With elections and gay rights debate, faith and politics are likely to collide in 2020
Our reporters are writing about what they expect to be some of the big topics on their beats in 2020.
The coming year is likely to generate plenty of fresh material for the writers of sermons and social policy platforms, with the confluence of the election cycle, some major U.S. Supreme Court decisions and at least one possible denominational schism.
Senate proclamations
Religious faith seems destined to become more of an issue in state and national elections as some Republican candidates such as U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina suggest that Democrats are bent on quashing religious freedom in America. Democratic candidates are increasingly being pushed to proclaim their faith as a supporting pillar of the policies they put forth.
The 2020 campaign may turn out to be, in part, a contest between Tillis and his Democratic opponent’s interpretations of the tenets of the Christian faith.
Supreme Court rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings in 2020 on three cases that, while they don’t deal directly with religion, could have an effect on religious institutions.
The cases, Bostock v. Clayton County, Zarda v. Altitude Express and EEOC v. Harris Funeral Homes, center on the rights of gay and transgender employees and whether federal employment law prohibiting sex discrimination protects LGBTQ people against workplace discrimination.
If the justices say yes, it could mean, for instance, that an institution such as the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest would have to reconsider its rules allowing disciplinary action against any faculty or staff who engage in “sexual activity with another person outside of a monogamous heterosexual marriage between one biological male and one biological female.”
Methodist Church dissension
Another religious institution — the United Methodist Church — will inch closer in 2020 to a resolution of its rift over the ordination of gay clergy and the marriage of gay and lesbian couples. The UMC’s governing body voted in 2019 to strengthen language in its Book of Discipline banning gay clergy and gay marriage, but there was no mass exodus by church members in the U.S. who disagreed with the decision.
In May, delegates to the denomination’s General Conference will meet in Minneapolis and discuss whether there is any way for the church to remain whole and, if not, what an amicable dissolution would entail.
Protesters on parade
At least two municipalities in North Carolina will be checking their lists twice next year to make sure no naughty groups try to make trouble during their annual Christmas parades.
Just before their planned holiday parades of 2019, the towns of Garner and Wake Forest both canceled their events after hearing that pro- and anti-Confederate flag protesters were planning confrontations because members of local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapters would be participating in the parades.
In towns where private entities, rather than the municipal government, organize the Christmas parade, SCV chapters might be barred from participating because of the potential for controversy. Wake Forest officials said they planned to explore the option of turning the parade over to a local group to run in 2020.
Martha Quillin covers faith and cultural affairs. For smart, reliable and timely coverage of the issues you care about, subscribe to The News & Observer at newsobserver.com/subscribe or subscribe to The Herald-Sun at heraldsun.com/subscribe.