Traditional churches' tax-exempt status and the accreditation of Christian colleges could be in jeopardy if they refuse to compromise their stance on same-sex marriage, Southern Evangelical Seminary's president Richard Land warned Monday on
Newsmax TV.
The evangelical leader tells "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth evangelical Christian leaders "have made it very clear"
they object to the Supreme Court ruling last Friday.
"I know it's difficult for liberals to understand this, but we have convictions and convictions can't be coerced and they can't be intimidated and they can't be threatened," he said. "Just because five lawyers say that same-sex marriage is legal, that doesn't make it moral and that doesn't make it right."
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Land says it's a possibility ministers who refuse to perform same-sex marriages could wind up in jail, but believes there will be far-reaching "intermediate steps" taken first.
"They will threaten the tax-exempt status of traditional churches that refuse to compromise their beliefs on same-sex marriage, they'll come after the accreditation of Christian colleges that do not allow same-sex couples to live together and to engage in homosexual activities, they will come after the student loans," he warned.
"[W]ith one fell swoop of the pen, the president of the United States by an executive order could say, 'we will not allow any federally guaranteed student loans to be used in any college that in any way, shape, or form discriminates against homosexuals.' That would put a lot of Christian colleges out of business almost immediately."
Land decries the Supreme Court decision "has nothing to do with the Constitution" and everything to do "with five lawyers imposing their will and their understanding of what marriage should be on the American people."
"This decision shows … how we have descended from the fertile plains of constitutional government to the arid desert of government by the capriciousness and arbitrariness of mere men," he said.
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