FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, August 15, 2022
For interview requests contact: David Roach; droach229@gmail.com; 502-751-0237
Religious liberty & LGBTQ agenda draw
focus at Baptists’ meeting with Mobile mayor
MOBILE, Ala.—Mobile Southern Baptist leaders have urged Mayor Sandy Stimpson to protect religious liberty as he considers policies related to the LGBTQ community.
Six representatives from the Mobile Baptist Association (MBA) Executive Committee met with Stimpson Aug. 15, presenting him a resolution “on the LGBTQ+ agenda and religious liberty” adopted by the Executive Committee Aug. 1.
The resolution notes that Stimpson “recently appointed two individuals as LGBTQ+ liaisons” to the city, citing an AL.com article. “Liaisons who were appointed to advise officials in other cities later were given the authority to enforce ordinances and levy fines on any groups who refused to celebrate pro-LGBTQ+ ordinances and activity,” according to the resolution.
The resolution “implores” public officials “to protect religious liberty by rejecting any attempts to compromise the longstanding Judeo-Christian and biblical convictions of the majority of our citizens.”
MBA Moderator Scott Griffith, pastor of Cypress Shores Baptist Church, was among the leaders who met with Stimpson. “Our ethnically diverse group of pastors had a cordial meeting with the mayor,” he said. “We assured him of our support for any efforts to protect Mobile residents’ liberty to hold and live out biblical convictions regarding human sexuality.”
The MBA representatives who met with Stimpson were Griffith; Vice Moderator Kevin Cobb, pastor of West Mobile Baptist Church; former moderator Mack Morris, retired pastor of Woodridge Baptist Church; former moderator Charlie York, pastor of Highpoint Baptist Church in Eight Mile; MBA executive director Thomas Wright; and David Roach, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland.
The Mobile Baptist leaders also proposed to Stimpson a city ordinance that would prohibit “any adverse action” against individuals who have “acted in accordance with a religious, moral, scientific, or philosophical belief” that marriage is “the union of one man and one woman.”
The MBA comprises 114 churches in Mobile County that cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The SBC’s confession of faith defines marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.” It adds that Christians should oppose “all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.”
The full text of the resolution is linked here:
https://mobilebaptists.org/images/stories/Resolution%20on%20Mobile%20LGBTQ%2B%208.1%20%28003%29.pdf
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