\u201cThis is a cultural war, a cultural shift, and those who are in rebellion have decided to portray us as bigots and prejudiced,\u201d\u009d says [Nathaniel] Thomas, pastor of Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church, a trim, pale-brick building across from a storage facility on a dead-end road just inside the Beltway near Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n
He knows that some gay activists are incredulous that black ministers could oppose a civil rights initiative. \u201c\u201d\u2030\u201d\u02dcHow dare a black preacher take this position,\u2019 they say, \u201d\u02dcbecause you\u2019ve felt this pain,\u2019 and I have,\u201d\u009d he says. Over the decades, he has marched for voting and housing rights and fought for equal protection for blacks.<\/p>\n
But Thomas and the 77 other Baptist ministers in the association do not see same-sex marriage as a civil rights matter. Rather, they say, it is a question of Scripture, of whether a country based on Judeo-Christian principles will honor what\u2019s written in Romans or decide to make secular decisions about what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n