IN DEFENSE OF MIKE PENCE AND CHICK-FIL-A RELIGIOUS RIGHTS

OPPOSING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IS ACTING OUT THEIR FAITH AND PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT …

Recently, two very public accusations of homosexual intolerance were leveled against Vice President Mike Pence and Chick-fil-A restaurant.

As The Hill reported, Pete Buttigieg, the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana and a married, openly gay Democratic candidate running in the 2020 presidential election, accused Pence, a former Governor of Indiana, of holding Buttigieg’s orientation against him due to conservative Christian beliefs about homosexuality. Pence replied: “I consider him a friend. He knows I don’t have a problem with him. I don’t believe in discrimination against anybody. I treat everybody how I want to be treated. The truth of it is, all of us have our own religious convictions. Pete has his convictions, I have mine. All of us in this country have a right to our religious beliefs.”

Pence is a self-described evangelical Catholic and has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and civil unions.

As NBC News reported, airport authorities in San Antonio, Texas and Buffalo, New York banned Chick-fil-A from opening new restaurants in their facilities due to the company’s alleged legacy of anti-LGBT behavior. Chick-fil-A replied: “We want to make it clear that our sole focus is on providing delicious food and welcoming everyone — not being a part of a national political conversation. We do not have a political or social agenda. More than 145,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs represent the Chick-fil-A brand. We embrace all people, regardless of religion, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Chick-fil-A’s late founder, S. Truett Cathy, was a devout Southern Baptist; his religious beliefs had a major impact on the company. The company’s official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation supports Christian marriage retreats that prohibit participation by same-sex couples and has donated over $5 million to groups that oppose same-sex marriage.

So what we have here are a devout Christian politician and Christian charitable foundation practicing their religion and legally exercising their First Amendment right to free speech that is guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Both Pence and Chick-fil-A’s foundation have the right to their religious beliefs. But what exactly are those beliefs?

As conservative Christians, their religious beliefs are founded in the sacred Scriptures of the Bible, which is their guidepost to living a moral life dedicated to God. And the Bible is very clear about homosexuality: God created man and woman in His image; Homosexuality is unnatural and wrong; Homosexuality is just one of many sins that can be avoided by choosing to live morally as our Creator intended.

Here is exactly what the Bible says about homosexuality:

Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

God created humans to engage in sex only within the arrangement of marriage between a male and a female.

Proverbs 5: 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

The Bible condemns sexual activity that is not between a husband and wife, whether it is homosexual or heterosexual.

Romans 1:24-28 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Living Out, a U.K. organization offering a biblical perspective on being Christian and gay, makes an important distinction between natural and unnatural behavior in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Paul describes both lesbian and male homosexual behavior as ‘unnatural.’ Some have argued this refers to what is natural to the people themselves, so that what is in view is heterosexual people engaging in homosexual activity and thereby going against their ‘natural’ orientation. According to this view, Paul is not condemning all homosexual behaviour, but only that which goes against the person’s own sexual inclinations. But this view cannot be supported by the passage itself. The words for ‘natural’ and ‘against nature’ refer not to our subjective experience of what feels natural to us, but to the fixed way of things in creation. The nature that Paul says homosexual behavior contradicts is God’s purpose for us, revealed in creation and reiterated throughout Scripture.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Living Out notes that Paul’s message is clear: “Homosexual conduct leads people to destruction. It’s a serious issue. But however ingrained it may be in someone’s behavior, homosexual conduct is not inescapable. It is possible for someone living a practicing gay lifestyle to be made new by God. Temptations and feelings may well linger. That Paul is warning his readers not to revert to their former way of life suggests there is still some desire to do so. But in Christ we are no longer who we were. Those who have come out of an active gay lifestyle need to understand how to see themselves. What defined us then no longer defines us now.”

1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.”

Living Out says that attempts to read these texts as anything other than prohibitions of homosexual behavior do not ultimately work. “The plain reading of each passage is the right one. It is homosexual practice in general, rather than only certain expressions of it, which are forbidden in Scripture. To attempt to demonstrate otherwise is to violate the passages themselves. Yet these very same texts list homosexuality alongside many other forms of behaviour that are also against God’s will. The very passages that show us that homosexual activity is a sin, make it very clear that it is not a unique sin. It is one example of what is wrong with all of us.“

1 Peter 2:17 “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God …”

While the Bible disapproves of homosexual acts, it does not condone hatred of homosexuals or homophobia. Instead, Christians are directed to honor, love and respect everyone.

American evangelicals are a quarter of the nation’s population and its single largest religious group. Their Christian religion prohibits homosexual behavior, but it also mandates they honor, love and respect all of God’s people, no matter their sexual orientation. They hate the sin, but love the sinner. Their principled stance against same-sex marriage is simply acting out their religious faith, a First Amendment right enjoyed by all Americans. So while no one is reciprocally obligated to honor, love and respect Mike Pence or Chick-fil-A, everyone must respect their right to practice their religious beliefs in private and in public.