A regional synod of the United Church of Christ proposed a resolution that the Church officially endorse the idea of same-sex marriages. The proposal will be discussed at the General Synod currently going on in Atlanta. The Church already allows the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers. Any resolution would be non-binding on individual congregations, as each congregation is autonomous and the General Synod is more of an advisory body, but would make the Church the largest Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage.
In news from the Synod, the proposal appears to be gaining momentum and looks to have broad support, even in the face of counter-proposals for the Church to affirm its support for traditional marriage. The UCC's general minister and president, Rev. John Thomas, has stated that he supports same-sex marriage equality. A committee has nominated him for a third term as the denomination's president. However, a movement in the UCC, the Biblical Witness Fellowship, has called on Rev. Thomas to step down as president for his "decision to reject the foundational covenant of marriage as instituted by Almighty God, the covenant from which all other human covenants derive, and which is the very image of the relationship between the church and Jesus Christ." It does not appear that Rev. Thomas intends to do so.
My prediction is that the resolution will pass, however, as with the Episcopal Church's decision to affirm the consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire, the decision will tear the denomination in two. Given that each congregation remains independent even in the face of a General Synod resolution, it does not take much of a stretch to see how those congregations that wish to adhere to traditional definitions of marriage, would continue to do so. And they would likely just as easily ease their affiliation with the more general structure in favor of a separate structure.
It strikes me as somehow sad that even when religious people discuss and debate these issues, those whose interpretation does not win out feel the need to cease to associate with the majority. The democratic nature (by which I mean that congregation members and laypeople are directly involved in decision making for the church) of many Protestant denominations raises a frightening specter of what might happen in the civil polity. While many conservatives have fought to keep the regulation of same-sex marriage in the state legislatures (as opposed to in the courts through legal rulings), one can't help but wonder what many of the most socially conservative individuals might do if gay-rights organizations were to win their battle in the legislatures. Would the accept the outcome; or would they engage the courts to overturn the popular will; or would their reaction be even more drastic as their position moves to a minority? Religion can incubate extreme fervor of action that does not respond to logic or reason. Could evangelical social conservatives, especially in the South and West, react to same-sex marriage victories the way Southern plantation owners did in 1861 when they felt their way of life threatened?
