Dutch backlash to Nashville Statement 'ominous'

By David Roach - Posted at Baptist Press:

AMSTERDAM (BP) -- In the Netherlands, signatories of The Nashville Statement on biblical sexuality have been threatened with criminal prosecution, admonished by employers and derided by protests.

The episode has been cited by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. as "an ominous warning" of religious liberty restrictions to come in the U.S.

"There are many in the United States who would say, 'Well, that's the Netherlands. It can't have anything to do with Christians in the United States,'" Mohler said Jan. 9 in his podcast The Briefing. "But of course it can.

"Remember that back in 2001, when in the Netherlands same-sex marriage was legalized, even many who later became avid proponents of same-sex marriage, said in 2001, 'It can't happen here,'" Mohler said. "But it did happen here.... Consider that an ominous warning as you consider this headline news story from the Netherlands."

About 250 Christian leaders in the Netherlands have signed a Dutch translation of The Nashville Statement, Dutch News reported Jan. 7. Released in 2017 by an evangelical coalition including the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, The Nashville Statement affirms biblical prohibitions of homosexual practice and transgenderism.

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