Last week, one hundred-seventeen leading clergy sent a correspondence to Ohio's two US Senators and to the Ohio Governor, State House Speaker, and Senate President listing their objections to H.R. 5 and the Ohio Fairness Act.

The clergy wrote, "H.R. 5 and the Ohio Fairness Act are in direct conflict with the separation of Church and State. If passed, these two pieces of legislation will establish a State Religion and position the State as a sacrilegious theological board that will prohibit free exercise of religion and erase the freedom of speech found in the First Amendment. It is indisputable that similar sexual orientation/ gender identity (SOGI) laws have already caused persons to suffer economic disenfranchisement in other states."

Several examples the Ohio clergy cited included Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips, and seventy-four year old floral artist Barronelle Stutzman, who because of their personal convictions surrounding their art were subjected to punitive penalties, up to and including the loss of their businesses and estates.

According to the clergy, the proponents of H.R. 5 and Ohio Fairness Act have not sufficiently demonstrated the need for this ordinance.  "We believe Ohio is a tolerant and diverse state.  LGBT persons presently have no traits of a discriminated class of people.  LGBT persons have the support of corporate and political elites, have no economic disenfranchisement, and have no ongoing systemic discrimination. Furthermore, there is no Ohio law permitting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation," the pastors said.

"H.R. 5 and the Ohio Fairness Act are in direct conflict with the separation of Church and State. If passed, these two pieces of legislation will establish a State Religion and position the State as a sacrilegious theological board that will prohibit free exercise of religion and erase the freedom of speech found in the First Amendment. It is indisputable that similar sexual orientation/ gender identity (SOGI) laws have already caused persons to suffer economic disenfranchisement in other states."

While the full scope of H.R. 5 is not immediately known, the legislation will expand Civil Rights to include LGBT persons and impact public accommodations, public education, all recipients of federal grants and loans, housing, jury service, health care, sports competitions, churches, private clubs, for-profit, and non-profit associations. To add insult to injury, H.R. 5 also inserts abortion as a "federal right."

The faith leaders contend that if passed, H.R. 5 and Ohio Fairness Act will limit access to needed social services by effectively driving out faith-based providers. SOGI laws have been used in several states and localities to shut down faith-based adoption agencies. In Illinois alone, nearly 3,000 children were displaced when SOGI laws were enacted.  Grants offered through the Violence Against Women Act have a SOGI provision dictating hiring practices of institutions that get grants to help battered women. Because this provision violates the conscience of religious institutions, they are unable to provide assistance to desperate battered women.

In their letter, the pastors said "We believe every human being is made in the image of GOD (Genesis 1). In addition, we collectively accept GOD made male and female (Genesis 1), and the principle that man should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to GOD the things that are GOD's (Mark 12). Now more than ever, our faith community is unified in our opposition to the immoral bills known as H.R. 5 and the Ohio "Fairness Act."

The clergy noted that they are unified by Biblical Truth and follow the instructions found in Matthew 25: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to take in the stranger, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and to counsel the incarcerated.  They also said their congregations serve the LGBT community and their loved ones without prejudice. 

Last Fall, clergy from (100) one hundred diverse congregations in North Central Ohio, along with other family advocates, publicly-opposed House Bill 369/Senate Bill 11 which discriminated against people of faith to provide special privilege to the LGBT community. The divisive measure was defeated for the ninth consecutive time in the Ohio Legislature.

The most recent correspondence represented clergy across a nine-county region in: Richland County (81), Crawford County (12), Ashland County (9), Morrow County (4), Wayne County (4), Knox County (3), Huron County (2), Medina County (1), and Stark County (1). Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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