Explanation needed over push for vote on church blessings for same-sex unions – West

President for the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) Dr Wayne West is questioning the motivation of Reverend Devon Dick, pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church, for placing on the agenda of a business meeting a discussion and vote on whether same-sex unions could receive “blessings” at the church.

West noted that the issue is not on the agenda of either the Baptist World Alliance or the Jamaica Baptist Union’s and said Dick needs to clarify why he sought to introduce the matter on the meeting’s itinerary.

“I’m not quite sure why Pastor Devon Dick decided to put it on the agenda,” he told The Gleaner yesterday. “He cited things that are happening in other churches and then he brought it forward as an issue for consideration. But I didn’t see where he said, ‘This is my position on it. These are my concerns, therefore, this is why I’m putting it as an issue’. So I think, I still think, that he needs to explain why he chose to bring it as an issue.”

The JCHS is a civil society group which advocates for family values, particularly promoting marriage between one man and one woman as the ideal structure for raising children.

An article published in The Sunday Gleaner revealed the clergyman’s proposal which he disclosed in a November 9 service.

While making general announcements at the close of the service, Dick notified members that they should be prepared to vote on the matter at the end of that week.

“What are we to vote on? You should know that there is some split within the Anglican Church on the issue of homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church has said that their priests can bless homosexual [couples] in a ceremony. We need to do a vote [on] what is our position, allowing, say, if two males want to get married or want to be blessed, if it can be done in this sanctuary,” the reverend said while encouraging members to come out and vote “yes or no”, in what would be a secret ballot.

In December 2023, Pope Francis approved a Vatican document allowing priests to offer non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples and individuals in “irregular situations”, emphasising these are blessings for persons, not the union itself.

The Church of England in that same year began offering prayers of blessing for same-sex couples in civil unions.

The members, at Boulevard Baptist Church in Kingston, however, acted before Dick’s proposal could even reach the agenda, voting instead to ensure it was never formally tabled.

He subsequently told The Sunday Gleaner that he was not prepared to bless same-sex unions, explaining that he found no scriptural basis to shift his view.

He, however, did not clearly expound on why he tried to introduce the matter as an agenda item, but outlined the autonomy of local congregations in the Baptist Union, contrasting it with denominations where bishops make central decisions.

The pastor also dismissed suggestions that he was being pressured by the United States (US) to hold the vote.

“Advocates and allies”

A 2020 report by the Arcus Foundation, a private grant-making organisation that advocates globally for LGBTQ rights, based in the US, had named Dick as one of four “faith-based advocates and allies” in Jamaica.

It’s a finding that West, whose organisation was listed in the same report as being a barrier to sexual orientation and gender identity advancement in Jamaica, described as “interesting”.

“That body, the Arcus Foundation, must of course know why they would say so. They are aware of his position on various things,” West said.

However, he stressed that the reverend did not say he was sympathetic in either the Gleaner article or to his congregation when he was outlining the agenda item.

“There is something that they know that he didn’t say in the article or that hasn’t been said just yet. They are convinced that he is sympathetic,” West stated.

Contending that there can be “no rights to sexual orientation”, the JCHS head further expressed disappointment with those he said had “skewed” views.

“It’s completely flawed, so you will find within, you know, Christ said that the wheat and the tares will grow together, that’s a fact. So we should expect that there will always be persons within the Church who hold views that are contrary to the scriptures. That is something that has happened from the very foundation of the church and we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com