Last month, a coalition of clergy formed to support marriage equality in Washington, DC. Calling itself Clergy United for Marriage Equality, the coalition issued the following declaration:
We are District of Columbia clergy and religious leaders of many faiths, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. We represent religious institutions in every ward in the District. We have worked together over many years for peace and justice and now join our voices again to speak a faithful word for freedom and equality.
We declare that our faith calls us to affirm marriage equality for loving same-sex couples.
The declaration was signed by approximately 200 representing nearly every faith, but Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel, who is not a minister, isn't fooled and declares that every person who signed this declaration is not a real Christian:
Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel, hopes the faith community is not fooled by the coalition known as D.C. Clergy United For Marriage Equality.
"Well, this is just a cheap political stunt," he responds. "These are a group of leftist secularists essentially dressed up in the garb of clergy....[W]hat do you do call clergy who abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith and adopt instead the lies of the world? I call them counterfeit clergy."
Barber adds that "they want to have their religion cake and eat it too." He explains.
"They are going to push a leftist political agenda that runs completely counter to biblical principles," he asserts. "The ridiculous and oxymoronic notion of same-sex marriage flies in the face of every major world religion."
