As the Supreme Court prepares to decide the fate of religious foster care and adoption agencies in Fulton v. Philadelphia, Bethany Christian Services, the nation’s largest foster care and adoption agency, has announced that they will begin placing children with LGBT couples. This follows Bethany’s decision to avoid the legal fight for religious freedom by quietly choosing to place children with LGBT couples in states that refuse to work with religious agencies that hold to biblical sexual ethics. Now they have decided to make it their policy nationwide to place children with LGBT couples.
For many years, Bethany stated that they believed that “God’s design for the family is a covenant and lifelong marriage of one man and one woman.” This statement reflecting God’s design for the family was removed from their website in January. Speaking to the New York Times, Bethany’s senior vice president for public and government affairs, Nathan Bult, emphasized that Bethany’s board, which saw the departure of more than one of their more conservative members since 2018, now consists of members who have “diverse personal views on sexuality.”
In response to Bethany’s decision Robin Wilson, an outspoken advocate of the Fairness for All Act who directs the University of Illinois’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs said, “We need Bethany—and all the Bethanys of this world—to continue their work … They have recentered on their mission, on helping children, and they found in their theology a way to do it.”
But do the Bethanys of the world really need to “find a way in their theology” to cave to the demands of the LGBT movement? And for that matter, can Christians “find a way in their theology” to redefine the family?
Bethany Christian Services believes that the answer is yes. But this decision puts them out of step with biblical teaching, feeds into the expectation that when LGBT advocacy threatens religious freedom Christians ought to “adjust” their views, and denies children a mother or father.
Scripture teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman, and faithful Christians must remain committed to what Scripture teaches and recognize that the created order confirms the truth of God’s design. Because of this, compromise is not an option.
Not only do Scripture and nature confirm the truth of God’s design for marriage and sexuality, but children thrive when they have a mother and a father. By choosing to place children with LGBT couples, Bethany is denying those children either a mother or a father. This does them a serious disservice and places the desires of adults above the needs of children.
Bethany’s decision to capitulate sets a troubling precedent for religious freedom. In a response to Bethany’s policy change, Russell Moore pointed out,
This move will harm already existing efforts to enable faith-based orphan care ministries to serve the vulnerable without capitulating on core Christian convictions. The better way to serve is to hold the line when Caesar wants to be Messiah too. The state has no right to serve as lord over the conscience.
Many Christians who get involved in foster care and adoption do so because they are committed to their faith. The government should never attempt to force people to compromise their religious beliefs in one area in order to continue living out their beliefs in another. The Fulton case shows that there are many Christians who are committed to remaining faithful to their beliefs, as they should. When Christians renounce their convictions in order to appease the LGBT lobby, they send the message that what Scripture teaches isn’t really important, and they weaken religious freedom protections for everyone.
Bethany has chosen the path of least resistance, and in doing so they have harmed their Christian witness, potentially harmed religious freedom protections for others, and failed to seek the good of the children they have committed to care for.
(Image: Unsplash)
