2013: Marriage Marred

Baptist Press columnist Kelly Boggs notes the Supreme Court has taken "a giant step toward endorsing the concept of behavior as the basis for civil rights" in its ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act.

Alabama pastor Jeff Robinson recounts several ways he has sought to help his church respond to the Supreme Court's rulings on same-sex marriage.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Obama needed only a day after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling for same-sex marriage to call for its recognition by all states.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Social media, particularly Twitter, was a preferred format for Southern Baptist leaders and others to express their reactions in the hours that followed the landmark Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage June 26. Columns written and tweeted by R. Albert Mohler Jr. of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Russell D. Moore of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission were among the most popular, with several leaders retweeting their words. O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources, tweeted, "After SCOTUS news really thankful 2nite 4 @albertmohler @drmoore who speak truth in love defending Biblical values in a culture gone awry."

CAMDEN, Ark. (BP) -- The church, more than any other institution, must constantly address issues of ethics and morality -- which Richard Piles understands as well as anybody in the Southern Baptist Convention.      Piles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Camden, became chairman of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's trustees in May 2012 after serving on the board for four years in various capacities.

Baptist editor Trevin Wax ponders the challenges along the potential benefits of the Supreme Court's gay marriage rulings on June 26.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Follow this timeline on developments in the gay marriage controversy, from the signing of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 to the historic decisions by the Supreme Court on gay marriage.

[QUOTE@right@120="We continue to love and pray for our country. We will work to defend and uphold the ideals of religious and personal liberties enshrined in our God-given and constitutionally-granted Bill of Rights." – Frank Page]WASHINGTON (BP) -- Defenders of the biblical, traditional definition of marriage expressed disappointment in the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on same-sex marriage, especially its decision to strike down a federal law defining the institution as only between a man and a woman.      In one of two rulings Wednesday (June 26), the justices said in a 5-4 decision the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violated "equal protection" under the Constitution by refusing to recognize gay marriages. The opinion means same-sex couples will have access to employee, Social Security, tax and other benefits previously limited to heterosexual couples.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a historic ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, but it stopped short of redefining marriage nationwide. In one of two rulings regarding gay marriage, the high court struck down Wednesday (June 26) a federal law defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Commenting on the Supreme Court's June 26 rulings on same-sex marriage, LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer reminds that the church exists "to show the world the love of Christ and share with the world His Good News. No election, referendum or court ruling will ever change that."