LGBT Activists Push Dallas to Sever Ties With Robert Jeffress' Over Religious Freedom Stance
LGBT activists are calling on the city of Dallas to sever a partnership with prominent Baptist megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress and First Baptist Dallas after he asserted last Monday that businesses that oppose religious freedom bills are a greater "threat" than the Islamic State.
Jeffress, the senior pastor at the 12,000-member megachurch, was a guest on the Family Research Council's Washington Watch radio program on May 16 to discuss the Obama administration's recent order that public and Christian schools give students access to go into bathrooms for the opposite-sex if they identify as transgender.
During the interview, Jeffress asserted that IS [also known as ISIS or ISIL] is not the "the greatest threat to freedom of religion in America."
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Jeffress argued that the greatest threat to religious freedom in America comes in the form of businesses that try to coerce state lawmakers and officials into not passing or enforcing religious freedom laws that protect the conscience of religious objectors to gay marriage and other LGBT issues.
"It all comes down to money," Jeffress said. "I've said often the greatest threat to freedom of religion in America is not ISIS, it's the Chamber of Commerce. I mean, it's the businesses that say to our representatives, 'Oh, don't pass laws like that. Don't pass these religious freedom laws because people will interpret that as anti-gay and we'll lose business.'"
Like many of Jeffress' comments in the past, his remark on Washington Watch sparked much outrage among the Dallas LGBT community.
The new Dallas-based LGBT Resource Center, which opened up just days before Jeffress issued his comment, wasted no time in calling on Dallas' city leaders to cut their ties with Jeffress and First Baptist Dallas.
Specifically, the organization takes issue with the fact that the Dallas Police Department has begun a "Back the Blue" partnership with First Baptist Dallas in which the church will provide counseling, services and benefits to police officers.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown and former Mayor Tom Leppert were both present at a Jeffress press conference announcing the partnership in April.
The Resource Center claimed in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday that Jeffress and church leadership were "comparing business supporters of the transgender community with a terrorist organization," and called on all Dallas officials to sever ties with the church and its resources that are available to law enforecement at no cost.
Rafael McDonnell, a spokesperson for the Resource Center, told a local Fox News station that the police department should not partner with the church since it has "a history of making inflammatory statements."
"It's not about exclusion, it's about inclusion," McDonnell argued. "And the city needs to live those words and that's why we are asking, specifically, that this partnership be re-examined."
The Christian Post reached out to Jeffress for comment but he was not available by press time. Jeffress had previously defended his comments in a statement provided to local ABC affiliate WFAA.
"We believe in the free exercise of religion and to protect that is not anti-gay or homophobic," Jeffress said. "It's part of what America is about."
