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Below are the results from the survey concerning ABI readers’ views on homosexuality and the Bible. (The survey was launched on April 20.)

The link to the survey was sent to the 550+ ABI Facebook Group members, 850+ Facebook friends, as well as the 470 recipients of the ABI Update emailings (although there is obviously overlap between the three groups). There have been 104 respondents so far.

Concerning the Results

The statements were presented in pairs, generally representing the two opposing views as they are often expressed concerning this subject. However, this was not to suggest that these are the only possible views. nor that one of each pair would or should have necessarily exactly represented the views held by each respondent.

Therefore, as can be seen from the results, not everyone selected one from each pair. I think this probably indicates that some are still not completely decided in certain areas. And I’m sure that some were not comfortable with selecting one because neither reflected their particular view closely enough, which is understandable given the complexity of the issue (which I will discuss in another blog in the near future).

It is also worth noting that the results of this survey indicate that the majority of ABI readers, as a group, hold a far more conservative position on this issue than any other demographic I have seen – including evangelicals as a whole.

Survey Results

The numbers in parentheses are the total number (and %) of respondents (out of 104) who selected each statement.

(103, 99.04%)  The Bible teaches that homosexual behavior (in all its forms) is always sinful without exception.
(0, 0.00%)  The biblical statements concerning homosexuality reflect ancient cultural norms and values that need not be applied directly in a modern society.

(100, 96.15%)  Those who consider themselves homosexual or who have homosexual urges should be encouraged to find deliverance in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
(2, 1.92%)  Sexuality is a strictly personal matter and we should not concern ourselves with the sexual behavior of others.

(5, 4.81%)  Christ’s teaching and example mandates that we should recognize that God has created us with all manner of physical and psychological differences including sexual orientation.
(84, 80.77%)  That the Bible refers to homosexuality as sinful indicates that it is a learned behavior and a matter of choice.

(103, 99.04%)  The Bible’s consistent teaching is that sexual relations must be within marriage and that marriage is to be exclusively heterosexual.
(0, 0.00%)  The Bible is more concerned about love and fidelity in a monogamous relationship, regardless of sexual orientation.

(6, 5.77%)  The type of homosexual behavior condemned in the Bible is abusive deviant behavior, not relationships between consenting partners.
(90, 86.54%) The relevant passages in the Bible give no indication that a distinction is being made between different “types” of homosexual behavior or that some are acceptable and some are not.

(0, 0.00%)  The growing trend in the American church to accept homosexuality (in its various forms) is something that is long overdue for a group that has long experienced discrimination by Christians.
(99, 95.19%)  The growing trend in the American church to accept homosexuality (in its various forms) is yet another example of the church compromising biblical standards and accommodating anti-scriptural thinking.

When I checked my Inbox on Saturday morning I found an email from Jimmy DeYoung (one of ABI’s co-founders) concerning the Manhattan Declaration. Because the Manhattan Declaration was still breaking news, Jimmy wanted to discuss it on his weekly radio program. So I quickly went to work trying to learn as much as I could before he called back to do the interview.

The Manhattan Declaration is a 4732-word document which was made public at the National Press Conference on Friday, November 20. It was drafted by a committee that included Chuck Colson, Dr. Robert George and Dr. Timothy George and signed by almost 150 recognized Roman Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical religious leaders. On Governor Mike Huckabee’s FoxNews program on Sunday evening, while interviewing Chuck Colson, he compared its potential historical significance to Luther’s 95 Theses. While this remains to be seen, since its release it has been creating quite a buzz all across the internet in articles and blogs and producing fairly diverse reactions.

On his BreakPoint radio program on Friday, Chuck Colson stated (full article):

Today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., I and a dozen evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox leaders face the microphones to announce the release of an historic document—one of the most important documents produced by the American church, at least in my lifetime

The Manhattan Declaration has two main goals. One goal is that it would be a wake-up call for Christians to live according to the tenets of their faith. The other goal is to serve notice to those in government that those who identify themselves as Christians are taking a stand and declaring:

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.

In the closing paragraph, the final two sentences state:

We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

On BreakPoint, Chuck Colson stated the goals this way:

The Manhattan Declaration is a wake-up call—a call to conscience—for the church. It is also crystal-clear message to civil authorities that we will not, under any circumstances, stand idly by as our religious freedom comes under assault.

Dr. Timothy George, one of the drafters of the Manhattan Declaration, wrote in a Washington Post article:

Thus we have issued this declaration of conscience calling on our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in the defense of human life, marriage, and religious freedom.

The document addresses three specific issues, identified as: “Life,” “Marriage” and “Religious Liberty.”

Concerning life
The Manhattan Declaration calls for a pro-life stance that recognizes the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. And it makes clear that Christians, in faithfulness to God’s moral law, will not be forced or coerced into being involved with abortion, human embryonic research, assisted suicide or euthanasia. On Mike Huckabee’s program, Chuck Colson commented that  this commitment would mean that doctors would not violate their beliefs to perform abortions and pharmacists would not dispense “morning-after” pills under threat of forfeiting their licenses or even imprisonment.

The drafters and signatories of the Manhattan Declaration bring attention to what they perceive as a growing rift between views of the American public in general and the views held by many of those in government:

Although public sentiment has moved in a pro-life direction, we note with sadness that pro-abortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses of Congress hold pro-abortion
views.

Concerning marriage
The declaration calls for a commitment to the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and to the proposition that the only acceptable form of marriage is between one man and one woman, and further observes that there must be faithfulness in the marital relationship. The importance and significance of marriage in any society is also noted:

Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society.

As I have been researching the Manhattan Declaration and responses to it, I have found more than one website where this document is being denounced by those in the LGBT community. The following is fairly representative of the reaction (full article):

…the far right religious bigots never cease in their efforts to degrade and denigrate LGBT citizens and keep us a persecuted minority. Just yesterday a new anti-gay and anti-freedom of religion offense was launched by far right forces of hate and reactionarism in the form of the so-called “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.”

Concerning religious liberty
The declaration states:

Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions.

The document also notes two specific cases which do seem to provide cause for legitimate concern that the government is already engaging in infringement of religious liberty:

After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance  to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing  homosexual unions.

It is going to take some time (perhaps much time) to be able to ascertain if the Manhattan Declaration produces the desired effect on American society as a whole, on the politicians in various levels of government, on legislation and on jurisprudence and judicial decisions. But perhaps more importantly, the question is whether or not it will ultimately have an effect on the way Christians live out their faith in the American context – whatever that is or may become.

The document once again brings to the fore many of the questions that were raised in the 1970′s and 80′s with the rise of the Moral Majority. These include the role of believers in the political process and whether or not they should participate in political activism or even civil disobedience (as the document seems to suggest)?

Another significant question that is also being debated once again by conservative Christians relates to what some are viewing as the ecumenical nature of the document. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the signers of the Manhattan Declaration included scholars and leaders from the three major confessions of Christendom – Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Church. Once again, this is reminiscent of the Moral Majority era. The question becomes, Is it wise and biblical to join together with those with whom we have serious theological disagreement (even to the point that we would consider them false teachers as it relates to the gospel itself)?

On the other hand, some would (rightly) observe that in the matters of life and marriage in particular, there is more genuine agreement with conservatives from all faiths than there is with many who continue to identify themselves as born-again evangelical believers – but who also support and defend “a woman’s right to choose,” as well as believe that homosexual relationships should not be regarded as sinful.

To be honest, I’m not sure how to fully answer these questions. I am still thinking this through, reading articles and blogs written by those on both sides of these issues, and studying relevant biblical passages in order to form an informed and biblical view for myself. I plan to post another blog in the next few days which I hope will provide some biblical insight and answers to these questions.

In the meantime, I would be interested in hearing from our readers – so please take a moment to provide us with your own thoughts and comments on the matter.

I encourage you to read the Manhattan Declaration for yourself – and to also read through the list of official signatories of the document.

This is a link to the Manhattan Declaration website.

Dave James

In August, Jonathan Falwell wrote an article entitled “Are You Hindu Yet?” which was published on the World Net Daily website.

Falwell cites an article in the August 15 edition of Newsweek entitled “We Are All Hindus Now.”

These articles discuss the changing worldview of Americans (worldview can be understood of the sum total of one’s outlook on life, including one’s understanding and belief about the total of reality).

And alarmingly, this change is apparently found within evangelical Christianity as well based on the results of a study by the Pew Forum Study last summer, which indicated that over 57% of members of evangelical churches agreed with the statement that “many religions can lead to eternal life.”

In addition, 25% of all Americans surveyed believe that God is only “an impersonal force.”

I would encourage you to read the both the article in Newsweek and the one written by Jonathan Falwell.

Dave James
Ministry Coordinator
The Alliance for Biblical Integrity