Missouri Christians unite to support religious liberty bill

A diverse coalition of Christians will meet today with Missouri lawmakers, urging them to pass a proposed amendment to the state constitution giving freedom of conscience protection to those opposed to same-sex marriage. If lawmakers approve Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 39 , currently stuck in a House committee, it will go to Missouri voters for consideration in either August or November.

The resolution “prohibits the state from imposing penalties on individuals and religious entities who refuse to participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies due to sincerely held religious beliefs.” As a constitutional amendment proposition, the resolution would bypass a guaranteed veto from Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

Lawmakers introduced SJR 39 to the Missouri legislature in August. It cleared the Senate following a failed 39-hour filibuster organized by Democrats on March 9. The usual band of opponents—LGBT-rights advocates and big business—began lobbying against it in earnest using the well-worn smears employed in other recent religious liberty battles, claiming it was discriminatory and bad for business. But if the resolution makes it to voters, its supporters already have a plan to counter the predictable mainstream media mantra.

“Here’s how we’re going to do it,” said Don Hinkle, director of public policy for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). “The church in Missouri—and when I say church, I mean everybody—we have a weapon.”

The “weapon” is a media presence to rival the secular press and its anticipated negative coverage. Hinkle, who also serves as editor of the MBC news publication The Pathway said the bill’s supporters will use their respective media outlets to promote the amendment. In addition to The Pathway, all four Catholic Archdioceses have publications, the Missouri-based Assemblies of God posts news on its website, and Bott Radio Network, a Christian broadcaster, has 49 stations broadcasting across the state.

But Hinkle and others recognize an even more powerful “weapon” in their arsenal—the alliance of Baptists, Catholics, Assemblies of God, Presbyterians, Lutherans and others in the work of a common cause.

“This can be an opportunity for the body of Christ to come together,” said Ryan Bowman, pastor of Ellisville First Baptist Church.

The diversity of the Christian coalition working toward one goal can speak volumes to lawmakers, helping them recognize “it’s not just a splinter group,” Bowman said.

If the resolution passes the House, Bowman said pastors have the yeoman’s task of informing their congregations about what the bill will and will not do. He posts weekly notices about the legislation and encourages members to attend rallies at the Capitol. Bowman emphasizes to his congregation that the law makes a distinction between selling to all customers, including gays and lesbians, an over-the-counter product such as a pre-made cake or floral arrangement and crafting those same things for a specific event, such as a gay wedding. That, he said, teaches his members how to counter charges of discrimination levied at the resolution’s supporters.

But even with assurances from constitutional legal experts, who have said the amendment will pass judicial muster, Bowman must navigate tension within the Christian community—including in his church—when championing the cause.

A coalition of businesses have joined forces with the LGBT advocacy organization Missouri Competes to keep SJR 39 from going to voters. And some FBC Ellisville members work for those companies. Whether those congregants support the legislation or not, Bowman recognizes the awkward situation they face and tries to speak the truth about SJR 39 without denigrating his members’ employers.

Not having to walk that semantic tightrope, MBC executive director John Yeats was quick to point out the hypocrisy of businesses that oppose Missouri’s legislation as discriminatory and anti-LGBT and yet do business in countries with abysmal human rights violations, including the criminalization of homosexuality.

“I think the best way to describe the intent of SJR 39 is to say we are arguing for the best ideas articulated in the First Amendment,” said Alan Branch, professor of Christian Ethics at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. “The goal is to ensure that government does not prohibit the free exercise of religion.”

Roger Drinnon, spokesman for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, offered still more ways for amendment supporters to couch their arguments.

“We preach that we as Christian citizens join with all people of good will to promote and care for life, to support traditional marriage, and to support laws protecting our rights to live out our faith freely—rights that were acknowledged by the Bill of Rights as inherent, not granted,” he said.

SJR 39 must pass the Emerging Issues Committee with a 7-5 vote to move on to the Select Committee on General Law. Hinkle said the week-long wait for a vote in the first committee hints at a conflict, but he anticipates a vote by tomorrow and holds out hope it will pass. The bill should move easily through the next committee.

Passage in the full House is all but assured, Hinkle said.