A prominent leader of the NAACP has resigned over the organization’s recent vote in favor of homosexual marriage.
Pastor Keith Ratliff of the Maple Street Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa and president of the Iowa/Nebraska NAACP conference, recently issued a statement outlining that he was stepping down due to his disagreement on the issue.
“I want to thank the NAACP for the privilege to humbly serve in such an organization and thank all those I had the privilege to work with in the states of Iowa, Nebraska and throughout the country,” said the 2003 inductee into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame.
Ratliff had told the Des Moines Register after the NAACP voted last month to declare homosexual “marriage” as being a “civil right” that he was praying about whether he would continue with the group. Out of the over 60 members that attended the NAACP meeting in Miami, Ratliff was one of two individuals who refused to vote in favor of the declaration.
“To anyone who reads and believes the Bible, there is no room for compromise on the issue of homosexuality,” he declared at the meeting. “Let them understand, oh God, that your way is the way that we must live, [and] that separation of church and state did not mean that man should live unholy.”
“For deviant behavior is not the same thing as being denied where one may sit on a bus,” he added. “What an insult to the civil rights movement.”
Ratliff has reportedly long been an opponent of homosexual marriage. In 2009, he sought to amend the state Constitution after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled to permit civil unions. Speaking out against the ruling, he stated, “This isn’t a private interpretation, a Burger King religion, and by that I mean a ‘have it your way’ religion.”
“I admire the strength of his convictions,” stated fellow NAACP member Jonathan Wilson, a homosexual “marriage” advocate, to KCCI news. “Just because they are strongly held convictions doesn’t make them right.”
“It’s about time someone associated with the NAACP has a backbone,” said Pastor Ken Hutcherson from Washington.
Ratliff’s resignation includes both his position as local chapter president and as a member of the national board.
(Photo: Urban Christian News)
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