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World Vision reverses decision to hire gays
Mar 26, 8:05 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP)
-- Facing a firestorm of protest, the prominent Christian relief agency
World Vision on Wednesday dropped a two-day-old policy that would have
allowed the charity to hire Christians in same-sex marriages.
The
aid group told supporters in a letter that the board had made a mistake
and was returning to its policy requiring celibacy outside of marriage
"and faithfulness within the Bible covenant of marriage between a man
and a woman."
"We have listened to you and
want to say thank you and to humbly ask for your forgiveness," the
agency said in the letter, signed by World Vision president Richard
Stearns and board chairman Jim Bere.
Based in
Federal Way, Wash., and started by evangelicals, World Vision has an
international operating budget of nearly $1 billion and conducts
economic development and emergency relief projects. In a conference call
with reporters, Stearns said World Vision had not consulted enough with
its partners before announcing the initial policy change. Since Monday,
Stearns said the board had heard from major evangelical groups and
leaders who had told them they had strayed from their core beliefs.
"We
shouldn't have been surprised but we were a bit," Stearns said of the
backlash. "Again, I think it goes back to we hadn't done enough
consultation on this. We hadn't vetted this issue with people who could
have given us really valuable input in the beginning. In retrospect, I
can see why this was so controversial and troubling for many of our
partners and supporters."
The agency had
announced Monday that its board had prayed for years about whether to
hire Christians in same-sex marriages as churches took different stands
on recognizing gay relationships. World Vision says its staff members
come from dozens of denominations with varied views on the issue. The
board had said World Vision would still require celibacy outside of
marriage and would require employees to affirm a statement of faith that
they follow Christ, but would change policy in the U.S. as a way to
avoid the divisive debates that have torn apart churches.
But
the change drew widespread condemnation, with many donors posting on
the agency's Facebook page that they would no longer fund the
sponsor-a-child programs that are central to World Vision's fundraising
and education.
Darrell Bock, a New Testament
scholar at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog that the new
hiring policy was "a betrayal of the nature of the Christian community"
and "a denial of how Jesus defined marriage as between a man and a woman
when he was asked about divorce." The Assemblies of God, a major
Pentecostal denomination, had released a statement urging members to
shift support away from World Vision to other charities.
Evangelical
supporters of hiring Christians with same-sex spouses also rallied,
increasing their donations and urging others to do the same.
However,
in a meeting Wednesday, Stearns said the board unanimously voted to
reverse course and "stand on the traditional belief on the authority of
Scripture." Stearns said he didn't know how much money World Vision had
lost or gained over the two days.
A few other
conservative religious charities have tried to change hiring policies to
recognize gay relationships, prompting controversy and a drop in
donations, but World Vision was the largest and most prominent by far to
take the step. Rachel Held Evans, a Christian blogger and author who
had been urging readers to increase donations in support of the policy
change, wrote Wednesday, "This whole situation has left me feeling
frustrated, heartbroken, and lost."
