WASHINGTON, D.C., April 23, 2015Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Conventions Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, joined religious leaders in signing an open letter on the defense of marriage and religious freedom today.
The letter, addressed to those in positions of public service, expresses a shared commitment to promoting and protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
At this significant time in our nations history with the institution of marriage before the United States Supreme Court, we reaffirm our commitment to promote and defend marriagethe union of one man and one woman, leaders wrote. As religious leaders from various faith communities, we acknowledge that marriage is the foundation of the family where children are raised by a mother and a father together.
Moore comments on signing the letter:
I’m happy to stand with a broad coalition of convictional leaders to say that marriage matters, and religious freedom does too. We cannot allow the most important institution of the creation order to be ignored simply because it is no longer fashionable. We also cannot let conscience and religious exercise become captive to whatever the majority wills at the moment.
The letter was released in anticipation of the Supreme Courts deliberation on the right of states to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, with oral arguments set for April 28, 2015 and a decision expected by the end of the Courts term in June.
Other signatories included:
Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals
Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Gary E. Stevenson, Presiding Bishop, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
William Lori, Chairman of the USCCB Chairman Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty
A full copy of the letter can be found “here.”:http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/upload/Open-Letter-on-Marriage-and-Religious-Freedom-April-2015.pdf
The Southern Baptist Convention is Americas largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.8 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBCs ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.
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