Christian author Eugene H Peterson has retracted comments he made about same-sex marriage after facing backlash on social media from his conservative fans.
In the original interview with , Peterson spoke about lesbian and gay members of his congregation fondly, saying that he had changed his mind about welcoming the LGBT+ community into the church.
“I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do,” he said.
“I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over. People who disapprove of it, they’ll probably just go to another church.
“So we’re in a transition and I think it’s a transition for the best, for the good. I don’t think it’s something that you can parade, but it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.”
The interviewer then asked if he was still “pastoring today”, would he perform a same-sex wedding ceremony to which Peterson replied: “Yes”.
The author and theologian—known for his translation of the Bible ‘The Message’—then received a torrent of online criticism from conservative Christians.
Another said: “I am extremely sorry for all the times I have used translations in worship/sermons etc and called him a great theologian.’
Peterson’s largest book distributor Lifeway also threatened to pull his books from stores over the comments.
Just a day later, Peterson completely backtracked, saying he does not believe in same-sex marriage.
“To clarify, I affirm a biblical view of marriage: one man to one woman. I affirm a biblical view of everything,” he said in a .
“Recently a reporter asked me whether my personal opinions about homosexuality and same-sex marriage have changed over the years. I presume I was asked this question because of my former career as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which recently affirmed homosexuality and began allowing its clergy to perform same-sex weddings.
"Having retired from the pastorate more than 25 years ago, I acknowledged to the reporter that I haven’t had a lot of experience with it.”
While he seems to have appeased his conservative fans, a number of LGBT+ Christians are disappointed by the backflip.
One Twitter user said: “ has inspired me for years. It's so sad that he feels obliged to withdraw his wonderful statement about equality.”
