Controversial Nashville Statement On Biblical Sexuality Sparks Criticism On Twitter

More than 150 evangelical leaders met in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday to sign a manifesto and affirm their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, triggering angry responses from Twitter users.

The controversial manifesto called Nashville Statement reiterates the conservative Christian views on human sexuality and says the approval of "homosexual immorality" is a sin. The manifesto was signed as the leaders met at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Annual Conference and discussed and signed 14 statements that affirmed and denied notions on sexuality.

“We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous or polyamorous relationship,” Article 1 of the statement read. The anti-LGBTQ statement was met with a scathing response on Twitter.

In a press release accessed by several news networks, John Piper, co-founder of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, said the Nashville Statement was a "Christian manifesto" on human sexuality. "It speaks with forthright clarity, biblical conviction, gospel compassion, cultural relevance, and practical helpfulness," Piper stated. "It will prove to be, I believe, enormously helpful for thousands of pastors and leaders hoping to give wise, biblical, and gracious guidance to their people."

However, not all the people agreed. Pastor Brandan Robertson of Missiongathering Christian Church in San Diego, California, said the theology behind the statement was “not of God”

The pastor also insisted in a statement to Huffington Post: “The most heart breaking part of this statement is that this document will promote and perpetuate teachings that will cause verifiable psychological harm to LGBT+ Christian youth in churches around the world.”

Author Jen Hatmaker from Austin, Texas, a Christian who came out in favor of same-sex marriage, tweeted the timing of the statement — which came after the ghastly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, triggered after a white supremacist rally earlier this month — was very callous.

Others on Twitter also spoke against the repeated denouncement of the LGBTQ community.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry also called out the group of leaders for using her city’s name in a statement that excluded communities.

The preamble of the manifesto said it was a response to what they felt was an “increasingly post-Christian” culture.“This secular spirit of our age presents a great challenge to the Christian church,” it read.

The statement from the coalition members also read: "Our true identity, as male and female persons, is given by God. It is not only foolish but hopeless, to try to make ourselves what God did not create us to be.”

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, said the statement was “urgently needed.”

Among those who signed the document included many prominent and influential evangelical leaders, including Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. He is also presumed to be one of the architects behind President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender members in the U.S Army. The statement was also signed by Steve Gaines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.