The recent New York gay marriage victory gives the impression that proponents of same-sex unions are winning, but they are not, contends a Washington state pastor who is intimately involved in the same-sex marriage battle.
Gay marriage has never passed when the people are allowed to vote, pointed out Dr. Ken Hutcherson, former NFL linebacker and now pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Wash. In total, 30 states have passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. And no state has ever legalized gay marriage through a ballot vote; all six states and the District of Columbia changed the definition of marriage through the court or state legislature.
“They (same-sex marriage proponents) did a great job at putting pressure on legislators. [But] their work has not worked on the average person in society, that is why they don’t want to bring it before the people,” said Hutcherson, who is spearheading a coalition of evangelical leaders to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act, to The Christian Post on Monday.
“And why some group with such a small percentage of the population can have that much political clout, it is something that we believers got to find out,” he raised.
The New York Senate passed the gay marriage bill last Friday night with the help of Republican Sens. Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie and Mark Grisanti of the Buffalo area, who switched votes. The bill passed by a vote of 33 to 29 at a remarkably fast pace for such a controversial issue; Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had only introduced the bill on June 14.
For gay marriage proponents and opponents alike, the significance of the passage of the bill in New York cannot be overstated. The population of New York state alone is greater than that of the other five states that recognize same-sex marriage combined. And next month, when same-sex marriage is recognized in New York, one in every nine Americans will live in a state or district where such unions are legal.
But Hutcherson is not so much worried about same-sex marriage proponents “winning,” as much as he is about churches failing to speak up for God’s truth.
“It is not that same-sex marriage is winning, it is that the church is retreating,” asserted the pastor who heads a coalition defending DOMA that includes Dr. James Dobson, Gary Bauer, and Tony Perkins. “We need to face that fact and we need to get pastors and congregations ashamed of their lack of standing for Christ’s righteousness.
“Shame on the church.”
The outspoken pastor says the reason why churches are not speaking against gay marriage is because they do not want to be disliked. They value the acceptance of the world more than being accepted and righteous in front of God, he contended.
And it is the church, not legislators, that is stopping the work of God.
“God limits, at times, what He would do due to responsibilities He has given people. So I do not believe that the homosexuality movement is on a roll and just moving the way they are trying to get us to think,” Hutcherson said. “What I think the alarming issue is is the church is in retreat and that is why I think these steps have been taken.”
“The church needs to wake up because the world is doing what the world does, and that’s sinning,” said the pastor. “It is the church that is in retreat. An army can’t win if they think the enemy is stronger than they are and they retreat. And here we have one of the greatest, most powerful forces in the United States, which are Christians, acting like we are retreating.”
