Florida Churches promote marriage amendment

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—An effort to encourage registered voters to go on record supporting a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage exclusively as the “legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife” is being mounted by Florida Baptist congregations.

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“We are supporting the process for the marriage statement because it is important to define family according to biblical truth,” said Tommy Green, pastor of First Baptist Church of Brandon and past president of the Florida Baptist State Convention.

The 4,800-member church made copies of the “Florida Marriage Protection Amendment” petition available to church members and their friends. Green estimates the church has sent in over 2,000 signed petitions to date.

The petition drive is sponsored by the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage, registered as a statewide political committee. The group, a broad-based coalition of religious and pro-family organizations, including the Florida Baptist Convention, hopes to amend Florida’s Constitution on the general election ballot in November 2006 to affirm traditional marriage.

The petition drive must collect 611,000 valid signatures from registered voters by February 2006 to get the amendment on the November ballot. But 61,000 certified signatures are needed to send with the proposed amendment to the Florida Supreme Court for review and approval.

Originally, the group was hoping to have 80,000 signatures—providing room for errors—by April 15, said Bill Bunkley, legislative consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention. But Baptists’ and other Christian groups’ involvement in protests related to the Terri Schiavo right to life case has slowed the petition gathering. The group has now set April 15 at the first reporting date to count petitions and determine how many additional documents are needed, Bunkley noted.

Florida Baptists called for an amendment to affirm the biblical concept of marriage in a resolution unanimously passed at the Florida Baptist State Convention meeting in Jacksonville, Nov. 8-9. Then in January, the 99-member State Board of Missions unanimously affirmed the amendment and approved a strategy to gain its passage.

Brandon pastor Green called for all Florida Baptist churches to get involved in the petition drive. “Silence will result in no activity on this matter. The issues of prayer and abortion should teach us the importance on acting in the right time for the right reason.”

Attorney Luther Beauchamp, a layman from First Baptist Church of Chiefland, and his wife distributed petitions in their Sunday school classes and made copies available in the entry area of the educational building and fellowship hall.

The amendment is critical, Beauchamp said, because “as a student of the Bible and one who believes it to be the written Word of God, I do not believe that God approves of homosexual relationships. It would be wrong to sit idly by and allow the courts of our state to give legal sanction to such a distortion of the biblical meaning of marriage which seems to clearly intend marriage for one man and one woman.”

He further explained that the role of the “judiciary is to interpret the laws, the legislative branch enacts the laws and the executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws.” Beauchamp added, “In Massachusetts and California (and possibly other states) judges have overstepped their authority by entering orders declaring what they think the law should be rather than what it is.”

He added, “Their rulings are based on what they say are constitutional rights of citizens to marry whomever they choose. Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Florida Constitution say that but neither do those documents define what a marriage is or to whom its benefits may apply. By defining marriage in our constitutions we will overcome some of the arguments of those who want to destroy the traditional and biblical meaning of it.”

Director of missions Paul Fries sent letters and e-mails to pastors in Holmes Baptist Association, located in the Florida Panhandle, to encourage their involvement.

Several of the pastors responded, including Kent Lampp, Bethel Baptist Church in Graceville, who circulated copies of the petition among his congregation. The pastor said he has been “praying for direction and boldness” in numerous church services. “I have told them (the congregation) that is easy to come together in agreement within these four walls, but if we don’t do anything with this, can we really say we are in agreement?”

The Holmes association also will address the amendment through a resolution of support at its semi-annual meeting in April, Fries said.

State Board of Missions member Doug Nellums made copies of the petition for fellow church members at Pine Summit Baptist Church in Pensacola. The church staff has mailed over 75 signed and completed petitions to the coalition and some members have sent their own, said church member Mary Burke.

The petition is available for congregations to copy and distribute at www.flbaptist.org.