[1]LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Homosexuality is a moral problem with destructive possibilities, but one that may be overcome by God’s grace, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., on CNN’s “Larry King Live” television show Aug. 30.
“I believe that homosexuality is one of the greatest moral challenges facing this nation,” Mohler said. “The decisions we make on this issue are going to shape the future of our country. We will either order our society by God’s law, or contravene that law and face the consequences.
“But the last word has to be that in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ there is the means of overcoming all sin, including the sin of homosexuality,” Mohler continued. “And so that last word has to be a word of grace and hope.”
The specific topic for the show was homosexuals in the military. Steve May, a first lieutenant in the Army Reserves who also is a Republican in the Arizona House of Representatives, was King’s studio guest.
May, an outspoken homosexual, came under investigation by the U.S. Army for violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy concerning homosexuals in the military after he argued for the adoption of domestic partner benefits on the floor of the Arizona House.
Other guests included Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives and a lesbian; Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican in the U.S. House; and tennis legend Martina Navratilova, also a lesbian.
While May, Baldwin and Navratilova argued that homosexuals should be allowed to serve in the military, Mohler and Barr disagreed. “There is widespread belief among Americans that [homosexuality] is fundamentally wrong and has no place in the military,” Mohler said. “It is sound military policy. It is sound moral policy that homosexuals should not serve in the military.”
The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in place is a “lowest Clinton denominator” policy, Mohler said, because that’s all Clinton could get. “In 1991, candidate Bill Clinton said that if elected he would be for homosexuals what Harry Truman was in terms of the race issue,” Mohler said. “The only reason we have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy is because President Clinton was unable, given the opposition in the armed forces and in the population at large, to push through his first agenda.”
King asked Mohler directly why he didn’t think someone like May should be allowed into the U.S. armed forces. Mohler said it was May’s homosexual behavior which disqualified him, adding this issue “is one more example of how the homosexual agenda has been literally intrusive into almost every dimension of American life. And here the military, which is supposed to be about defending our country and to be about military goals and military means, is having to deal with an issue where there are some whose agenda has tried to force the armed services into being about social work and social change.”
Later, Mohler cited the testimony of military authorities as a reason why homosexuals should not be in the armed forces.
“The military has said that there is the priority of unit cohesion, which is absolutely essential in warfare,” Mohler said. “It is … the consensus of military authorities who have said that homosexuality intrudes into that and violates that in a way that they feel would hamper our military effectiveness.”
But the discussion didn’t stop with the issue of gays in the military and included some comments about homosexuality in general. King asked Mohler if he thought sexuality was a choice, to which the Southern president responded in the affirmative.
“I don’t believe anyone is born a homosexual,” Mohler said. “I believe that God’s creative intention was that we be created man and woman and to be related to each other in a heterosexual fashion.”
Navratilova took exception to Mohler’s remarks. “How do you know? How do you know?” she asked. “I didn’t choose this.” She said she acted on “feelings,” and that her feelings made her homosexuality right.
“I believe feelings are the result also of a sinful inclination,” Mohler responded. “And that’s something I know that some persons have to really struggle to overcome. But I also believe in God’s grace, that can [be] and is overcome.”
Navratilova asked Mohler how it could be sinful to love another individual and have that love be returned. “What is wrong with that?” she asked.
Mohler said the first issue is God’s revelation that homosexuality is wrong. He added that nearly every civilization in history has concurred with that assessment.
“We rightly privilege heterosexual relationships, and it has been that way throughout human civilization,” he said. “The result of embracing the homosexual lifestyle is cultural chaos, the breakdown of our entire moral order. It may be popular, but it is not going to work.”
At the show’s end, King asked whether Mohler loved homosexuals.
“Yes, we’re told to love the sinner and to hate the sin,” Mohler said. “And the first act of really loving someone is to tell them the truth. And we believe that Scripture reveals the truth about homosexuality, and it is an act of love to tell people what God has said about that sin.”