A Southern Baptist pastor did something remarkable earlier this year.
Danny Cortez, a pastor from California,
told his congregation that he no longer agreed with the church's views on homosexuality.
He no longer thought it was a sin to be gay.
And he actually made this announcement to his congregation a couple days after his own son
publicly came out as gay.
So, this wasn't just a matter of, you know, theology for him. This was personal.
And the reaction to his announcement was probably what you might expect.
The church decided that they would have to take a vote
to see whether or not Pastor Cortez could keep his job.
The amazing thing is that the church voted
to protect him. They voted to allow Pastor Cortez to keep his job
and they decided that they would now become an LGBT affirming church.
The church is actually now called a Third Way church,
meaning, basically, they agree to disagree on "controversial" issues like gay marriage.
This couldn't have come at a better time either, because the Southern Baptist Convention
actually had their annual gathering this past weekend.
And the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Al Mohler,
actually denounced Pastor Cortez for what he did. He said there can't be such a thing as the Third Way.
There's either the biblical way
or there's the way that sends everyone to hell.
This is precisely the sort of thinking that explains why a lot of younger Southern Baptists
are actually leaving the church. They don't want to be associated
with this sort of black and white thinking on an issue that they don't find controversial at all.
So, yay! I guess...
I guess it's kind of great that we have guys like Al Mohler in
the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, because he's just pushing away all the people who might take over in the future.
Now, by the way,
I've heard a lot of criticism against Pastor Cortez
that, you know, it took him having a gay son for him to realize that it wasn't a sin to be gay.
And that, you know, he should realize that all gay people and lesbians are somebody's sons or daughters.
And I think that's a fair point.
But I would say two things about that:
First of all, a lot of times it's hard for Christians, evangelical Christians especially,
to really support LGBT issues
until they know somebody who is themselves gay or lesbian.
So, you know, I don't begrudge him the fact that it took him
this long for him to figure this out.
And by the way, the timeline of those critics is often wrong.
They say his son came out and then this pastor supported, you know, LGBT rights.
That's actually not true. The pastor actually told his son:
"I'm changing my views on homosexuality" and then his son said: "Dad, I'm gay."
So, you know this pastor came to this idea on his own
and it just so happened that his son was gay. So it, you know, touched home in a totally different way.
His own evolution on the concept of marriage equality
it's really no different than
the way a lot of Christians have evolved their views on the issue, including President Obama.
You know, it took the fact that it no longer was some abstract issue happening to other people.
It took them knowing someone who was gay
for them to really solidify their views on this issue.
So let's not, you know, get mad at people who we normally call bigots,
for finally coming to the right position on the issue.
It's not important to me, I guess, which route they took to get there,
only that they eventually got there.
But let's say none of that actually happened. Let's say Pastor Cortez only started supporting LGBT issues because of his son.
So what?
At least, he had the courage to change his mind.
And at least he did something that all of us would hope he would do. He had the--
He had the audacity to stand up and defend his son
even when it may have cost him his job.
I think he did the right thing. I applaud him for doing it.
And I hope other Southern Baptist pastors and pastors everywhere
follow in his footsteps.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
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