Church Won’t Do Weddings For Straight Couples Until Same-Sex Marriage Is Legal [NC Methodist Church]

CBS CHARLOTTE ^ | 3/18/13

[SoFloFreeper]

- A local church has elected to stop performing marriage ceremonies for straight couples until same-sex marriage is legalized.

In a statement posted on the front page of their website, officials at the Green Street United Methodist Church said that they ask other churches to join in the movement to “refuse to sign any State marriage licenses until this right is granted to same- sex couples.”

The statement added, “Because the United Methodist Church prohibits its pastors from conducting same-sex weddings, excluding gay and lesbian couples from the holy sacrament of marriage, the Leadership Council has asked the pastor to refrain from conducting wedding ceremonies in our sanctuary for straight couples, until the denomination lifts its ban for same-sex couples.”

[sodpoodle]

Gays should start their own religion and worship themselves.

[thackney]

Only the General Conference speaks for The United Methodist Church. When the lay and clergy delegates to General Conference approve a statement, it is published in the Book of Discipline and/or the Book of Resolutions. These words come from the people of The United Methodist Church.

http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4746363&ct=3169111

From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2012.
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5066287&content_id={1F927523-A422-4005-BA60-517220DB6D1E}&notoc=1

161 B) Marriage—We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in love, mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman. We believe that God’s blessing rests upon such marriage, whether or not there are children of the union. We reject social norms that assume different standards for women than for men in marriage. We support laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

[laweeks]

161 B) Marriage—We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in love, mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman.

Get any local UMW to preach that at any sermon. It'll never happen. Never.

For one thing, they're afraid of the 501C3 prohibition of preaching "politics" from the pulpit.

[thackney]

My experience doesn’t agree with that statement.

Not a specific sermon focused on that topic, but on making decisions based upon desires that are contrary to biblical teachings.

Then again, I’ve attended UMC services where most of the congregation was part of the military. We sold a shotgun as part of a fund raising event. Probably not typical of many UMC churches but they do exist.

[No Truce With Kings]

So will this church perform weddings between two sisters or two brothers? If not why? Is there a functional difference between a same-sex marriage between two same-sex siblings or two unrelated same-sex couple?

Seriously. It is not as if violating the incest taboo would lead to children. It seems no more “unnatural” than any other same-sex pairing. I mean, once you arbitrarily reject one moral value, how can you refuse to object a similar one?

Further, I can see utility between sibling marrying under those conditions, especially in states where uncontested divorces are low-cost and simple. It would allow two siblings to file at married rates, which could be useful if one sibling has a high-paying job and a second is in college.

Besides, gays have claimed for years that the gummint doesn't belong in the bedroom. If it does not matter with whom you are sleeping, it does not matter with whom you are not sleeping. If two brothers or two sisters wish to take advantage of gays wanting to pretend that playing house is marriage, why should they be stopped?

Of course, this makes a mockery of marriage, but no more so than redefining marriage from its traditional definition of a union between one woman and one man.

[fwdude]

When my church does gay weddings I am gone.

When? Is there a chance that it might?

If so, you should have been long gone already.

[Irish Queen]

There is vast difference between holy matrimony and a civil union. The first is a sacred commitment between a man and a woman seeking God’s blessings. The second is a commitment between two people seeking the government’s approval. The sacrament of marriage is a part of God’s plan for His people. A civil union is a state sanctioned contract. The government has the ability to sanction an infinite variety of civil contracts: two men, two women, one man and four women, one woman and two men, two brothers, and on and on. Holy Matrimony was created by God to bless His people. The government created civil unions(state sanctioned marriage) as a contract between two (or more) people.