Gay marriage support to grow? UCC has endorsed; other mainline churches less likely to do so

Charlotte Observer ^ | Jul. 16, 2005 | KEVIN ECKSTROM

[rhema]

Members of the United Church of Christ, like their freedom-loving forebears in New England, cherish their local sovereignty and penchant for independent thinking.

Their ancestors, for example, were among the first to work against slavery, and in 1773 helped spark the Boston Tea Party. They were the first U.S. denomination to ordain a black man, in 1785. They also were first to ordain a woman, in 1853, and an openly gay man, in 1972.

So when UCC delegates in Atlanta voted on Independence Day to become the first mainline Protestant church to support civil marriage for gay couples, some might have wondered if it was something like the "shot heard 'round the world" that sparked the American Revolution.

Are other mainline churches likely to follow the UCC's independent example?

The answer, for a number of reasons, is probably not.

For one, the UCC rank-and-file tend to be more liberal than U.S. Christianity in general. The "marriage equality" resolution at the UCC's General Synod meeting passed overwhelmingly. Most other church groups are sharply divided, if not more conservative, on gay issues.

The Episcopal Church, for example, voted in 2003 to approve an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, and the fallout continues to be bitter. An unofficial policy that recognizes that some dioceses bless gay unions (but not civil marriages) has also provoked controversy. Other churches saw the acrimony and simply said, "No thanks."

Most other churches simply don't have the kind of liberal support that would be necessary to endorse gay marriage, either as religious rites or as civil rights.

The beauty -- and frustration -- of the UCC is that any statement made by the national church is simply advisory. The 1,600 autonomous UCC congregations are fully independent and are not compelled to abide by any policy or statement issued by the national church.

The gay-marriage resolution will likely spark a backlash among the UCC's conservative wing -- including some Carolinas churches -- that are free to reject it as others are to embrace it.

"This decision will force many congregations to disassociate (from the UCC) and will cause the further decline of this historic denomination that is already a loss-leader among Protestants,' said the Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, director of the UCC's conservative Biblical Witness Fellowship.

Other churches with more centralized authority -- Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians, for example -- can approve only policies that would be embraced on the local level.

In short, a national policy would need nationwide approval, and currently the support just doesn't exist in other churches for a UCC-style statement.

While many American churches closely monitor what other churches do, at the end of the day, they insist on making their own decisions, in their own way, on their own timetable.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shares a "full communion" agreement with the UCC that allows the churches to swap clergy and share ministry. ELCA delegates are to debate gay ordination and same-sex unions when they meet in Orlando, Fla., in August.

Emily Eastwood, director of Lutherans Concerned North America, the ELCA's gay and lesbian caucus, hailed the UCC vote but was skeptical it will have much impact on Lutherans.

[traviskicks]

some might have wondered if it was something like the "shot heard 'round the world" that sparked the American Revolution.
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some=the media

In this debate, like so many otheres, I think the problem is that government gives itself the power to redistribute wealth and define marriage. If people defined their marriages and government was excluded from the occasion then no one could complain about what anyone else was doing. Same thing with all these disputes over public skrewls. :)

[little jeremiah]

later pingout...?