Ideas about marriage have shifted and changed dramatically throughout human history, and such change continues even today. At different points marriage has been defined in response to economic realities, by the primacy of procreation and by societal understandings of the role of men and women. In the Gospel we find ground for a definition of marriage and family relationships based on affirmation of the full humanity of each partner, lived out in mutual care and respect for one another. Scripture itself, along with the global human experience, offers many different views of family and how family is to be defined. This unfolding revelation and understanding needs to be weighed carefully by people of faith considering the issue of equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender. Jesus radically challenged his traditional cultural roles and concepts of family life. Jesus boldly declared members of the household/family of God to be whoever hears and follows the will of God.
Civil/legal marriage carries with it significant access to institutional support, rights and benefits. There are more than 1,400 such rights and benefits in the federal statutes alone. Efforts to ban civil marriage to couples based on gender denies them and their children access to these rights and benefits, and thus, undermines the civil liberties of these couples, putting them and their children at risk.
Throughout its history, the United Church of Christ has been at the forefront in the struggle for justice and equality. For more than 30 years, the General Synod of the UCC has adopted resolutions affirming lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT), consistently calling for an end to discrimination, equal protection under the law deploring LGBT hate crimes and violence, supporting LGBT relationships and families and celebrating the gifts of LGBT persons for ministry and encouraging all settings of church to be open and affirming of LGBT persons, welcoming them and encouraging their participation in every aspect of the mission and ministry of the church.
No Christian denomination has ever gone on record supporting gay marriage. That could change this summer when the United Church of Christ General Synod votes on a proposal advocating the legalization of same sex marriages. The UCC and other denominations have in the past supported civil unions and other gay rights. In fact, the UCC ordains gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered clergy. But gay marriages? That might be another story. United Church News reports:
Not once in the five-year period of discernment leading up to its June 2003 vote to become an Open and Affirming congregation did Santa Ana, Calif.’s Church of the Foothills discuss the topic of gay marriage.
“In the years that we were going through the process, we never actually talked about gay marriage,” said the Rev. Mike Holland, senior minister. “It certainly was not intentional, but at the time the language we used was about unions and commitment ceremonies. We never actually used the ‘M-word.’”
That all changed this past March, when Holland received a request from the UCC’s Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Concerns asking that Church of the Foothills (UCC/Disciples of Christ) consider endorsing a proposed resolution – sponsored by the Southern California-Nevada Conference – that will affirm same-gender marriage equality if it is passed this summer by the UCC’s General Synod in Atlanta July 1-5.
In April, the church’s congregation voted to do so, becoming one of 85 UCC churches nationally to formally endorse the so-called “equal marriage” resolution, a number that has Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, interim national coordinator for the Coalition for LGBT Concerns cautiously optimistic that the resolution will be passed by the General Synod.
But as Holland is quick to relate, even in his Open and Affirming church, the vote to endorse the resolution was not as “automatic” as even he might have thought it would be.
“I was a little bit surprised that when we went back to the congregation about supporting the resolution on marriage equality there actually was more concern and opposition than I thought there would be,” Holland said, pointing to the fact that several members chose to leave the church as a result of the vote to endorse the resolution. “It was quite painful for the congregation, and especially for those members who have joined in the last three years since we became an Open and Affirming church. They thought it would be automatic. It turned out that it wasn’t quite so automatic.”
Ultimately, however, about 80 percent of the church voted to endorse the resolution, an outcome that has been replicated at nearly one-fifth of the UCC’s 545 Open and Affirming churches and which has left Voelkel hopeful as General Synod nears.
“General Synod is the biennial meeting of the United Church of Christ. Delegates from Conferences, Covenanted Ministries, and a broad range of interest groups meet every two years to consider the business of the church and its relationship with the wider world. Because every UCC congregation is self-governing, its resolutions speak "to" but not "for" the local church,” states the UCC web site. Around 1,000 delegates representing all corners of the UCC will vote on the proposals under consideration this summer.
Some churches have expressed outright opposition to the proposal. From United Church News:
On May 21, the Penn Northeast Conference held a "day of dialogue" among its 156 churches (including its one and only ONA church) to discuss controversial issues facing the General Synod.
"Of the people who showed up," says the Rev. Alan C. Miller, Conference Minister, "by far the largest attendance was at the same-sex marriage discussion."
"Eighty percent of those gathered were against the same-sex marriage resolutions and offered support for the one-man, one-woman resolution," Miller says. "I think our General Synod delegates were surprised that the reaction – the percentage – was that great against the resolutions."
Miller says one church already has voted to leave the UCC simply because the issue is being considered. "And we’ve already been informed that three other churches will vote out if this passes," he says.
Even more disheartening is a resolution adopted by the Calvin Synod of the United Church of Christ opposing the proposal. “The Calvin Synod is a non-geographical conference in the United Church of Christ. It is the only conference that calls its executive minister ‘Bishop,’ continuing the practice of the Reformed Church in Hungary, dating back to the earliest days of the Reformation,” states their web site. United Church News reports:
….the resolution passed by the Calvin Synod, comprised of 29 churches and more than 2,500 congregants, claims the Bible records “the constant opposition of God-fearing people to all sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage” and calls unions between homosexual persons to be “unholy abominations, unfit for the sight of the Lord and the righteous.”
It denies that same-gender marriage meets the definition of marriage, declares that such “heresy is intolerable” to its members and ministers and calls on the UCC to “disavow this heresy.”
Further, the Calvin Synod has stated that they may leave the UCC if the proposal is adopted.
What does all this opposition mean?
First, it does not mean that those who have expressed opposition to the issue are bigoted (though some may be). For many people the question of gay marriage is new and what is “new” can be threatening. It may be that many in the UCC have simply not had the opportunity to consider the issues involved from a theological standpoint. One clear benefit of the proposal is that is forcing that discussion to occur.
There are some in the UCC, however, that will never support gay marriage and may even be opposed to civil rights for gays and lesbians. That is their right. In the UCC our local churches and members – unlike some other denominations – are in no way forced to believe what the national setting of the UCC claims.
My sense is that the proposal will be adopted. I would vote for it. The vast majority of the people who make up the UCC believe that we are called by God to be radically inclusive. How could we possibility tell our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters that their civil rights are less important then our denomination’s stability? How many times in the past have churches told oppressed people that their concerns didn’t rise to the level of the church actually risking something to defend their rights to be equal. We can step back from the challenge or we meet it and risk losing some of our members. Jesus should be our model. He invited everyone to the table and the risks he took lead to death and resurrection. The risks in this case are worth it.
