In various Court rulings and State Legislatures, same-sex marriage has been imposed on the people by political pressure without regard to the historical nature of constitutional rights. This movement is aiming toward a national imposition, and only the proactive and redemptive witness of the church can make the difference.

The original draft of this Affirmation was published in the Hartford Courant in 2003, on short notice, with 200 ministers of the Gospel and other church leaders in Connecticut as signatories; and in 2005 with 700 such signatories. Not one leader or advocate of same-sex marriage in the state has ever been willing to publicly criticize or dispute one word of the original Affirmation. The present Affirmation, for national purposes, is updated and shortened.

An Affirmation by Ministers and Christian Leaders:

Yes to Man and Woman in Marriage
No to Same-Sex Marriage

First, we affirm that the unalienable rights of life, liberty and property, and hence the power to pursue happiness, are given by the Creator to all people equally, as individual people, regardless of religion, sexual identity or other criteria. This affirmation is rooted uniquely in the assumptions of Genesis 1-2, and reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

We also affirm that the Creator defines human sexuality in the context of the marriage of one man and one woman in mutual fidelity, serving as the basis for a healthy society and the well being of children. In human history, no society rooted in the approval of homosexuality, in any capacity, has ever produced unalienable rights for the larger social order.

Nonetheless, same-sex marriage has been advanced, without historical precedent, as an unalienable right. Therefore, we believe same-sex marriage advocates need to answer four questions:

1. Are unalienable rights being redefined?
2. If so, why?
3. If so, what is the new basis for these rights?
4. What are the consequences? For example, would the right to same-sex marriage thus prevail over the religious, political and economic liberty to dissent from it?

Second, sexual orientation is changeable, and there is no scientific basis for a supposed genetic or social determinism to homosexuality. Therefore, we believe same-sex marriage advocates need to answer two further questions:

1. What is the evidence that homosexuality is a fixed and immutable trait, and thus equal to a consistent class of people for civil rights purposes?

2. What prevents any other group of people from claiming a subjective identity as a civil rights class?

Unless these six questions are answered with clarity and substance, then same-sex marriage advocates are
knowingly not confident in their own position.

And finally, we affirm these words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

For those who struggle with homosexual temptation, or any other temptation, Jesus invites us to come to him, and on his terms. We too, as ministers of the Gospel, and leaders in the church, have the exact same need, daily, to seek God’s grace to overcome any range of temptations that may come our way – as is common with all people.

Jesus affirms marriage as defined in the biblical order of creation, he fulfilled the Law of Moses that says no to homosexual acts, and the apostle Paul ratifies the same. Therefore, those who wish to be reconciled with the biblical understanding of Jesus are invited to affirm marriage as one man and one woman, and to forsake all other definitions of human sexuality.

All people are created as image-bearers of God, seeking peace, order, stability and hope; to live, to love, to laugh and to learn. The question is whether we seek these qualities on our Creator’s own terms, or on our own broken terms.

The original version of this Affirmation was authored and vetted by nine ministers in Connecticut in 2003. The principal writer was John Rankin of the Theological Education Institute (TEI). This text and related materials may be located on the TEI website: www.teinet.net