The Nashville statement, with which hundreds of Orthodox Protestants from the Netherlands spoke in favor of traditional views of sex and sexual preference, is not a criminal offense, the Public Prosecution Service said on Thursday. The Public Prosecution Service will therefore not prosecute.
It Reformatorisch Dagblad published under the title early last year Joint Statement on Biblical Sexuality a Dutch translation of the Nashville statement.
Of “decisive importance” in not prosecuting was that the Nashville statement was made out of a belief. “In a democratic constitutional state, it is essential that there is plenty of room to make statements, even if they can hurt or distress,” said Justice.
Nevertheless, according to the Public Prosecution Service, this does not mean that statements made through religious beliefs can never be punishable. In the case of the Nashville statement, however, the Public Prosecution Service believes that the statements are legally within the permissible.
SGP leader Van der Staaij also signed the statement
The Nashville Declaration said, among other things, that “good Christians should always reject homosexuality.” It has also been suggested that “healing is possible” for this. “We deny that the approval of homosexual uncleanness or transgenderism is a morally neutral matter on which faithful Christians may disagree,” it read.
More than two hundred people signed the statement at the time. Among them were (former) pastors of various Protestant church movements, a large majority of whom were associated with Reformed or reformed denominations or congregations. SGP leader Kees van der Staaij also signed the statement.
The statement received a lot of social criticism. It also led to reports to anti-discrimination agencies and the police. Several people also reported against the content of the statement as well as against the authors, signatories and supporters.
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