Posted on 07/06/2011 6:35:14 AM PDT by Cronos
Much of the vocal opposition to gay marriage in New York state has come from folks with reverend as their title.
Some Hudson Valley religious leaders see same-sex marriage in a different light.
"When any commentator says religion is against gay marriage, it really rankles me," said the Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull of the Unitarian Univeralist Congregation of the Catskills.
UU ministers presided over hundreds of gay weddings in New Paltz in 2004 after Mayor Jason West was barred from doing so.
Nothing in the old or new testaments suggests to Carlsson-Bull that marriage must be between a man and a woman.
"(The Bible) is not a doctrine, but an anthology," she said. "It was put together by decisions that were political as well as religious."
St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Port Jervis officially was recognized in January as a pro-gay congregation, according to the Rev. Patt Kaufmann. Since then, 15 families have asked to join the church — triple their normal growth rate.
Kaufmann thinks religious leaders are misguided when they emphasize one or two verses criticizing homosexuality above the thousands that address love for all creation.
"All of the scripture points to a loving and benevolent God whose grace is much higher than many humans imagine it to be," she said.
The 300-member church has seen several civil union ceremonies, and will host a gay wedding within the next year.
Rabbi Larry Friedman of Newburgh's Temple Beth Jacob said support for gay marriage goes with his basic sense of right and wrong.
"There are lots of other things called abominations that people do all the time," he said. "I don't see (homosexuality) as being forbidden."
The 200-family synagogue doesn't have many gay members, and Friedman hasn't been asked to officiate any same-sex weddings.
"But when somebody asks me, I'll make it happen," he said. "I stand ready."
"When any commentator says religion is against gay marriage, it really rankles me," said the Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull of the Unitarian Univeralist Congregation of the Catskills.Unitarians seem to believe in absolutely nothing except liberalism.
UU ministers presided over hundreds of gay weddings in New Paltz in 2004 after Mayor Jason West was barred from doing so.
Nothing in the old or new testaments suggests to Carlsson-Bull that marriage must be between a man and a woman.
"(The Bible) is not a doctrine, but an anthology," she said. "It was put together by decisions that were political as well as religious."
I attended a Unitarian funeral some years ago. I couldn’t tell when the service started, who the minister was, who died or who the bereaved were...
:)
Did they have any kind of service or just say "umm... ahh. we know this guy's dead, that's about it"?
> Unitarians seem to believe in absolutely nothing except liberalism.
Exactly.
Leftism is their faith. Where it agrees with the Word of YHWH, they are ok. Where it disagrees with the Word of YHWH, they will either torture the meaining of the words to
“deconstruct” (a Maoist term) them into a different meaning, or they will just dismiss it as the word of man, and not the Word of YHWH.
The Left does exactly the same thing with the Constitution.
The same can be said for most of “reformed” Judaism, and most “mainstream denominations”.
People came in, sat down, whispered to each other, then got up and left. If there was a service, I missed it.
“Some local religious leaders support same-sex marriage”
should say
“Local, secular, Leftist activists masquerading as religious leaders support same-sex marriage.”
There, fixed it.
I think she was forgetting that Pesky Phrase "THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY"
ouch — what makes a person a Unitarian? Is it just a social club?
God of Abraham and Isaac Whatever and Maybe.
Personally, I think regular churches should have a sign saying, if you want to go get married, try joining a unitarian church rather than bother us on Sunday. Can’t say it would work, but it would be a start.
“Nothing in the old or new testaments suggests to Carlsson-Bull that marriage must be between a man and a woman.”
The sneaky wording only makes this “true”. “suggests to Carlsson-Bull”...
Some rabbi.He’s justifying a perversion because others do things that are sinful.
Man shall not lie with man as with a woman;it is an abomination. Do these ignorant ministers and the Rabbi need to go back and re-read Leviticus?
So, NOW we know what is meant by "biblical unitarians"....
I sometimes go to the choir concerts at the local UU church. Their church bulletins about other events are a bit dizzying in variety but all are directed at some form or hope of spiritual growth. It's democracy on the local church level... A bit (lot) weird but still religious.
I do not understand that, I'm sorry. But I'd like to keep an open mind -- what exactly can one learn in a UU that one can't in their Church? In my parish we have a lot of different activities -- religious and not, I don't see the need of joining a UU -- seriously, why do you, if I might ask?
I'm not a member of the UU near me. They have a charity concert once a month that I go to - so please remember that I can't speak with authority as a member.
As far as I understand they don't require any sort of creed or scripture for membership. The one near me had prayer circles, meditation groups, weekly lectures from all sorts of local temples and churches, and was governed by vote of the local membership. These are all things that most churches usually don't do. (I'm Catholic - ymmv if you aren't.)
It definitely seemed like more than a social club since it was all religiously directed. It wasn't particularly political from what I saw. They had a monthly lecture on early Christianity delivered by a local Libertarian (he actually ran for office as I recall) so it didn't seem like they excluded conservatives.
I'm Catholic too -- and my parish does (and previous parishes did) have prayer circles but no meditation group :)
For Early Christianity, I prefer to read various authors to get a rounded opinion, as a libertarian talking about how the churches were self-governing can tend to stretch (putting it mildly) the treuth
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