Church leaders in the Caribbean have hit out at a US foreign policy which promotes same-sex marriage in their countries.
They say that the Obama administration issued executive orders and policies in an attempt to coerce Caribbean nations into redefining marriage.
In a letter to President Trump they ask that the US Government revoke these policies.
Coercion
The letter, signed by church leaders from five different countries – and which has 289 signatures – said that US officials have “undertaken to coerce our countries into accepting a mistaken version of marriage”.
“It is not only the view of our Christian churches, but the testimony of the recorded history of millennia of civilisation, that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
“This was certainly a truth embraced by the Founders of your country, who pledged their dedication to ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.’ Why should we be forced to believe otherwise?”
‘Transgender confusion’
They also said the cause of the problem is that “so-called ‘gay rights’ are pre-empting human rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom of conscience”.
The letter also explained that US executive orders have been used to impose transgender confusion in schools by threatening to defund them. It is a case of “comply, or be defunded” the letter said.
The authors added that “the same kind of coercion is being used against our countries to force us to fall in line with the entire same-sex agenda.”