Has Pope Francis Opened “A Crack in the Door” for Gays?

Has Pope Francis Opened a “Crack in the Door” for Gays?

Googling the topic, Pope Francis Same-Sex Unions, serves up more than 125 articles. “Pope Francis opens possibility for blessing same-sex unions.” Forty-six articles put the word “open” in their headlines. The Hill and the other cheek highlight the possibility of an “open door.

What will this action do to what has been a developing appreciation of Pope Francis among evangelicals. The evangelicals have developed a “Popecrush” with Pope Francis. An article in Christianity Today “From Antichrist to Brother in Christ: How Protestant Pastors View the Pope” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2015/september/antichrist-brother-christ-protestant-pastors-pope-francis.html), quotes LifeWay Research that indicates more than half of evangelical pastors say Pope Francis is their brother in Christ. More than one-third say they value the pope’s view on theology, and 3 in 10 say he has improved their view of the Catholic Church.

How well this sense of acceptance will hold up now that the pope has suggested that the Catholic Church may find a way to embrace same-sex civil unions is anyone’s guess. Since the Pope seems to have offered up the most sacred cow of evangelical faith on the altar as a “burnt offering,” will test the devotion of evangelicals.

The “Crack in the Door” Argument

Baptists are alarmed at Pope Francis because they are convinced that this is how gay marriage became a reality in the USA. First, there were discussions about same-sex blessings. Then mainline denominations created liturgies for same-sex blessings. Call it “the crack in the door.” Now, gay marriage has been firmly established as the law of the land. And in Baptist minds it all started with the idea of same-sex blessings.

Nothing frightens Baptists like the “crack in the door.” They know that any crack in the door will open up the world a bit more to radical changes in our understanding of human sexuality. If a group of people began praying daily for God to open the door to certain practices, if certain appeals came together in the world at this or that moment, the ‘flow’ would be easier and more direct.

The Pope has committed what evangelicals consider the most awful error that a pastor can commit. He has opened a crack in the door for the possibility of blessing same-sex unions.

A “crack in the door” literally refers to a slight opening in a door. As a trope of argument, “crack in the door” means giving an opponent an unexpected advantage. In the house of evangelical faith, there can be no “cracks in the door.” If a “crack” appears the door must be slammed shut.

In the debate about gays, there can be no “crack in the door.” This rather apocalyptic notion suggests that even the slightest indication that there might be something acceptable about gays will lead to horrible consequences.

Evangelicals who use this argument have a catholic-like sense of authority.

Baptists, alleged supporters of the “priesthood of the believer,” have invented a different sort of hierarchy, “the papacy of the pastor.” Evangelical Baptists preachers speak as if they are all “little popes” on every issue under the sun.

They claim “papal infallibility” for their beliefs, their teaching and preaching on the Bible, and their social issue stances.

They write “encyclicals” on abortion, gay marriage, immigration, creation, global warming, and etc. Baptist “popes” can be identified by the encyclicals they produce. An encyclical is normally a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. Among evangelicals, encyclicals have been reduced to blogs.

Promoters of the “No Crack in the Door” Argument

Rev. Mike Law, Arlington Baptist Church, Arlington, Virginia, says, “This issue has been a canary in the coal mine for many denominations and maybe for ours if we do not stand with conviction and clarity,” he declares. “Generally speaking, history shows that once a denomination allows female pastors it’s usually just a matter of time until they affirm practicing homosexuals as pastors.” Law develops his argument with some dubious math of how mainline denominations went from ordaining women to ordaining gays.

Among the proponents of “no crack in the door,” the issues of women in ministry and gays” are also tied together.

This is why the “No crack in the door” crowd erupted when evangelical megachurch minister Andy Stanley hosted a conference to discuss how the church can relate to LGBTQIA persons, including gay speakers on the platform. Stanley received heavy flak from evangelical leaders.

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, noted in a World magazine opinion piece that the conference was “a departure from historic, normative biblical Christianity” and that Mr. Stanley “has been moving in this direction for years, often by suggestion and assertion but clouded by confusion and the deliberate avoidance of clarity.”

Dr. Mohler, by the way, is the designated Southern Baptist spokesperson for making sure there are no cracks in the door. When Saddleback Church and Rev. Rick Warren spoke at the SBC gathering in New Orleans, Mohler was dispatched to the convention floor to speak twice against the ordination of women.

Mohler, in one of his almost daily encyclicals, opposes the ordination of women. He introduces the “crack in the door” argument in his introduction. “‘Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ That was the message the prophet Elijah heard from his servant. Then, ‘And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.’”

That’s the way issues often arise. At first, there is only a small cloud. Soon thereafter, here comes the downpour. Well, here it comes.”

At the Southern Baptist annual gathering in June, 2023, Mohler told the messengers: ““The issue of a woman serving in the pastorate is an issue of fundamental biblical authority that does violate both the doctrine and the order of the Southern Baptist Convention. That is the only question that is addressed by the messengers today but it’s an inescapable question.”

In his rebuttal to Rick Warren, Mohler said: “This is not just a matter of church polity, it is not just a matter of hermeneutics, it’s a matter of biblical commitment, a commitment to the Scripture that unequivocally we believe limits the office of pastor to men.” He added: “It is an issue of biblical authority.” Mohler arguments imply that allowing Saddleback Church to have ordained pastors would be a “crack in the door” that not only rejected doctrine but also destroyed the unity of the denomination. Confidently, Mohler then asserted, “[This] is not where the Southern Baptist Convention is going to go.”

The messengers then voted to close the “crack in the door,” slam the door shut, and lock and double bolt the door. When the next “crack in the door” occurs, and it will, the SBC will summon Rev. Mohler again.

Dr. Richard D. Land, Christian Post executive director, also employs the “Crack in the door” trope. In an op ed piece he couldn’t contain his anguish: “It is with profound sadness that I bring to your attention a subtle, but profound example of a devastating, anti-biblical teaching coming from one of the leading Evangelical pulpiteers in America today—Andy Stanley.

Land, a veteran Christian warrior, set up Stanley as a disciple of the devil in his prefatory remarks: “Let us always remember that the Prince of Darkness, the Great Deceiver, is able to transform himself into ‘an angel of light’ (II Cor. 11:14) and that Christians must ‘put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph.6:11).

According to Land, Stanley has made a “crack in the door,” and that has the awful consequence of turning the devil loose on pastors. Land pours out the hyperbole: “The devil is wily, deceitful and strategic. If Satan can deceive and neutralize a pastor, it is the spiritual equivalent of an expert sniper neutralizing or “taking out” the commander of a military unit.”

Issues about women and gays play out in tandem among those who live in the fear there will be a “crack in the door.” William Sloane Coffin, Jr. asserted that any group that discriminates against gays also discriminates against women. When Southern Baptists talk about women, they are also talking about gays.

Evangelicals, sounding the alarm, as if they were postmodern Paul Revere’s, will repeat their long-standing argument that there can never be a crack in the door when it comes to LGBTQ persons and women.

In evangelical eyes, God has placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the door to the closet. It has been locked for eternity and is never to be opened. There can be no crack in the door.