Jimmy Carter has been accused of
pushing “heretical notions” for supporting gay marriage.
In a recent interview with The
Huffington Post, the 87-year-old Carter, who has taught
Sunday School for decades, discussed marriage for gay couples.
When asked what the Bible says about
homosexuality, the former president answered: “Homosexuality was
well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and
Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings
about multiple things – he never said that gay people should be
condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be
married in civil ceremonies.”
“I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily,
in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I'm a Baptist,
and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its
own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay
members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that
is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn't
require them to.”
Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel and
Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and
Religious Liberty Commission responded to Carter's comments in
statements made to LifeSiteNews.com.
“I'm not surprised that he holds that
view,” Land said. “He is hopelessly confused as a theologian.”
Barber said gay sex “is listed [in
the Bible] over and over again in black-and-white as sin.”
“There's a word for what Jimmy Carter
is doing. That's apostasy. That's a strong word to use, but Jimmy
Carter is an apostate in that he is leading the least these to sin
against what Scripture clearly condemns in terms of homosexual
conduct.”
“He is not just fooling himself with
this,” Barber added. “Unfortunately he's using the goodwill he
has developed over the years and his history as the leader of the
free world to push heretical notions.”
Carter
has previously said America is ready for a president who is openly
gay.