The Human Rights Campaign brings a notable track record of helping change public opinion on homosexuality. Now it has set its sights on persuading Baptists and other Mississippians that homosexuality is compatible with Christianity.
The country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization unveiled its "All God's Children" public relations campaign Nov. 10. The drive to increase public and legislative support for LGBT rights is focused on faith in a state Gallup pollsters found early this year to be the most religious in the country.
"We want to successfully engage a majority of Mississippians on the issue of LGBT equality," Jason Rahlan told Baptist Press in an email interview. He is communications director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). "This suggests that the best way to do so is to speak -- authentically and from the heart -- in the context of faith. As this campaign has shown and will continue to show, we're doing just that."
Many of the Mississippians targeted by HRC are Baptists. While HRC's working estimate for all Baptists in the state is 55 percent of the population, Southern Baptists constitute 22 to 30 percent of Mississippi residents. The Mississippi Baptist Convention reported nearly 664,000 members in its churches in 2013. The Association of Religion Data Archives showed in 2010 about 907,000 Southern Baptists among a state population of 2.99 million.
Seeking to convert so many Baptists and other conservative Christians would appear to be a losing proposition for a LGBT group, considering the Bible's clear teaching that sex is reserved for a man and a woman in marriage. HRC, however, seems to think a worthwhile payoff is possible from the $310,000 campaign. Read more
See also
First-Person: Missional Cultural Engagement
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