Baptists Ask If Gay Marriage May Be An Issue ‘Where We Just Agree To Disagree’

Southern Baptists ministers gathered in Nashville at the end of April to discuss sexuality. The October conference includes pastors as well as lay people. Credit: ERLC via Flickr

Southern Baptists are publicly wrestling with homosexuality this week. The Nashville-based denomination invited pastors and lay people to Opryland for a follow-up event to a similar, smaller summit on sexuality held earlier this year.

The country’s largest protestant denomination – which has been shrinking in recent years along with mainline churches – has struck a softer tone on homosexuality and encouraged pastors to talk less about gay marriage. 

“How do we address this? Is there an acceptable view that committed homosexual marriage is taught by scripture?” asks Christian talk show host Bob Lepine in a promotional video for the conference. “Is it an issue like baptism where we just agree to disagree as Christians?”

The open-ended nature of some of the questions represents a shift in thinking. A decade ago, the Southern Baptist Convention was focusing its efforts on a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. And in 2012, church representatives passed a resolution affirming its opposition to same-sex marriage.

More than 1,200 people are expected at the two-day event, which has sessions titled “Loving my LGBT neighbor,” “Is it OK to be gay?” and “Building bridges with those who disagree about marriage.” The sessions will be live-streamed online.