Before we dive into this week's "Crossroads" podcast (click here to tune that in), please think about this scenario in the news.
Let's assume that a symbolic group of Christian leaders, representing a traditional form of the faith, got together and released a concise statement affirming 2,000 years of orthodox Christian teachings on sex, marriage and gender. What kind of press coverage would such a hypothetical statement receive, under "ordinary" news conditions?
Of course, that's a joke right there. What are "ordinary conditions" in the crazed age of Twitter and a reality television presidency?
But let's take this statement at face value. Let's say that these Christian leaders affirmed that:
* " ... God has established marriage as a lifelong, exclusive relationship between one man and one woman. ..."
* "... [A]ll intimate sexual activity outside the marriage relationship, whether heterosexual, homosexual, or otherwise, is immoral, and therefore sin. ... "
* " ... God created the human race male and female and that all conduct with the intent to adopt a gender other than one’s birth gender is immoral and therefore sin. ... "
* "Marriage can only be between two people whose birth sex is male and female."
You get the idea. This assembly also affirmed that churches should not cooperate with activities that violate these principles, including allowing church properties to be used/rented for events of this kind -- like weddings
So what kind of press coverage would this statement receive? Would there be an explosion of news reports and online commentary? Click here to find out.
Maybe the bishops in the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America should have called this 2016 document the "Rives Junction Statement"? Maybe then the mayor of Rives Junction, Mich., would have released a press statement condemning it, which would have told reporters that this was big news? What if it was called the "Byzantine Statement"?