The AJC reports that the Rev. Bryant Wright, senior pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, delivered the devotional Wednesday in the Georgia state House in Atlanta. What is it about reverends named Wright and inflammatory comments?
In that sermon aimed at lawmakers, Wright twice equated gay marriage to “erotic liberty.” Here’s a sampling of his message:
“It is just one example of what our culture is going to increasingly see as an issue of erotic liberty versus religious liberty,” Wright said. “We’re liable to see this with our military chaplains in the years ahead if they in good conscience believe they cannot perform same-sex weddings and could be kicked out of the military.”
That looming threat, he said, is a reminder of lawmakers’ role in making sure government is “protective of its citizens against evil and is working for the common good.”
Religious liberty, Wright said, is a “foundational aspect” of the U.S. Constitution and is for the “common good and welfare of man.”
Jay Bookman at the AJC wrote a wonderful editorial on what those two simple words really mean in Erotic liberty vs. religious liberty’? Not hardly
Let’s deal first with that term “erotic liberty,” because it’s a clever little phrase that’s intended to disguise what’s really at stake. It takes the lifelong emotional, romantic, legal, social, spiritual and yes erotic commitment of marriage to the person whom you love, and in the case of gay marriage it attempts to reduce it to the question of how you’re going to get your jollies, so to speak. In short, there’s a whole lot of bigotry smuggled into those two simple words.
An openly gay member of the Georgia House had this to say to Rev. Wright afterwards.
This “prayer” if you can call it that, is no doubt meant to inspire the fringe right as they prepare to battle over the “Religious Liberty” bill. Don’t you just love these euphemisms that mean almost the exact opposite of what the name would suggest? Kudos Ms. Bell for standing up and telling Rev. Wright what so many others would have love to have said. You used far more diplomatic terms than I would have chosen. And you are absolutely correct that this is not a difference of opinion but of humanity.
