The United Church of Christ is a socially liberal Protestant denomination with approximately 4,700 churches in the United States. Among them is Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas – which, according to ABC-affiliate WFAA, is the world's largest LGBTQ-friendly church.
Cathedral of Hope's website identifies two "advocacy groups" ("Coat of Colours" and "Transgender Council") that it says "work towards diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice." It also recently spent a whole Sunday morning affirming and honoring drag queens:
Cathedral of Hope leader: "Drag queens are often targets of hate and violence, but we know that they are powerful and resilient people who show us what it means to be truly authentic and expressive."
Congregational response: "We honor their strength and we pledge to be allies to the drag community, recognizing their full humanity and their incredible contributions to our world. We embrace radical inclusivity and work to dismantle systems of oppression."
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk offers a three-word response to that congregational affirmation: "This is blasphemy."
M.D. Perkins is research fellow for church and culture at American Family Association. During an interview this week on American Family Radio, he explained that even evangelical churches like Andy Stanley's North Point Community Church in Atlanta have gone rogue on the issue.
"The influence of the of the gay movement within evangelicalism is astonishing," Perkins shared. "People would be surprised at conservative churches that are starting to capitulate or compromise on this issue."
"Gay-affirming" Christians, according to Perkins, use one of two options to corrupt the Body of Christ.
"You can either completely change the way that people are approaching their thinking of the Bible – or you can get them on the emotional level and make them feel like somehow that they are wrong, that they are bigoted," he explained. "If you can push people in that direction, then you start to weaken their theological convictions to some of these things."
But Perkins emphasized the Bible is clear: not only is homosexual activity a sin, but affirmation of it is as well. "This isn't just the behavior. There's also this disposition, this interest in it, this desire to participate in this activity that is, in itself, degrading and dishonorable," he concluded.
Perkins is author of the book "Dangerous Affirmation: The Threat of 'Gay Christianity'" – and an eBook confronting challenges to historic Christian teaching on sexuality.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
