The article being referred to was posted in Christianity Today, was written by Kate Shellnutt, and talks about the Dutch response to the Nashville Statement (click here for the article). The Dutch response follows on the heels of the translation of the Nashville Statement into Dutch, some Dutch Christians signing on to the statement, and the reactions to that statement in the Netherlands. One of the reactions concerns an inquiry as to whether supporting or promoting the Nashville Statement violates the Netherland's anti-discrimination laws. Other reactions revolve around the reaction of individuals and churches to the statement.
While Shellnutt focuses on the parts of the Nashville Statement that declare that homosexuality and transgenderism lie outside of God's design--this declaration can be most apparently seen in the denial statements expressed in Article #1 and #7, I don't think that is the part of the statement that would be most in danger of violating Dutch anti-discrimination laws. Instead, the article that would most likely be seen as violating Dutch anti-discrimination laws is found in what is denied in Article #10:
We deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree.
See, the problem with what is denied in Article #10 is that it doesn't allow for the context of the approval to have any bearing. For example, no Gospel believing Christian worth their salt would agree that one could be saved by being Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or being a good person. Religiously, we would deny approval of those who follow anyone but Christ as being saved. And yet, we faithfully defend the freedom of religion, regardless of what one believes, in society.
So we need to ask whether approving of the the right for transgenderism or the right to same-sex marriage in society is something Christians can agree to disagree on. Certainly, if a church claims to follow the Scriptures, it must follow the denial expressed in Article #10 in the Church and in what it preaches. However, determining what society should approve of provides a different context just as talking about what faiths can be supported in society provides a different context than what faiths can be allowed in the Church.
In addition to the problems that come with Article #10 are the associations many religiously conservative American Christian leaders have made between their support for the Nashville Statement and their efforts to deny full equality to the LGBT community in society. In a world where Post Modernism's outcome-based truth system reigns, it will be difficult for many people, perhaps some who are investigating whether the Nashville Statement violates Dutch anti-discrimination laws, to ignore those associations. Again, context plays an important role.
In American conservative thought, which most religiously conservative Christians adhere to, the belief in rugged individualism causes people to ignore the context of statements and actions made by others. By not recognizing how society provides one context while the Church provides another, never approving of homosexuality or transgenderism denies the different contexts and could easily be seen as a potential cause of future discrimination.
How the Dutch Church is treated for holding to the Nashville Statement will not be determined by its acceptance of the words of the statement alone. Rather, it will be determined by what has occurred here in America where many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians tragically opposed equality for the LGBT community here in society.
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