Strong, divided opinions mark clergy response
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 11/19/2003
The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, representing the state's largest religious denomination, denounced as "radical" the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling yesterday in favor of gay marriage, and called on the Legislature to reverse the decision.
"It is alarming that the Supreme Judicial Court in this ruling has cast aside what has been . . . the very definition of marriage held by peoples for thousands of years," said Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston. "My hope is that legislators will have the courage and common sense to redress this situation for the good of society."
But the state's major non-Catholic denominations hailed the ruling, which they declared a victory for civil rights.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/11/19/strong_divided_opinions_mark_clergy_response/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/19/marriage/index_np.html Nov. 19, 2003 | For conservative Christians, it's got to feel like the walls are closing in. In June, the United States Supreme Court struck down laws that criminalized oral and anal sex between consenting homosexuals. In August, the Episcopal Church appointed an openly gay man to serve as a bishop. And Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Commonwealth cannot deny homosexual couples the right to marry.
"It's a challenge holding back the forces of evil," the Rev. Louis Sheldon, head of the ultraconservative Traditional Values Coalition, told Salon Tuesday. "One of the responsibilities of the church is to be a resisting force, and I feel like a resisting force right now against those who would like to call evil good."
- - - - - - - - - - - -