National Clergy Leader Responds to Marriage Equality Protests at Baptist College

CLINTON, Md., March 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Delman Coates, Senior Pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, MD and President of the Black Church Center for Justice & Equality, offered an in-depth response to the National Baptist Fellowship of Concerned Pastors, an informal association of pastors within the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., calling upon Dr. Forest Harris, president of American Baptist College in Nashville, TN, to rescind his invitation to Dr. Coates, Bishop Yvette Flunder, and Dr. Allan Boesak to speak during the College's 58th Garnett-Nabrit Lecture Series because of Bishop Flunder's same-gender marriage and the trios unwavering support of marriage equality.

The Fellowship, led by Pastors Dwight McKissick and Randy Vaughn of Texas, characterized Dr. Harris's invitation to Bishop Flunder, Dr. Boesak, and Pastor Coates as "irresponsible, scandalous, non-biblical, and certainly displeasing to God."

Coates, who is a member of the National Baptist Convention and holds a PhD in New Testament and Early Christianity from Columbia University, believes that "rather than discouraging dialogue and debate…the Church can be strengthened by modeling a culture wherein believers can have open-minded conversation about these texts and their contexts, rather than taking their meanings for granted."

You can read Dr. Coates' statement in its entirety here: http://goo.gl/2U1FXC

Press Contact: David McGruder 301.856.2170

SOURCE Mt. Ennon Baptist Church

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