How do I answer a reporter who asks about my church's position on sexuality?

What is actually happening

A reporter calling cold is working on unfamiliar ground for you and familiar ground for him. The question is not really seeking your doctrine, which is already printed on your website; it is seeking a sentence in your own voice that can be cut short and set beside a quote from someone on the other side. Silence gets reported as refusal to comment, and an improvised answer gets reported as the church's official position. What is being fished for is a usable clip, spoken fast, by a person who was not ready.

The Ambush Question · Rule 3. Rule 3 says to go outside the expertise of the other side. A reporter does interviews every day and you do not, so the phone call happens on his ground, at his pace, on his deadline. The advantage disappears the moment you decline to improvise and move the exchange to writing.

What Scripture says

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” 1 Peter 3:15

What the book says · Chapter 21, The Mountain of Media: Influencing Communications, News, and Information Systems

“Mainstream outlets rarely engage conservative theology with serious argument. They use caricature. That produces a spiral of silence in which individuals holding traditional views self-censor because they believe themselves to be a minority. The media manufactures the appearance of consensus by frightening dissenters into silence, and then reports the silence as evidence of the consensus.”

From Rules for Radical Christians, quoted exactly.

What the law generally says

In the United States, churches and their members generally enjoy broad First Amendment protection to state and teach their religious convictions about marriage and sexuality, and no general law obligates a private citizen or a congregation to answer a reporter's questions at all. Defamation law generally protects you from having false statements of fact published about you, though the standard is high and honest opinion is usually protected on both sides. Recording laws vary: some states generally allow one party to a conversation to record it, while others generally require everyone's consent, which matters if you want your own record of the interview. Employment and ministerial matters raised in a story often carry their own rules, particularly for churches and religious schools. The specifics here turn on your state, which is what Ask looks up.

The words to use

"I'm glad to answer, and I want to be quoted accurately, so please send your questions and your deadline by email and I'll reply in writing. Our position on marriage and sexuality is what the Bible teaches, and we've never hidden it. What is the story you're working on, and who else are you quoting?"

Your move

1. Get the request in writing. Reply by email: ask for the questions, the deadline, the outlet, and whether you are speaking on the record. Do not answer substantive questions on the first call.
2. Pull your church's written statement of faith or doctrinal position and read it before you write anything. Quote it. An answer anchored in a document the church already adopted cannot be recast as your personal grievance.
3. Write your answer in full, keep it short, and state the conviction plainly without apologizing for it or attacking anyone. Send it as text so the reporter is quoting a document, not a memory.
4. Post the same text on your own site or page the day you send it, with the date. If the story runs three sentences of it, the whole thing is still public.
5. Tell your elders or leadership before the story runs, and ask them to stand publicly with whoever is named. Isolation is the mechanism; a named person standing alone is the target.

• Document the reporter's name, outlet, the date and hour of contact, the exact questions sent, and what you sent back. Keep the email thread.
• Ask for the deadline and for a chance to review any direct quotation attributed to you. They may say no, and that answer itself tells you something.
• Do not go off the record, do not speculate about what other members believe, and do not soften the conviction to sound reasonable. A hedge is easier to quote against you than a clear sentence is.

Your situation, your state

This page is the general answer. Describe what is actually happening to you and Ask returns the answer for your situation and your state, with the law looked up and the exact words to use. Your first ask is free.

Not legal advice. When it stops being a conversation, a lawyer licensed in your state is the next call.