Carter, a third-generation Southern Baptist, severed connections to the Southern Baptist Convention over its opposition to women as pastors. Carter took this action due to a doctrinal statement by the convention, adopted in June 2000, advocating for a literal interpretation of the Bible. This statement followed a position of the convention two years previously advocating the submission of wives to their husbands. Carter described the reason for his decision as due to: "an increasing inclination on the part of Southern Baptist Convention leaders to be more rigid on what is a Southern Baptist and exclusionary of accommodating those who differ from them." The New York Times called Carter's action "the highest-profile defection yet from the Southern Baptist Convention". On July 15, 2009, Carter wrote an opinion piece about equality for women in which he stated that he chooses equality for women over the dictates of the leadership of what has been a lifetime religious commitment. He said that the view that women are inferior is not confined to one faith, "nor, tragically does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple." In 2014, he published A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power. Gun control Carter has publicly expressed support for both a ban on assault weapons and for background checks of gun buyers. In May 1994, Carter and former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns." In a February 2013 appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight, Carter agreed that if the assault weapons ban did not pass, it would be mainly due to lobbying by the National Rifle Association and its pressure on "weak-kneed" politicians. Same-sex marriage Carter has stated that he supports same-sex marriage in civil ceremonies. He said: "I believe Jesus would. I don't have any verse in scripture ... I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that's just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don't see that gay marriage damages anyone else". Evangelist Franklin Graham criticized the assertion as "absolutely wrong". In October 2014, Carter argued ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that legalization of same-sex marriage should be left up to the states and not mandated by federal law. Race Carter ignited debate in September