Looking Back to Think Ahead: Baptists and Obergefell v. Hodges

Last updated on: July 2, 2015 at 6:04 pm by Miles Mullin

Looking Back to Think Ahead: Baptists and Obergefell v. Hodges 2015-07-02T18:04:41-04:00 Miles Mullin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A committed evangelical, today I write out of and to my narrower ecclesiastical tradition (Baptist) as I address the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. All others are welcome to listen in or ignore me as they see fit.

U. S. Supreme Court Building (Credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling last Friday (June 26, 2015) should surprise no one who has been paying attention. In the wake of the second Clinton administration, by the turn of the twenty-first century the cultural tide on issues related to marriage and sexuality had turned the corner. (For example: see the Pew Research Center data on changing public opinion on gay marriage here.)

Unfortunately, some contemporary Baptists have taken a rage-against-the-machine approach to these recent developments. But, in the end, Obergefell v. Hodges means that same-sex marriage is the law of the land and, apart from equally unacceptable options like secession, such approaches lead down a dead end street lined with considerable collateral damage. Instead, contemporary Baptists should consider their history–not simply looking back over the last forty years, but the last four hundred.

In this longer view, it could be argued that Baptists have been here before: placed outside the bounds of what a the majority considers respectable–or even acceptable-by the legally enshrined predominant collective conventions and social mores of contemporary society. Baptists began that way, compelled beyond the pale by deeply held religious doctrines that they believed were built upon the incontrovertible truths of Scripture.

Regardless of their forbears, the contemporary Baptist movement finds its roots in seventeenth-century English Separatism. Separatists were Puritans who gave up on their hopes of transforming the Church of England into their own image and separated from it, meeting in conventicles. Soon, they illegally formed their own churches outside the watchful eye of the state. As they studied the Bible, Separatists in different locations became convinced that the Scriptures taught that a church must be a self-constituted body of those baptized after a credible testimony of conversion and public profession of faith given to the gathered body. They began to baptize converts into their small “churches.” Soon they began dunking them.

And so they became Dissenters, disagreeing with the prevailing custom on religious matters and acting according to their collective ecclesiastical consciences. For this, they suffered legal sanction and were socially ostracized. The crown denied them many of the benefits of English society, such as opportunity to attend the universities, the right to hold public office, and the opportunity to receive a “proper Christian burial.” Often jailed, many died in prison. Further, as Dissenters, they could not receive the approbation nor benefits of a marriage recognized by the state. Even so, they continued to perform marriages, insisting that marriage was “ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife (1689 Second London Confession, Ch. 25),” apart from any legal benefits in the larger society. Acting simply as pastors and not acting as functionaries of the state, early Baptist ministers performed marriages within the context of their own congregations. Like other ecclesial functions, early Baptists did not feel that they needed the endorsement of the state in order to perform marriages because marriage is a fundamentally religious institution, not a political one. They were right.

Fast forward four hundred years. In America, the Dissenters are now (ironically?) functionaries of the state, performing marriages that the state recognizes as duly constituted, legal unions. Now, the state has declared that same-sex marriage–a marriage that many Baptists believe contradicts both historic, orthodox Christian belief and the incontrovertible truths of Scripture–is a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. As public support for religious liberty issues erodes, it seems unlikely to me that pastors with deeply held religious beliefs regarding marriage will long be able to resist the state’s compulsion in this matter. As a result, Baptist churches should carefully investigate their marriage policies, rewrite them if needed, and incorporate them into their bylaws. This is the time for precise, carefully-worded legal language that best expresses the church’s will on matters of marriage, not slipshod, late-night committee work. Second, the time has come for Baptist pastors to de-link themselves from the state in matters of marriage. This is not some sort of capitulation or weakness, but rather a return to an earlier era when Baptists deemed that the spiritual nature of marriage was much more important than any political or social benefits the state might offer. Couples married according to the church’s policies could still apply for a marriage license from the state if they desire the benefits that the state affords, but such action allows the church to say with integrity that it only performs religious ceremonies according to its deeply-held religious beliefs as defined in its bylaws. No one is excluded (or included) except on those clearly-defined religious grounds.

Such a move should more effectively situate the church under the umbrella of the First Amendment. Hopefully, it will have the fortunate side effect of causing pastors and churches to think more seriously about marriage as a spiritual and religious institution as well as their ministerial responsibilities towards those they join together in “holy matrimony.” Somehow, such things seem to have gotten lost between the seventeenth century and the twenty-first.

Previous Post

June 30, 2015

Yes, Remove the Confederate Flag. But What Then?

Next Post

July 1, 2015 The Quick Triumph of Same-Sex Marriage

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

A virgin will conceive and bear a son whose name means 'God with us.' What is this prophetic name?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Immanuel Messiah Rabboni Jesus