Reprinted by permission from Charisma News Service. The leader of a sexual wholeness ministry is organizing a nationwide effort to counter an initiative that encourages open access to abortion and acceptance of homosexuality being taught in schools. David Kyle Foster, a charismatic Episcopal priest and director of Mastering Life Ministries (MLM) based in Jacksonville, Fla., wants to see 100,000 pastors and ministry leaders endorse his Religious Declaration on Human Sexual Morality. The statement, which upholds biblical standards on sexuality, aims to counter a controversial declaration made earlier this year by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), the government-funded body that advises on sex-education policies. Almost 1,000 religious leaders--most of whom are from liberal denominations--have backed SIECUS' Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing, which calls for same-sex marriages, acceptance of gay and lesbian ministers, and open access to abortion. Foster said that if the SIECUS statement was unchallenged, it would be used "to persuade school boards, judges, legislators and religious leaders to compromise the traditional position on these issues." He added: "It must be countered. Our nation's leaders need to know where the vast majority of religious leaders truly stand." Foster's rebuttal asserts that God intended for heterosexual marriage and that "fidelity to God's blueprint for human sexual behavior is integral to healthy human spirituality." It says that biblical standards for sex are "positive and life-giving" and intended to protect people from behaviors that "can only bring death and destruction." The statement--posted at MLM's Web site at www.masteringlife.org--says that it is speaking out against the "unchecked confusions and division" sown by "apostles of immorality" who are seeking to overturn historic church teaching. It says religious leaders should "stand firm against the moral tide of moral relativism and remain faithful to God's holy Word." Released last week, the statement already has been welcomed by the Family Research Council. Policy adviser Yvette Schneider said: "We will be supporting it and doing what we can to get others to. People need to know that those endorsing the SIECUS statement are not mainstream churches." In light of SIECUS' influence in shaping school sex-education policies, the group's declaration was "very dangerous," she added. After it was released, the SIECUS declaration was criticized by conservative radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who decried it for eliminating "any consideration of morality from human sexuality." Ordained by the Charismatic Episcopal Church, Foster founded MLM after years of being caught himself in sexual immorality. For 10 years he lived a double life, by day enjoying a successful career in Hollywood but by night caught up in homosexual prostitution, drinking and drugs. Now he travels the country training church leaders to help lay members struggling with sexual problems. Foster said that sexual brokenness was a "massive" problem in the church. "It puts the greatest epidemic in the history of mankind to shame in terms of numbers. I would say 50 percent of those in the church have an area of sexual brokenness. We are just as bad as the secular world."

But that did not disqualify the church from speaking out on sexual issues. "Hypocrisy is not preaching one thing and not hitting it perfectly; it's preaching one thing and not making any attempt to adhere to it...It's important to hold up the standard, even though we don't make it."