and a woman; and
WHEREAS, Challenging the exclusion of homosexual couples from the definition of marriage as sanctioned and protected by civil law is a strategy to appropriate the moral capital of marriage in order to enforce acceptance of homosexual conduct and homosexual desires in the public arenas of American life; and
WHEREAS, There is much scientific evidence showing that homosexual attractions are pathological, abnormal, and mostly if not entirely a matter of external influence, learned behavior, acquired taste and personal choice; and, although there have been speculations, no conclusive scientific evidence has been found to support claims that homosexual attractions are biologically fixed and irreversible; and
WHEREAS, Even should a biological link with homosexuality be discovered, it could not settle the morality of homosexual behavior, and could not serve to justify, much less require, any society to grant the status of marriage to homosexual couples; and
WHEREAS, God, who is both Moral Ruler of the Universe and the Creator of all that is, and who knows and understands the physical and psychological composition of all and every human life better than any human scientist will ever know it, has stated in Scripture that homosexual conduct is always a gross abomination for all human beings, both men and women, in all circumstances, without exception (Lev. 18:22 and 20:13); and
WHEREAS, God makes it clear in Scripture that even desire to engage in a homosexual sexual relationship is always sinful, impure, degrading, shameful, unnatural, indecent and perverted (Rom. 1:24-27), so any effort to extend the meaning of marriage in order to sanction the satisfaction of such desire must also be in every case sinful, impure, degrading, shameful, unnatural, indecent and perverted; and
WHEREAS, God by saying their blood will be on their own heads (Lev.20:13) has explicitly ruled out any effort by homosexual couples to justify their behavior, or to claim their homosexual relationship deserves protected legal status, by shifting blame or responsibility for their same-sex relationship to the Creator who made them; and
WHEREAS, Marriage is God’s idea established in the order of creation to be a permanent union of one man with one woman (Gen. 1:28, and 2:24), and marriage is therefore first and foremost a divine institution (Mat. 19:6) and only secondarily a cultural and civil institution; and
WHEREAS, Jesus reaffirmed the origin of marriage in the order of creation and declared marriage to be a sacred, monogamous and life-long institution joining one man with one woman (Matt. 19:4-6); and
WHEREAS, Any action by the government giving homosexual unions the legal status of marriage denies the fundamental immorality of homosexual behavior and causes the government of any nation so doing to jeopardize seriously the favor of Almighty God on whom the security, welfare and stability of every nation, even Gentile nations (Lev. 18:24-25, 28; Ps. 2; Am. 1:3,6, 9, 11, 13; Isa. 13-21), ultimately depends; and
WHEREAS, Separating marriage from the complementary union of male and female trivializes the concept of marriage in the laws, public policies, educational systems, and other institutions of society; and
WHEREAS, Only the marriage of male and female serves to tame the impulses of self-centered individuals by inter-generational obligations and commitments; and
WHEREAS, Failure in the courts and institutions of civil law to recognize the unique importance of heterosexual family units, by granting moral equivalence to the idea of same-sex relationships, will surely and very seriously undercut the formation of stable heterosexual family units in future generations; and
WHEREAS, The future of the United States of America will be placed at risk because no society can survive that does not recognize, protect, defend the unique importance of heterosexual marriage to its own health and stability; and
WHEREAS, The legal recognition of homosexual marriage carries the potential use of force, a force that will likely be turned against those who do not or cannot accept the moral equivalence of homosexual marriages; and
WHEREAS, The enforcement of marriage laws, standards of educational instruction in schools, and the regulation of fair business practices will be adjusted to require public recognition of homosexual marriages, and this adjustment will certainly undermine, and may even restrain, the public communication, influence, and independence of individuals, groups and institutions who believe and teach that homosexual marriage is immoral in both concept and practice; and
WHEREAS, Legalizing homosexual marriage will force public schools to teach the acceptability of homosexual marriage and will likely lead to laws requiring that businesses remove distinctions between homosexual and heterosexual relationships in the way they treat marriage benefit for their employees; and
WHEREAS, Legalizing homosexual marriage raises the specter of new laws and policies intended to marginalize, privatize, or silence the social and moral influence of parents and churches which teach that homosexual marriage is wrong or that heterosexual marriage is morally superior; Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the messengers of the one hundred thirty-ninth meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, assembled in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 11-13, 1996, do clearly and steadfastly oppose the legalization of homosexual marriage by the state of Hawaii, or by any other state, or by the United States of America; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we affirm the Bible’s teaching that promotion of homosexual conduct and relationships by any society, including action by the governments to sanction and legitimize homosexual relationships by the legalization of homosexual marriages, is an abominable sin calling for God’s swift judgment upon any such society (Lev. 18:22, 28; Isa. 3:9); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we commit ourselves to pray faithfully against the legalization of homosexual marriages in American law, and to preach and teach the truth concerning what the Bible says about homosexuality, homosexual conduct and the institution of marriage, and against the foolishness, danger and moral wickedness of any government action to accept, sanction, approve, protect, or promote homosexual marriage; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we commit ourselves to pray for, affirm, and support legislative and legal efforts and all persons involved in efforts to oppose the legalization of homosexual marriages through judicial actions, through public policy decisions and through legislation introduced at both the state and federal levels of government; and we call upon all judges, all persons in public office, and all candidates for public office, to do all they can to resist and oppose the legalization of homosexual marriages; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, That because any law, or any policy or regulation supporting a law, that legalizes homosexual marriage is and must be completely and thoroughly wicked according to God’s standards revealed in the Bible, we do most solemnly pledge our decision never to recognize the moral legitimacy of any such law, policy or regulation, and we affirm that, whatever the stakes (Dan. 3:17-18), we will never conform to or obey (Acts 4:19) anything required by any governing body to implement, impose or act upon any such law. So help us God.