Global Megachurch Pastor Backtracks on Gay-Supportive Comments

The pastor of an influential global evangelical megachurch made news with gay-supportive comments last week, then quickly backtracked, emphasizing that he did not endorse same-sex marriage.

At a press conference in New York City Thursday, Brian Houston, senior pastor of Australia-based Hillsong Church, was asked about same-sex marriage and said, "The world we live in, whether we like it or not, is changing around and about us. The world's changing, and we want to stay relevant as a church, so that's a vexing thing," The New York Times reported in a story published Saturday.

"It's very easy to reduce what you think about homosexuality to just a public statement, and that would keep a lot of people happy," he continued. "[B]ut we feel at this point, that it is an ongoing conversation, that the real issues in people's lives are too important for us just to reduce it down to a yes or no answer in a media outlet. So we're on the journey with it." He also expressed sympathy for young LGBT people who experience rejection by their churches or families, saying they "literally are depressed, maybe even suicidal, and, sadly, oftentimes grow up to hate the church because they feel that the church rejected them."

Soon after news outlets reported his comments, a statement from Houston was posted on the Hillsong website. "I encourage people not to assume a media headline accurately represents what I said at a recent press conference," he said. "Nowhere in my answer did I diminish biblical truth or suggest that I or Hillsong Church supported gay marriage. I challenge people to read what I actually said, rather than what was reported that I said. My personal view on the subject of homosexuality would line up with most traditionally held Christian views."

The question, he said, was "on how the church can stay relevant in the context of gay marriage being legal in the two states of the USA where we have campuses," New York and California. "My answer was simply an admission of reality -- no more and no less. ... I made the point that public statements condemning people will place a barrier between the church and the world (and I note that Jesus came to save and not to condemn), which is why at Hillsong, we don't want to reduce the real issues in people's lives to a sound bite."

Hillsong has a dozen campuses around the world, many of them in countries that allow same-sex marriage, including the Netherlands, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and the U.K. The church claims about 100,000 worshippers worldwide, appeals particularly to young people, and is most famous as a creator of contemporary Christian worship music that has proved extremely popular. It is affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches denomination, which is part of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal religious body that considers homosexuality a sin.