JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has called an attempt — recently endorsed by Florida Baptists — to amend that state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage “not necessary.”
Bush, in Jacksonville for a speech Nov. 15, said he would not support the Florida Baptist Convention's effort to pass such an amendment, according to the Florida Times-Union.
Bush said he believes strongly that marriage is a strictly heterosexual institution. But because of existing state and federal laws banning gay marriage, “My belief is [the amendment]'s not necessary,” he said.
Messengers to the Florida Baptist State Convention, meeting a week earlier in Jacksonville, passed a motion to back proposed amendments to both the state and federal constitutions banning same-sex marriage. The motion passed without any apparent opposition.
The action calls on Florida legislators to define marriage “as the union between a man and a woman” and “the God-ordained building block of the family and bedrock of civil society.”
Lakeland pastor Jay Dennis introduced the motion, which calls Florida Baptists “lovingly, yet with passion and conviction,” to support the constitutional amendments. In discussion, Dennis said the measure was not intended to “bash” homosexuals but to establish a clear legal definition of marriage. “The church is the voice of morality,” added Dennis, pastor of the 6,500-member First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland.
He said Florida Baptists should work through state legislators to initiate the amendment. If that fails, he said, a grass-roots petition campaign involving other denominations should ensue.