Allie Beth Stuckey says a lesbian woman's presence should not drive Christians away from a Bible study. But a group's affirmation of her same-sex marriage, she argues, raises a different concern about its commitment to biblical authority.
Responding to a listener during the November 7 episode of Relatable, Stuckey directed her strongest criticism toward the other participants in a neighbourhood Bible study. Her advice distinguished between welcoming someone into Christian fellowship and endorsing a relationship she believes Scripture prohibits.
The caller said a woman attending the group was married to another woman and appeared to be a newer Christian. According to the caller, other participants affirmed the marriage. Unsure whether to speak directly to the woman or leave the study, she asked Stuckey how to proceed.
"I'm thrilled that she is going," Stuckey said.
She explained that someone exploring Christianity might not immediately share all of a group's convictions. In her account, understanding, repentance and spiritual growth can develop through engagement with Scripture and relationships with other believers.
Her assessment of the other members was considerably sharper.
Describing affirmation of same-sex relationships as "extremely unloving" and "extremely hateful," Stuckey cited Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6. She argued that Christians fail to love others when they endorse conduct they believe those passages identify as sinful.
Her argument rests on a particular understanding of pastoral responsibility: love requires communicating biblical warnings, even when doing so risks discomfort or disagreement. Within that framework, affirmation can become a failure of care rather than an expression of kindness.
Yet the exchange also exposes an unresolved practical difficulty. A group can describe its position as loving while the person receiving its correction experiences rejection. Stuckey's recommendation of friendship offers a way to approach that difficulty, but the episode provides no account from the woman herself about her faith, marriage or experience within the study.
The available information also limits any judgment about the group. Stuckey was responding to one caller's description. The transcript includes no explanation from its leaders, no statement of its beliefs and no indication of how members understood the relevant biblical passages.
Stuckey nevertheless suggested that a study affirming the relationship could be abandoning the authority it claimed to uphold. She questioned whether the caller should remain in that setting, while making clear that her concern centred on the group's teaching rather than the woman's attendance.
Her advice about a personal conversation was more patient than her criticism of the group.
Stuckey did not tell the caller to begin by confronting the woman about her marriage. Instead, she encouraged building a friendship, discussing the gospel and allowing questions about the relationship to arise within that connection. She also recommended reading Rosaria Butterfield and Christopher Yuan.
That distinction gives the exchange its central tension. Stuckey urged patience toward an individual whose beliefs she questioned, while expressing little confidence in a group she understood to be affirming those beliefs.
For Bible study leaders, the episode brings questions of welcome, teaching and correction into the same room. Stuckey's answer was that participation should be welcomed, friendship should be cultivated and doctrinal disagreement should eventually be addressed. How those commitments would shape this particular woman's experience remains unanswered.
