ATLANTA (ABP) — The leaders of one of America's most historic Christian denominations voted overwhelmingly July 4 to endorse same-sex civil marriage and encourage their local congregations to extend religious marriage to gay couples.
Meeting July 4 in Atlanta, about 1,000 delegates to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ overwhelmingly approved the measure on a show-of-hands vote, according to a release from the denomination.
The resolution is the first action fully supporting same-sex marriage by any major Christian denomination in the United States. Several others, including the Southern Baptist Convention, have publicly opposed the practice.
A preamble to the resolution noted that “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.”
It continued, “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.”
It also called on its local congregations to offer religious marriage ceremonies regardless of gender. Because of the UCC's congregational government style, the action is not binding on local congregations.
The 1.3 million-member denomination has its roots in two Reformed religious traditions — the Puritan Congregationalists who were among America's first settlers, and German Protestant immigrants who settled in the Midwest in the 1800s.
The UCC has developed a reputation for being the most progressive of the nation's historic Protestant denominations — particularly on the issues of race relations, women in church leadership and sexuality. For more than 30 years, UCC officials have passed resolutions supportive of gay rights.
However, in a nod to the fact the recent decision may cause a conservative minority to leave the UCC, delegates amended the resolution to acknowledge “the pain and struggle [its] passage will engender.”
The leader of a conservative movement in the denomination released a statement to the media condemning the resolution shortly after its passage.
The UCC “tragically declared independence from the ecumenical Christian church worldwide, and the truth of God's Word,” said David Runnion-Bareford, executive director of the UCC Biblical Witness Fellowship. “Marriage between one man and one woman is a reality established by God in creation and reflected in the church itself. This resolution does not validate same-sex relationships, but only invalidates and de-legitimizes the UCC as a religious body.”