Tennessee faith leaders: Alliance Defending Freedom has corrupted Christian faith to wrongfully prosecute | Opinion
As leaders in global faith traditions, our faith teaches us that every single person is created in the image of God.
And we are commanded to love one another as ourselves. We believe that every child, regardless of their race, background, the language they speak, or where they live in Tennessee, should be valued, cherished, and can grow up in a supportive and loving family.
The Declaration of Independence declares that “all men are created equal” and as people of faith and as Americans, we must live out this ethic of welcoming and inclusive love.
However, the national group “Alliance Defending Freedom’ is parading itself as a “Christian” organization while coming into our local communities spreading messages of hate and division. They’ve gone so far as to deny a child two loving parents due to their Jewish faith.
This is a distortion and corruption of the Christian faith.
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No matter where people choose to worship, America has no second-class faiths. Representing clergy of all faith traditions as well as leaders within our faith communities, we all believe that our government institutions, including the legal process of adoption, must display the crucial separation of church and state.
This is indeed one of the founding values that make America so unique. We are all equal under the U.S. Constitution. We speak out not only for the sake of equity, but also for the sake of our commandment to care for widows and orphans in our communities.
However, fighting to maintain, and for far too many people to even gain basic human rights, has been the work of each generation. We must work to protect those rights.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is contradicting and undermining the values of authentic faith by choosing to punish loving families who take this commandment seriously. Once again, we have a national group coming into our community to spread their hate and deny a child loving parents.
As faith leaders, we must speak in one voice condemning groups seeking to distort Holy Scriptures and to justify an agenda that brings harm to our communities and contradicts God’s commandments to love one another. We are praying and calling on people of all faiths to join us in delivering the message that Alliance Defending Freedom’s hate has no home in Tennessee.
We are calling on all people of faith across the state of Tennessee to join us in educating their local elected officials and the public about this national group’s hateful and un-Christian agenda that is meddling in our local communities. As faith leaders we speak out and declare that hate has no home in Tennessee.
Below is a list of Tennessee faith leaders who've signed this letter:
Dr David Dark, Downtown Presbyterian Church
Rev. Brandon Gilvin, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Chattanooga
Rev. Charla Sherbakoff
Rev Dr Kevin Riggs
Rev Matt Steinhauer
Rev. Dr. C. Don Jones
Rev. Laura Becker, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga
Rev. Brandon Berg
Rev Dr Donna Whitney
Rev. Dawn Bennett, Nashville
Rev. Gordon H. Myers
Rev. Dr. Herbert Lester, Nashville
Rev. Karen Mehner
Rev. Janet L. Maykus
Rev. Dr. Martin McCain, Memphis
Rev. Dr. Thomas Kleinert
Rev. Dr. Mary Louise McCullough, Nashville
Rev. Mike Wilson, Nashville
Rev Laura Bogle
Rev Josh Scott
Rev April Berends, Grace Episcopal Church, Chattanooga
Michael Dzik, Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga
Bassam Issa- Islamic Society Of Greater Chattanooga
Rev. James Sessions
Rev. John Gill
Rev. Dr. Stephen Handy, Nashville
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Faith leaders concerned Alliance Defending Freedom is distorting Christianity
