Here is a followup on my CA Supreme Court post earlier .This issue
will visit our Church too one day .
Read here :
Gay-marriage ruling splits faith leaders
SOME REJOICE; OTHERS ARE 'SOUL-SICK'
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/18/2008 01:34:56 AM PDT
Nowhere is the opinion divide on gay marriage sharper than in the
nation's religious communities. And last week's same-sex marriage
ruling will do little to bring agreement on the definition of
marriage, a social and religious touchstone that has torn apart
families, congregations and entire dioceses.
"I don't expect the picture in the religious community to change very
much with this decision," said Mary Tolbert, executive director of the
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry in
Berkeley. "As more and more gays and lesbians marry, it may become
less of an issue, but right now I don't expect much to change, maybe
not for a decade."
While clergy addressing Bay Area liberal congregations this morning,
including pioneers in the battle to win legal recognition of gay
marriage, are celebrating the decision, many others, including
evangelical and Catholic pastors, are decrying the ruling that they
say promotes a gay agenda and is at odds with their religious
doctrines.
Thursday's California Supreme Court ruling allowing state-sanctioned
same-sex marriages, of course, has no legal consequences for organized
religions. Still, the controversial topic has not stopped faith
leaders from crossing into the political arena. Faith leaders on both
sides of the divide are gearing up for the expected battle over a
constitutional amendment, likely headed to the November ballot, that
would attempt to overturn Thursday's ruling and write a ban into
the state's constitution.
Several South Bay Christian churches are part of the umbrella group
that worked to gather voter signatures needed to place the amendment
on the ballot. The Secretary of State's Office is expected to announce
in mid-June whether it has qualified. If it qualifies, the state's
Roman Catholic bishops plan to urge their parishioners to support the
measure, as they did in 2000 to pass Proposition 22, the law the state
Supreme Court struck down Thursday.
"I'm soul-sick over this," said Pastor Dave Sawkins of Venture
Christian Church in Los Gatos. "The Supreme Court is promoting a
lifestyle that is destructive," he said. "We're not angry at
homosexuals, we're trying to protect the family."
At San Francisco's Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, where the
Rev. Cecil Williams has been officiating at same-sex weddings for 40
years, a special sermon is planned for this morning marking the
landmark court ruling.
"My opinion is it should have come a long time ago," Williams said. "I
think it is going to be more open," at least among some clergy. "We
are rejoicing; there should be no barriers to same-sex marriages."
Even as secular opinions may be shifting toward gay marriage, many of
the nation's biggest denominations remain resolutely against it, or
are deeply split. Four years after Massachusetts legalized gay
marriage, there has been no sudden shift to embrace such unions among
major denominations that have long opposed the idea.
And where there has been movement to embrace gay rights, often
headline-making fights have followed, leading to threats of breakups
and secession, including among Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Lutheran
branches.
The U.S. Episcopal Church split into camps following the 2003
ordination of a New Hampshire gay man, the Right Rev. V. Gene
Robinson. Then in December 2007, the Episcopalian Diocese of San
Joaquin, serving members from Lodi to Bakersfield, rebelled against
the national church's support of gay rights. They voted to split from
the national church.
As a sign of how deeply split many denominations are, faith
communities often note if they're "welcoming" or "reconciling" to
signal if they are gay-friendly.
During his American trip last month, Pope Benedict XVI told U.S.
Catholic bishops to uphold traditional marriage. On Friday, he
reiterated that message, saying, "The union of love, based on
matrimony between a man and a woman, which makes up the family,
represents a good for all society that cannot be substituted by,
confused with, or compared to other types of unions."
California bishops, too, issued a statement in response to the ruling,
saying it "opens the door for policy-makers to deconstruct traditional
marriage and create another institution under the guise of equal
protection."
But there are signs that just as public opinion is edging slowly
toward accepting gay rights, including state-sanctioned gay marriages,
so might religious communities.
Conservative Judaism, for example, recently voted to allow gay unions
and ordain gay rabbis.
Rabbi Charles Familant, a Reform rabbi in Menlo Park, has been
officiating at same-sex ceremonies for nearly two decades.
"It depends on the faith. There are some members of the clergy in
liberal Protestant faiths who didn't want to do anything illegal, so
now that it won't violate the law they may feel freer. There are more
conservative religious groups, which I don't think will budge one
inch," he said.
Many church leaders say their position against gay marriage is a moral
one, based on the teachings in the Bible.
"The state is infringing on the church's rights to follow what the
Bible says," said Pastor Mike McClure of Calvary Chapel San Jose. "I'm
not condemning homosexuals."
Veteran San Jose gay rights activist Wiggsy Sivertsen, a San Jose
State University counselor, and her partner, a San Jose police
officer, are considering using their new right to marry to make a
political point, and a spiritual one.
Saying she's not a religious woman, nor even that excited about
marriage as an institution, Sivertsen and her partner may redo their
commitment ceremony, held 12 years ago, as a marriage. A Methodist
minister, a family friend, officiated over the first ceremony, and his
church leaders criticized him for blessing same-sex unions, Sivertsen
said. He has died, but his daughter is now a minister in the Unitarian
church, which freely embraces gay marriage.
"If we recycle our ceremony, we'll ask her to do it."
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