By Bob Allen
The firing of Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran highlights “the religious-liberty implications of the normalization of homosexuality and the legalization of same-sex marriage,” Southern Baptist Theological President Albert Mohler said in a podcast briefing Jan. 9.
Mohler said Cochran’s suspension and subsequent dismissal for writing a self-published book stating religious beliefs, including that homosexuality is a sin, is the latest example of “the newly defined vision of erotic liberty trumping religious liberty over and over again.”
“We have seen it in Arizona,” Mohler said. “We have seen it in Oregon. We have seen it in California. We have seen it in terms of the contraception mandate of the Obamacare legislation. We’ve seen it in terms of the California State University’s system casting Intervarsity Christian Fellowship off campus.”
“These cases are multiplying, and wherever you live they’re getting closer to home,” Mohler said. “Just ask the folks who live in Atlanta.”
Mayor Kasim Reed says Cochran was fired not for his religious views but for poor judgment. Cochran and the mayor’s office dispute whether the chief went through proper bureaucratic channels before publishing the book, but Reed said by airing his views Cochran could open the city to liability in the event of a workplace discrimination claim.
Mohler said excerpts of Cochran’s book described as “inflammatory content” were “little more than quoting the Bible.” The controversy, he said, raises a host of troubling questions, starting with “whether one can believe that homosexuality is a sin without discriminating against homosexuals.”
“The clear implication of the mayor’s decision is that the fire chief is out, not because he acted in any way in any discriminatory fashion toward any gay member of the fire department staff or anyone else for that matter, but simply because he expressed his biblical conviction that homosexuality is a sin.”
“Is the Bible itself now going to be defined as hate speech?” Mohler asked. “Can anyone who holds to a biblical understanding of sexuality, anyone who is a member of an evangelical congregation, serve in this kind of political and public role?
“Or, does that moral conviction absolutely mean in a categorical sense that discrimination is the obvious outcome? Or is holding the belief itself, is holding that biblical conviction itself, a form of discrimination, even if no discriminatory act ever follows?”
Mohler called what happened in Atlanta “a tragedy of epic proportions.”
“The public firing of Atlanta’s fire chief now makes abundantly clear that the alarm has been sounded,” he said. “Erotic liberty is now on the ascent, and religious liberty is everywhere in danger.”
Mayor Reed hired Cochran in 2010 to return to his previous job as Atlanta fire chief after working briefly in the Obama administration. According to a 2013 news report, the salary for the fire chief’s position ranges from $151,000 to a maximum of $221,000.
In recent weeks Cochran, a member of a Southern Baptist church, criticized his suspension in addresses to religious groups including the Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Board. Reed, who refers to himself as a person of faith, said those actions contributed to Cochran’s termination.
The Georgia Baptist Convention supported Cochran with an online petition calling for his reinstatement, which to date has collected more than 8,000 signatures.
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