Who said that religion and science are incompatible? The Southern Baptist Convention has just demonstrated that they have mastered the long sought art of time travel. They still have a few kinks to work out. So far they can only travel in one direction, backwards.
Southern Baptist conference grapples with questions of sexuality for first time Leaders taking part in three-day conference to discuss church's attitude towards homosexuality, pornography and monogamy
“If we have to choose between Jesus and cultural respectability, we choose Jesus,” said Russell Moore, the president of the commission, during a Q&A session on Tuesday.
During his talk, he spoke about how transgender people, same-sex marriage and pre-marital sex relate to the church.
One of the key issues for the group is its opposition to same-sex marriage, which will be the sole subject of a separate Southern Baptist conference later this year. Moore said that same-sex marriage could “harm” people, though he did not say how. “If you take the government out of recognizing marriage, and recognizing marriage as it is naturally, organically defined, you are losing something,” Moore said.
He also said churches should engage with transgender people and treat them with respect, but suggested transgender identity is something that can be fixed. Moore said that if someone in a congregation came forward with transgender feelings, the church should support them and say: “This is what sanctification looks like. It is a process that takes place.”
Moore cited research presented by Tuesday’s first keynote speaker, Mark Regnerus, a University of Texas sociologist who has suggested children of gay parents don’t do as well in life as children of heterosexual couples. Regnerus’s work has been widely denounced by scholars and the department for which he works called the conclusions he drew from his research “fundamentally flawed”.
Regnerus spoke about trends in sexuality based on new research he has collected that will be part of a book due for release. He said pornography and the pill have made sex “cheap” because they make it more accessible.
If anybody is expecting this bunch of "spiritual leaders" to modify their views and positions they are very likely going to be disappointed. When Regnerus is their idea of science they are clearly living in a pre-Copernican world.