The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, recently defended new guidelines that bar Southern Baptist military chaplains from conducting or attending same-sex weddings. Mohler concludes his September 17 blog post with these words:

"

Also clear is this: Southern Baptist chaplains cannot surrender their commitment to Christ in order to maintain their commitment to ministry within the Armed Services. Furthermore, Southern Baptists will take their instruction from their own churches, not from those churches and denominations who are wearing out their knees bowing to Baal."

Guess he didn't get the Pope's memo.

Luckily, retired Army chaplains and Colonels Paul Dodd and Herm Keizer responded to Mohler and set the record, umm, straight. You can read their well-reasoned response here.

Of course, this isn't the first time Mohler has made such outrageous comments. Back in 2007, he claimed that Christians should support attempts to change a fetus from gay to straight, if such science ever becomes available.

Genocide anyone?

I responded to Mohler's frightening comments in an opinion piece published by Religious News Service.

A lot has changed since Mohler's article and my response six years ago. Marriage equality has made its way to 13 states and Washington, D.C., DADT and DOMA are no more, and the leaders of the so-called "ex-gay" movement have apologized and admitted that conversion therapy and other sexual orientation change efforts simply don't work.

I believe Mohler and other fundamentalists are getting desperate. Unlike six years ago, many Americans - including people of faith - now proclaim a belief in full equality for LGBT people.

Instead of an almost weekly obsession with homosexuality, maybe Mohler should take a hint from Papa Francis and write about ways we might work together, despite our differences, to end poverty and hunger.

Until that day, I'm grateful for Paul Dodd, Herm Keizer, Tom Carpenter, the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy and others that challenge anti-gay forces with such dignity and grace.

Image by David W. Shelton.