Nagaland: Church body denounces SC’s Section 377 ruling

Kohima: The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has denounced the recent Supreme Court (SC) verdict on Section 377 and Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which decriminalises homosexuality and adultery, respectively, over its Biblical stand.

As per reports, the NBCC has ruled out the SC verdict saying it ‘grants liberty and empowers adultery and unusual relationships with the support of law’, which is totally against the ‘Biblical moralities and ethics’. Nagaland is a Christian state with denominations in Baptist, Roman Catholic, Revival, Pentecostal and the like, with the Baptist being the majority.

Warning all Christians not to be swayed away by extreme modernity, the church body clearly stated that “marriage is between a man and woman” and that the reinterpretation of laws on the lines of modernisation and liberalisation only challenges the church’s firm stand on Biblical teachings.

Meanwhile, the church body has urged all Christians to follow the “definition and guidance from the Bible”, as laws under Sections 377 and Section 497 of the IPC only detest moral principles. Even the apex court has “no authority to redefine and alter the word of God”, the NBCC said.