April 21, 2005
[posted here 4022-05]

By J. Bennett Guess
United Church News

The 1.3-million-member United Church of Christ could become the first mainline Christian denomination to endorse full marriage equality - regardless of gender - if a proposed resolution is approved by the church's General Synod this summer.

"Ideas about marriage have shifted and changed dramatically throughout human history, and such change continues even today," reads the opening line of the proposed resolution, which goes on to spell out historical, theological and biblical rationale for affirming both civil and religious recognition of same-gender marriage.

It marks the first time the church's General Synod has been asked to address the issue of marriage equality outright.

Asked for comment, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, told United Church News he would not make a statement about the proposal until he has had an opportunity to listen to different perspectives from within the denomination.

In past years, the General Synod - which speaks "to" but not "for" the UCC's nearly-6,000 congregations - has sidestepped the issue of same-gender marriage, even while it has affirmed the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons; called for full civil rights and equal protections; and blessed the idea of "equal rites in covenant life" (or holy unions) for non-married couples.

Earlier this year, the Cleveland-based denomination found itself at the center of the marriage debate when it launched a national television advertising campaign that featured a gay couple, among others, being excluded from an unwelcoming, metaphorical church. CBS and NBC executives rejected the 30-second ads, calling them issue-advocacy spots. CBS argued the UCC's "bouncer ad" was a political statement about same-gender marriage - a claim that church leaders flatly rejected.

The Rev. Libby Tigner, a spokesperson for the Southern California - Nevada Conference, told United Church News that same-gender marriage equality is both a legal and religious issue that should be acted upon by the General Synod.

"We believe that all people are created equal in the eyes of God and should be treated equal by our governmental bodies," she said. "This is a justice issue."

"That resolution instructed our Conference leaders to bring this resolution to General Synod," she said, noting she realizes it is likely to generate heated debate.

"There will be very lively conversation," she said, "and I hope there will be prayerful discernment among the delegates, because God is still speaking to us about marriage."

The proposal is certain to be met with opposition from some UCC members, pastors and churches. Already, eight geographically-diverse congregations already joined together to offer a counter resolution calling the church "to embrace the scriptural definition of marriage."

"Throughout the scriptures, marriage is always defined as being between one man and one woman," the counter resolution states. "We find examples of those who violated God's natural moral order to their own detriment, but God's standard and definition remained constant."

The Rev. Brett W. Becker, pastor of the 300-member St. Paul UCC in Cibolo, Texas, who authored the one-man, one-woman resolution, said he believes the UCC should be prophetic in its defense of "traditional, biblical marriage."

"We are the United Church of Christ and I'd like to see us be faithful to the teachings of Jesus," Becker said. "[Jesus] says point blank that fornication is a sin - and it's a wide term that applies to all sexual behavior outside of marriage between a man and a woman."

The Southern California - Nevada proposal argues that, throughout history, marriage has been an evolving institution, pointing to earlier times when polygamy was biblically normative, women were considered property and interracial marriages were not only taboo, but illegal.

"Ideas about marriage have shifted and changed dramatically throughout human history," it reads.

Becker, however, claims otherwise in his counter resolution: "The scriptures never define marriage as being anything other than the union of one man and one woman."

Said Becker, speaking about his proposal, "We should be loving toward all people, regardless of what issues they are dealing with, and if we truly love someone we will encourage them to avoid those things that are contrary to the teachings of Jesus."

A third marriage-related document, brought by the Central Atlantic Conference, takes a more-cautious approach by asking the church "to enter into prayer, study and conversation" about marriage equality, including a review of "cultural practices, economic realities, political dynamics, religious history, and biblical interpretations."

All three marriage-related documents are to be considered alongside about 25 other issue-oriented proposals. Several address more-internal aspects of the church's organizational life.

The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957 with the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. UCC congregations and structures, some dating back to the early 1600s, are among the oldest in the nation.