Dawn Wyatt//Contributing Writer
Religious leaders and elected officials from across Tennessee converged in downtown Nashville Thursday for “Stand in the Gap for Truth,” a rally on religious freedoms sponsored by the Tennessee Pastor’s Network. Among many of the day’s speakers, the common theme was Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Religious liberty advocate, Dr. Richard Land commented on the growing controversy.
“Ever since the Supreme Court decision, the number one issue for these leaders is domestic religious freedom,” said Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary.
“The Progressives have this odd idea that religious freedom is a zero-sum game. That for LGBT people to have their rights, religious people have to lose rights, and that’s not true,” Land said. Adding that there has to be accommodations for same- sex couples to get their licenses without having to force people to violate their convictions.
“People who are elected officials cannot take it upon themselves to disobey the law, otherwise you have anarchy,” Land said. “They have to uphold the law. But we ought to be able to accommodate elected officials who are not saying the law can’t be enforced, they just don’t want to be the ones that do it.”
“We understand that the Progressives are trying to weaponize our own government against us, to penalize us for standing up for our own convictions and conscience, and the only way to stop them is to defend ourselves,” Land said.
Along with Land, other speakers included Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Rafael Cruz, father of GOP candidate Ted Cruz and Joe Davis, husband of Kim Davis.
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