A high-profile Baptist minister in the U.K. who last week applied to issue same-sex marriage licenses has been criticized by leading American creationist Ken Ham, who called the decision a “flagrant disobedience of God’s Word.” While Ham did not identify the pastor by name, Pastor Steve Chalke of Oasis Church in Waterloo, London, made news when he announced that his ministry will seek to be LGBT inclusive, and applied to issue gay marriage licenses.
Gay marriage was made legal in England, Scotland and Wales in 2013, although individual churches were left with the option to decide on their own whether they would condone same-sex marriage. The biggest denominations, including the Church of England, along with the Roman Catholic Church and the majority of the Evangelical movement, have said they will continue to maintain the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman, though Chalke argued in an interview with Premier that such exclusion has a “deeply damaging effect on LGBT people.” READ MORE