World Vision U.S. on Wednesday said
that it will not hire married gay Christians after all.
“The board acknowledged it made a
mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding policy requiring
sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within
the Biblical covenant of marriage between one man and one woman,”
the
Evangelical Christian charity said in a statement. “We are
brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our
friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment
to Biblical authority.”
World Vision announced the policy
change on Monday. Christian conservatives opposed to gay rights
immediately criticized the move.
Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist
Billy Graham and the president of the charity Samaritan's Purse, said
that he was “sickened” by the news, while Bryan Fischer of the
Christian conservative American Family Association (AFA) said that
World Vision had abandoned “morality.”
(Related: Anti-gay
activists criticize World Vision for hiring married gay Christians.)