Unions That Divide: Churches Split Over Gay Marriage

At a black Pentecostal church in Raleigh, N.C., the Rev. Patrick Wooden entered the sanctuary on Sunday to a standing ovation, exulting that God’s “high hand” had led voters last week to pass a statewide amendment banning same-sex marriage. He took to the pulpit and denounced President Obama for taking a stand “in support of sin,” and “in opposition to the biblical model of marriage.”

Same-sex marriage became a reality in the United States in 2004 in the wake of a ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that it was required under the equal protection clause of the commonwealth' Constitution. Prior to 2012, same-sex marriage was also legalized in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Early in 2012, Washington State and Maryland both approved same-sex marriage laws, but neither took effect immediately and both were expected to be challenged in referendums.

In early May, North Carolina voted in large numbers for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages, partnerships and civil unions, becoming the 30th state in the country and the last in the South to include a prohibition on gay marriage in the state constitution. A thousand miles away, at a predominantly white, Lutheran church in Madison, Wis., where a rainbow banner greets churchgoers arriving for services, the Rev. Susan Schneider preached that gay men and lesbians were included when Jesus commanded his followers to love one another: “Knocking down the walls is what Jesus was after.”

Mr. Obama’s declaration last week that he supports same-sex marriage prompted ministers around the country to take to their pulpits on Sunday and preach on the issue. But in the clash over homosexuality, the battle lines do not simply pit ministers against secular advocates for gay rights. Religion is on both sides in this conflict. The battle is actually church versus church, minister versus minister, and Scripture versus Scripture.

The dividing lines are often unpredictable. There are black churches that welcome openly gay couples, and white churches that do not. Some Presbyterian churches hire openly gay clergy members, while others will not. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is a sin, but there are Catholic priests who secretly bless gay unions.

And leaders in the United Methodist Church have been debating whether to ordain openly gay ministers for four decades, and voted again just this month to uphold their prohibition. But there are Methodist ministers who perform same-sex marriages in defiance of church rules who share the denomination with ministers who preach that America is going the way of Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality.

More at the New York Times

Gays destroy church

Divisions over sexual ethics could be harmful in the relations between the Anglican Church [Church of England] and the Catholic Church, a cardinal in Rome said.

Speaking to the Pope and cardinals in a private meeting three weeks ago Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian unity, said that there were disagreements with the Anglicans that had stalled talks.

"While progress is being made on theological divisions, new divergences are emerging in the ethical field," he said.

"These concern in particular the questions related to the defence of life, to marriage, to the family, and to human sexuality.

"Because of these new divisions that are being created, common public witness is significantly weakened, if not impossible."

Cardinal Kasper said that a Vatican document was published earlier this year stating that the Church of England was not a "proper church," a position still held by the Vatican.

He said that the discontent caused by the Vatican's position was unjustified, because it had not affirmed anything new, but restated the Catholic view.

"The crisis taking place within the respective Communities is clearly exemplified by the situation that has arisen in the Anglican Communion, which is not an isolated case," Cardinal Kasper noted.

The issue of homosexuality has sparked controversy in the Anglican Church, with traditionalist positions opposed to attempts of bringing in more liberal views.

In 2003 the Church of England announced that an openly gay priest was going to be appointed Bishop of Reading, although reactions from traditionalists eventually hindered his appointment.

In 2006 the Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries said that "there has to be a conversion to a new way to see that gay partnerships are not contrary to biblical truth."

The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, has always compactly criticised any forms of acceptance of homosexual behaviour, which is seen as a sin.