One of the
problems I think we have as a country is that we tend to lump all people into
categories. I mean, all gay men aren’t sex pigs; all
Black men aren’t deadbeat dads, all Mexicans aren’t illegal, and all religions
aren’t the same. And that’s what
we have here: a tale of two faiths.
It seems that,
last week, the General Assembly of the nation's largest Presbyterian
denomination voted against a proposal that would have paved the way toward the
church allowing same-sex weddings in their midst.
The proposal would
have changed the church's Book of Order to define marriage as between "two
people" but after the vote—and the narrow victory—it will keep the
definition of marriage as between "a man and a woman."
"God, we are
a divided church," said the Reverend Neal Presa, a New Jersey pastor and
the General Assembly moderator, said while guiding church members in prayer
after the vote.
And, in light of
thatvote by the General Assembly—which is made up of pastors and lay people—pro-same
sex marriage activists must wait another two years until the church's next
national meeting to make marriage-related proposals.
On the other hand, the
United Methodist Church in the Northwest has set itself at with its parent
denomination by endorsing Referendum 74 and asking voters to make Washington
the nation’s seventh state to enact same-sex marriage.
The
issue of marriage equality has divided much of Washington's faith
community. While Episcopalians, Methodists and the ecumenical Faith Action
Network have come out for same-sex marriage, the state’s Catholic bishops and
many fundamentalist churches opposed it. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter
Sartain, apparently unaware of that whole Separation of Church and State thingy,
even asked his parishes to serve as collection centers for signatures on the
referendum petition. Still, many Seattle and Tacoma parishes refused the Archbishop’s request and
even sent contingents from Catholics for Marriage Equality and Mormons for
Marriage Equality to march in the Seattle Pride Day parade.
And
while the United Methodist Church in the Northwest has come down on the side of
equality, all is not the same among all Methodists. The parent church, at
its convention, rejected a change in church doctrine, which asserts
that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian
teaching.” Gays and lesbians are officially not allowed to serve as
clergy, and the celebration of holy unions is prohibited by church law.
But the
Reverend Sandy Brown, at Seattle First United Methodist Church, will not be silent: “Our
church will not be deterred by our denomination’s heartless stand on
homosexuality. We are out and proud to stand with our LGBT
families, friends and neighbors.”
So,
while all gays are not alike, or all Black men, Mexicans, women, and people of
faith, the simple fact remains that in this country all men are supposed to be created equal. And some
churches, some people of faith, as well aware of that, and are doing something
about it.
That the Catholic church is against it is no surprise to me at all.
ReplyDeleteI was raised as Catholic, and thankfully realized it was all bovine effluent at an early age.
But I got to experience the policies and dogma an they were ludicrous to say the least.
And years later I had the opportunity to attend Red Mass. That's the one for all law enforcement. Needless to say I wasn't impressed. I was much more impressed by the swearing in of a new prosecutor to be honest.
Come visit the Unitarians. We have cookies!
ReplyDeleteChurches are social clubs. Some elitists and some not. I prefer to pass them all. I don't see the point. It's all a sham. Poor folks don't realize that. Even when they're dead, they don't realize that because there is NOTHING after they die. Nothing.
ReplyDelete