Southwestern faculty among signers of ‘Nashville Statement’ on human sexuality, identity

Julie Owens

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On Aug. 29, a broad coalition of Christian leaders released the Nashville Statement, a new doctrinal declaration articulating God’s design for humans as male and female, including opposition to same-sex marriage and fluid gender identity. Such a statement is needed, they say, as a response to an increasingly post-Christian Western culture that believes it can change God’s design for humans.

The document includes 14 articles that cover a range of topics from sex outside of marriage to gender identity, The Christian Post reported. The statement affirms that divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing, and rejects the premise that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes.

Initial signatories of the statement include Southwestern President Paige Patterson and Katie McCoy, assistant professor of theology in women’s studies. “[Theological] orthodoxy will be increasingly unaccepted and unacceptable, but with a statement like this comes the reminder that we are not as alone [as we think], that the truth is never quite on the fringes,” McCoy told Christian Post. “And God’s people will remain faithful to God’s Word no matter how unpopular it is, no matter how culturally unacceptable it is.”

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