Prominent Pastor, daughter at odds over homosexuality
A recent move to ban homosexuality from the Crystal Cathedral sparked opposition by the church's founder who says he disapproves of a covenant requesting choir members to abstain from homosexual practices.
The Orange County Register reported that former Pastor Robert H. Schuller strongly opposed the covenant, stating that it went against the message of tolerance and acceptance that has permeated the Garden Grove mega-church for years.
The California pastor noted that he has a "reputation...of being tolerant of all people and their views" and is "too well-educated to criticize a certain religion or group of people for what they believe in."
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (ATH), notes that Schuller is compromising the Word of God. "It's mystifying to hear Christian leaders like Robert Schuller now distancing them from the commonsense biblical truth," he reacts.
Schuller reportedly did not know about the covenant, which was spearheaded by his daughter and current senior pastor, Sheila Schuller Coleman. The former pastor said the church does not "test" nor "require" anyone who comes to the ministry to be a Christian. LaBarbera questions that stance.
"If the biblical model for sex in marriage is now too controversial for major pastors like Robert Schuller, we are really in a precipitous fall towards moral oblivion," says the ATH founder. "This is the time for Christians to stand up against the culture for the truth that sex belongs in a normal male-female marriage. There is nothing about homosexuality that we can endorse."
LaBarbera says the Bible's stance on homosexuality is at odds with many pastors today who compromise the truth of the scriptures.