At First Baptist Dallas, where the pulpit was adorned Sunday with red, white and blue bunting to honor the Fourth of July, the pastor called the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling “an affront in the face of Almighty God.”
The iconic rainbow colors that bathed the White House Friday night after the court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide represent “depravity, degradation and what the Bible calls sexual perversion,” the Rev. Robert Jeffress said.
“But we are not discouraged,” Jeffress said. “We are not going to be silenced. This is a great opportunity for our church to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ and we are going to do it.”
On the first Sunday after the high court ruling, theological conservatives grappled with their new status as what the Southern Baptists call “a moral minority” on marriage. Ministers were defiant about publicly upholding their views, and warned church members to prepare themselves for a rough time ahead.
“Welcome to the new world. It’s just changed for you Christians. You are going to be persecuted,” Alabama’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said from the pulpit at the Kimberly Church of God, in Kimberly, Ala.