By Luke Voogt
Anti-gay marriage campaigners have absolved local religious leaders who were accused of being “silent” on the issue.
The criticism came as the national face of the ‘no’ campaign, Lyle Shelton, visited Geelong to meet local Coalition for Marriage campaigners on Tuesday.
The managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby blamed fear of “being called a homophobe or a bigot” for church leaders staying quiet.
“Church leaders don’t want to create disincentives to come to church,” Mr Shelton said.
Some Geelong Coalition for Marriage volunteers mentioned local church leaders who had voiced opinions but the campaign was mostly “grassroots”, he said.
Local ‘no’ campaigner Ken Francis said “laypeople” had taken up the debate.
“The people I work with are quite often Christians. They’re all motivated by a world view,” Mr Francis said.
“Church leaders may not want to be seen as telling people what to think,” he said.
“I think we’ve gone past the day where we’re relying on church people to create the agenda.”
But Aberdeen Street Baptist Church pastor Frank Lowry, who has publicly argued against gay marriage, urged local religious leaders to stand up for their beliefs.
“I think they have been quiet,” he said.
“Anything that contradicts Biblical doctrines is the responsibility of church leaders.
“It’s a bit late now but in future (they should) apply the Bible to whatever is being proposed.”
Mr Lowry accused the majority of churches of going along with popular sentiment.
“I think the church today has abandoned that biblical philosophy.”
The Indy contacted several Geelong church leaders for comment.
“Good luck getting a comment with that,” one church receptionist said.
“I’m fairly confident that’s not something we’d be happy to comment on,” another said when the Indy left contact details.
Geelong’s Imam Mohammad Ramzan declined to comment on the issue.
ABC polling in September found that 64 per cent of respondents in the federal electorates of Corio and Corangamite supported same-sex marriage.
