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Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia wrote in a column posted on the archdiocese website last month that there is a “methodical effort” in the mass media to portray adherence to biblical truth as “hate.”
“We live in the midst of a culture war,” wrote Chaput. “A methodical effort is now playing out in the mass media to recast biblical truths as a form of ‘hate,’ to reshape public opinion away from those biblical truths, and to silence anyone who stays faithful to Christian teaching on matters of sexual behavior, sexual identity, family and marriage.”
Chaput’s observation was inspired by the media’s reaction to the “Nashville Statement,” a document published by a group of Evangelical Christian leaders in which they affirmed their belief in biblical teachings on marriage and sexual morality.
You can read Archbishop Chaput’s entire column by clicking here. This is an excerpt from it:
“On Tuesday, August 29, a group of prominent evangelical scholars and pastors – including respected public voices like Russell Moore — issued the ‘Nashville Statement.’ It’s worth reading in the original, rather than reading about it. Nothing in the document is shocking or belligerent. On the contrary: In its preamble and 14 articles, the text simply reaffirms historic biblical beliefs about marriage, chastity and the nature of human sexuality. Critics might question its timing or structure or wording. Some evangelicals have done so. In a normal time, though, the Statement would be a non-story.
“But we don’t live in a ‘normal’ time. We live in the midst of a culture war. A methodical effort is now playing out in the mass media to recast biblical truths as a form of “hate,” to reshape public opinion away from those biblical truths, and to silence anyone who stays faithful to Christian teaching on matters of sexual behavior, sexual identity, family and marriage. The message is simple: Conform to the new herd dogmas or enjoy the consequences. Which explains the river of public contempt that was quickly poured out on the Nashville Statement….
“Having said all of the above, what’s the point of this column?
“It’s this: God exists. His Creation has a natural order. Our sexuality is part of that life-giving order. Sooner or later, nature defeats ideology. It doesn’t matter how strong or widely shared or persuasive a bad system of ideas might seem to be. It will always lose. The trouble, as we learned in the last century, is that foolish and perverse thinking can take a long time to die. And it can ruin countless lives and poison whole societies in the process.”