Starnes: Churches & faith-based organizations must prepare for the lawsuits & government investigations

 Todd Starnes is Fox News Religion & Culture writer. He spoke at the Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, Georgia on July 5: 

• “Brothers and sisters — my fellow Southern Baptists — the Supreme Court may have redefined marriage, but God hasn’t redefined anything,” Starnes said.

• Starnes said at least two federal lawsuits have been filed against county clerks who refuse to grant marriage licenses to same sex couples, and more than a dozen have resigned their positions, “including a fellow Southern Baptist.”

• “Her name is Linda Barnette from Grenada, Miss.,” Starnes said. “She spent more than 24 years on her job — this lady, a member of her church’s WMU with the Friendship Baptist Church, a church in good standing with our great Southern Baptist Convention — and this is what this dear saint wrote in her resignation letter: ‘I am a follower of Christ, and I believe strongly that the Bible is my final authority.’ This is a fellow Southern Baptist.”

• Starnes said the Supreme Court decision “now means that gay rights trump religious liberty.”

• “Churches and faith-based organizations must prepare for the lawsuits and government investigations that are on the way,” Starnes warned. “Pastors who refuse to perform gay marriages and preach from the Bible should prepare for hate crime charges. All dissent will be silenced.” 

SOURCE: Baptist Press Global