The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the Mormon Church, recently released a statement with regard to same-sex couples. Mormon Christianity considers marriage something that has been dictated and blessed by God and can only be so between a man and a woman. A new policy was included in their handbook that now says children living with same-sex couples can’t go through their ritual of baptism until they reach the age of 18. Neither can babies go through the ritual blessing into the church.

The church then went on to declare that homosexuals are to be considered “apostates” which they define as those who have lost their way, as people who have given up on their Mormon faith, reports The Washington Post. An official spokesman for the church stated on Thursday that the church has a long record of opposing same-sex marriages, and that, although it respects the law of the land, as well as others’ right to act and think differently, it does not accept or perform same-sex marriage in its membership.

Previous to their announcement that homosexuals were now “apostates,” the Mormon church had previously been of the belief and practice that gay members only needed to be disciplined. The blessing of babies and the ritual of baptism in extremely important in Mormon Christian doctrine. Babies are blessed as soon as possible and baptisms usually happen when a child is around 8 years old. This marks a covenant they make with God and is critical to their Christian concept of salvation.

Now the child of a same-sex couple can renounce the same-sex marriage situation and ask the church hierarchy to approved them for baptism and eventual missionary service and full membership in the church. The Mormon Christian church maintains it world headquarters at Salt lake City, Utah. This week, Salt Lake City elected its first gay mayor.