Nashville Statement
The Nashville Statement is an evangelical Christian statement of faith relating to human sexuality and gender roles authored by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) in Nashville, Tennessee. The Statement expresses support for an opposite-sex definition of marriage, for faithfulness within marriage, for chastity outside marriage, and for a link between biological sex and "self-conception as male and female." The Statement sets forth the signatories' opposition to LGBT sexuality, same-sex marriage, polygamy, polyamory, adultery, and fornication. It was criticized by egalitarian Christians and LGBT campaigners, as well as by several conservative religious figures . History. The statement was drafted in late August 2017, during the annual conference of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The statement was published online on August 29, 2017. It was signed by more than 150 evangelical Christian leaders. Contents. The Statement includes a preamble and 14 articles. The opening paragraph reads, "Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the twenty-first century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, it has embarked upon a massive  revision of what it means to be a human being." The Statement presents a complementarian view of gender and a traditionalist view of sexuality. The Nashville Statement: Notable signatories. In alphabetical order: Criticism and responses. Due to perceived homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny, the Nashville Statement has attracted significant controversy. The Statement has also received opposition from some same-sex marriage opponents. Catholic intellectual Ryan T. Anderson "[feared] that 'evangelical leaders either don't know what the word chastity means or don't defend its requirements in marriage.'" Some evangelicals were sympathetic to the statement's theology, but critical of what  they saw as its pastoral insensitivity. In June 2019, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America voted, 803 to 541, to endorse the Nashville Statement. Dutch version. On January 4, 2019, a Dutch version of the Nashville Statement was published; its publication subsequently drew much controversy. It was signed by 200 leaders from the Netherlands' orthodox-Protestant communities (including Member of Parliament and Reformed Political Party leader Kees van der Staaij). Its structure and content were very similar to the original statement, but a 'pastoral chapter' had been added, stressing that LGBT individuals were entitled to pastoral care , and recognizing that in the past religious communities had failed to show sufficient compassion towards them. The Dutch statement received some support in orthodox Protestant circles (although even there too, objections were raised), but was widely criticized by most religious leaders, politicians and human rights organizations. It was also widely discussed in the Dutch media. The Public Prosecution Service indicated it would evaluate whether the publication was punishable under criminal law. In the days following the publication, numerous town halls, churches and universities throughout the Netherlands flew the rainbow flag in a show of solidarity with the LGBT community. Nashville