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Church Leader Supports Gay Marriage (United Church of Christ)
Madison.com ^ | June 29, 2005 | Judith Davidoff

Posted on 06/29/2005 3:08:46 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

As the United Church of Christ stands poised to consider a resolution endorsing equal rights for same-sex couples, the head of the church has thrown his support behind marriage equality.

"I believe the General Synod should affirm the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons to have their covenanted relationships recognized by the state as marriages equal in name, privileges, and responsibilities to married heterosexual couples," the Rev. John H. Thomas, president and general minister, said in a speech on Tuesday in Atlanta.

Church delegates will consider a resolution in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples this weekend in Atlanta at the meeting of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ.

Some congregations have threatened to leave the denomination if it backs gay marriage. The synod meets every two years to set national policy for the denomination, although those policies are not binding on individual congregations.

If the resolution passes, the UCC would be the first mainline Christian church in the United States to endorse equal rights for same gender couples, said the Rev. Bob Chase, communications director for the church. In 1996, the Unitarian Universalist Association passed a resolution supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Media scrutiny of the United Church of Christ has been heightened since December when NBC and CBS rejected television ads from the church aimed at promoting the denomination as a welcoming place of worship.

The networks deemed the ads controversial because they were purportedly designed to further the advocacy of gay marriage, something church officials vehemently denied.

The Rev. Tisha Brown, pastor at Community of Hope UCC on Madison's west side, said she was excited to hear that Thomas has issued a statement in favor of marriage equality for same-gender couples.

Brown said it's time to recognize the relationships that gay and lesbian couples have and extend the rights and privileges of marriage to couples who choose to go that route.

She anticipated the marriage equality resolution would prevail when delegates vote Monday.

"My assumption is that it will pass and our denomination will come out in the forefront on this issue as we did in the early 1980s when we became the first mainline denomination to acknowledge the need to recognize gay and lesbian folks," she said.

Brown said the UCC was a pioneer 20 years ago when it recommended that its local congregations be open and welcoming to all people, including gay and lesbian members.

At the synod meeting in Atlanta, delegates will also consider two other marriage resolutions: One would urge further study before the church takes a position on same-sex marriage and the other would declare marriage to be strictly between one man and one woman.

Chase said Thomas has been studying the three proposed resolutions on marriage since late April, when they became public.

He said Thomas listened to voices from around the church and spent time in personal prayer and reflection. Chase said Thomas realized the issue of marriage, and marriage equality in particular, had become part of a pressing cultural controversy.

"He decided it was incumbent upon him in his role as a leader of the UCC to make a statement of his own personal convictions on this issue," Chase said.

Chase also noted that Thomas punched holes in the argument that the Bible prohibits marriage between same-sex couples.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Chase said.

The Rev. David Moyer, UCC's Wisconsin Conference minister, said he was pleased Thomas acknowledged the pain church members who don't agree with him may feel.

"Certainly people will divide on this issue," he said. "This is a very divisive issue in our culture and I think some people have used it as a very polarizing issue. In my mind that adds to the pain of the people who get caught up in it."

The Wisconsin Conference voted recently to study a proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and take a stand on the proposal at its annual conference in 2006.

There are 236 UCC congregations with 64,000 members in Wisconsin.

Nationwide the church has 1.3 million members.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Georgia; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: gaymarriage; religiousleft; ucc; unitedchurchofchrist
Another church body succumbs...
1 posted on 06/29/2005 3:08:48 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
The UCC's been wacko for thirty years. I'm surprised it's taken them this long to marry gays.
2 posted on 06/29/2005 3:11:58 PM PDT by utahagen
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Thank God for the state of Wisconsin. I've heard much about the UCC being TOO conservative.

Have they even looked at the phenomenon of being "transgendered" and squaring that with the Bible? What insanity!
3 posted on 06/29/2005 3:12:54 PM PDT by Das Outsider
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
This kind of stuff is really making me sick.

I home-church now.

FMCDH(BITS)

4 posted on 06/29/2005 3:16:25 PM PDT by nothingnew (I fear for my Republic due to marxist influence in our government. Open eyes/see)
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To: nothingnew
"I home-church now.

Just wait till the eminent domain libbies find out and then "tax" your "church" or decides to run you out of house and home to make way for more new tax generating strip malls.

5 posted on 06/29/2005 3:18:46 PM PDT by Windsong (FighterPilot)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Are they in any way related to the Boston church of christ cult? Or are they a spin off of the ultra-conservative mainstream churches of christ?


6 posted on 06/29/2005 3:30:44 PM PDT by Windsong (FighterPilot)
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To: Windsong

HA! These people are the descendants of the Puritans (the old New England Congregationalists). That's how low we've sunk in this country.


7 posted on 06/29/2005 3:38:33 PM PDT by madprof98
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Another church body succumbs...




Sigh, yes. The church needs to take a stand against this filth.


8 posted on 06/29/2005 3:48:11 PM PDT by FeeinTennessee (www.saluteheroes.org.........www.peoplepolitical.org)
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To: madprof98
HA! These people are the descendants of the Puritans (the old New England Congregationalists). That's how low we've sunk in this country.

Only half of the UCC came from the Puritans; the other half came from the German Evangelical and German Reformed (later "Evangelical and Reformed") which had it grounding the Heidelberg Catechism.

Quoting from an 1854 edition on the Seventh Commandment:

What does the seventh commandment teach us?

That all uncleanness is accursed of God, and that, therefore, we must, with all our hearts, detest the same, and live chastely and temperately, whether in holy wedlock or in a single life.

9 posted on 06/29/2005 3:48:36 PM PDT by lightman (The Office of the Keys should be exercised as some ministry needs to be exorcised.)
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To: nothingnew

This kind of stuff is really making me sick.
I home-church now.

FMCDH(BITS)




I'd find a good church in your area that tells it like it is and isn't afraid to do so. It's good to go to church to get inspiration and support from other believers.


10 posted on 06/29/2005 3:49:15 PM PDT by FeeinTennessee (www.saluteheroes.org.........www.peoplepolitical.org)
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To: Windsong

they aren't related to the Boston CoC cult. Neither is the mainstream Church of Christ related to the cult. I'm not sure if the UCC is a spinoff from the CoC, but I don't believe it is. I think the UCC is descended from the Puritans (!) while the CoC developed in the 19th century.


11 posted on 06/29/2005 4:04:44 PM PDT by sassbox
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To: sassbox
The United Church of Christ is the result of a 1959 merger between the Congregational Church (Puritan descendants) and the Evangelical and Reformed Church (German Evangelical and German Reformed, adherents to the Heidleberg Catechism).

It prides itself on being "inclusive" of everything and anything except those who would establish any boundary of faith and morals. Such persons, labeled "judgmental", are the only pariahs. The only Creed is that there is no real Creed, or, more precisely, so many statements of faith are used that almost any, or none at all, are perfectly acceptable. Another mantra is that "you can believe what you want to believe."
12 posted on 06/29/2005 4:21:12 PM PDT by lightman (The Office of the Keys should be exercised as some ministry needs to be exorcised.)
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To: lightman

at 1.3 million, they're down about 30% in 30 years; bet it won't take another 30 to extinction.


13 posted on 06/29/2005 8:09:13 PM PDT by gusopol3
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; All
Donations by members of the United Church of Christ, 2004


THE CENTER
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Date

Amount

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BAREFIELD, RUSSELL
EVANSTON,IL 60202

UNITED CHURCH OF CHR/CHURCH ADMINIS

7/12/2004

$300

DNC Services Corp

BAREFIELD, RUSSELL
EVANSTON,IL 60202

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/ADMINISTRAT

3/13/2004

$300

Kerry, John

BAREFIELD, RUSSELL
EVANSTON,IL 60202

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/ADMINISTRAT

7/29/2004

$300

Kerry, John

BAREFIELD, RUSSELL
EVANSTON,IL 60202

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/ADMINISTRAT

10/12/2004

$300

DNC Services Corp

BAREFIELD, RUSSELL
EVANSTON,IL 60202

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/ADMINISTRAT

10/29/2004

$300

DNC Services Corp

COLEMAN, EDITH MRS
SAN FRANCISCO,CA 94124

UNITED CHURCH OF CHR/ORDAINED MINIS

6/20/2003

$500

DNC Services Corp

CONOVER, PAT
SILVER SPRING,MD 20910

UNITED CHURCH OF CHR/LEGISLATIVE DI

9/14/2004

$200

DNC Services Corp

ELNES, ERIC
SCOTTSDALE,AZ 85250

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/MINISTER

9/28/2004

$210

America Coming Together

EVANS, JANET
DARIEN,CT 06820

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/CLERGY

11/13/2003

$200

Dean, Howard

EVANS, JANET W
DARIEN,CT 06820

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/CLERGY

6/15/2004

$300

Kerry, John

FAST, BARBARA
COS COB,CT 06807

UNITED CHURCH WESTPO/MINISTER

10/26/2004

$214

DNC Services Corp

KING, RANDALL DOUBET
CHICAGO,IL 60640

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

12/3/2003

$300

Obama, Barack

KIRK, JOYCE E
CLAREMONT,CA 91711

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/PASTOR

9/27/2003

$300

Dean, Howard

LEE, LAWRENCE
TWO HARBORS,MN 55616

UNITED CHURCH OF TWO HARBORS/PASTOR

8/17/2004

$285

Moveon.org

LENNON, TARI
SAN DIEGO,CA 92126

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

11/1/2004

$250

Clinton, Hillary Rodham

LEWIS, AMA
OAKLAND,CA 94607

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/CLERGY

10/16/2003

$250

Kucinich, Dennis J

LOWES, PENNY DR JR
ROCHESTER,MI 48306

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/CLERGY

10/6/2004

$250

Moveon.org

SANDERS, SUSAN
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS,OH 44121

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/HUMANITARIA

7/27/2004

$500

Kerry, John

STENTZEL, JIM
NORTH OLMSTED,OH 44070

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST/PASTOR

6/26/2004

$250

America Coming Together

STRONG, SARAH J
SANTA FE,NM 87505

UNITED CHURCH OF SAN/TEACHER

9/21/2004

$200

DNC Services Corp

TILLOTSON, CHRISTINA
CARDIFF BY THE SEA,CA 92007

UNITED CHURCH OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCE/

7/14/2004

$500

Kerry, John


14 posted on 07/04/2005 9:51:57 AM PDT by nwrep
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