A document issued by a group of Catholics and evangelicals calls same-sex marriage a greater danger to society than wide acceptance of divorce or couples living together outside marriage.
The statement, "The Two Shall Become One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage," will be published in the March issue of First Things Journal, Baptist Press reported.
Beeson Divinity School Dean Timothy George of Samford University in Birmingham is a member of Evangelicals and Catholics Together the group of Catholics and evangelicals which drafted the statement.
The document calls same-sex marriage "a graver threat" to society than "easy acceptance of divorce" or "widespread cohabitation."
Same-sex unions are against the Bible and Christian tradition, it said.
"We must say, as clearly as possible, that same-sex unions, even when sanctioned by the state, are not marriages," the document said. "Christians who wish to remain faithful to the Scriptures and Christian tradition cannot embrace this falsification of reality, irrespective of its status in law."
George, Saddleback Church Pastor and "Purpose-Driven Life" author Rick Warren and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel Akin are among the Southern Baptist leaders to endorse the statement, which will be signed by approximately 30 Christian leaders, First Things Editor Russell Reno told Baptist Press.
Evangelicals and Catholics Together is an initiative of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, an organization founded in 1990 by Catholic social commentator Richard John Neuhaus. The statement will appear online and in print in mid-February, Baptist Press said.
George, dean of Samford University's Beeson Divinity School and the only Southern Baptist listed as a member of ECT, said "The Two Shall Become One Flesh" represents three years of work by the group, Baptist Press said.
Catholics and evangelicals "continue to disagree on lots and lots of issues," George told Baptist Press. "And the people who drafted this statement are well aware of those differences. We have not smudged them or pushed them under the rug."
The members of Evangelicals and Catholics Together "felt the complementarity of man and woman in marriage under God" was an issue on which evangelicals and Catholics could present a united witness, George said. "We felt we had to speak out on this issue," he said.
Among the other members of Evangelicals and Catholics Together are Catholics Reno and George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Protestants Kevin Vanhoozer of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Robert Gagnon of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Gagnon is among the leading biblical scholars to challenge contemporary assertions that Scripture permits homosexual behavior, Baptist Press said.
"The Two Shall Become One Flesh" summarizes biblical teaching and historic Christian views on marriage, concluding, "Marriage is a unique and privileged sign of the union of Christ with his people and of God with his Creation -- and it can only serve as that sign when a man and a woman are solemnly joined together in a permanent union."
Despite the longstanding Christian consensus that marriage is only the union of one man and one woman, "marriage is in crisis throughout the Western world," the document said. Declining marriage rates, sexual promiscuity and the normalization of gay marriage all undermine the foundations of society, according to the document.
"The revolution in our marriage and family law, already well advanced, marches under the banners of freedom and equality. But these noble ideals are here gravely misapplied. When society systematically denies the difference between male and female in law and custom, our fundamental dignity is diminished, the image of God within us is obscured, unreality becomes legally established, and those who refuse to conform are regarded as irrational bigots," the document said.
While expressing regret for "injustices against those who experience same-sex attraction," the document says gay marriage "threatens the common good" and "distorts the Gospel."
"Keeping in mind the obligation to speak the truth in love, we must find ways to distinguish true marriage from its distortion, and we must do so without abandoning the public square," the document said. "We owe our fellow citizens a socially engaged witness to the truth about marriage, which, with the family, is the unalterable foundation of a healthy, humane society."