Hoping to avoid division over an issue that is dividing religious bodies across the globe, British Baptist leaders are asking churches not to allow their buildings to be used for same-sex weddings.
The leadership council of the Baptist Union of Great Britain approved a statement during a two-day meeting March 15-16 recognizing both “areas of genuine and deep disagreement” over homosexuality and “the potential for some diversity in pastoral and missional practice” among member churches.
“In the light of this, recognizing the costs involved and after careful and prayerful reflection and listening, we humbly urge churches who are considering conducting same-sex marriages to refrain from doing so out of mutual respect,” the council said. “At the same time, we also humbly urge all churches to remain committed to our union out of mutual respect; trusting that the one who unites us is stronger than what divides us.”
The request comes after a series of conversations launched since passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. The law legalizes same-sex marriage, ensures that no clergy person can be compelled to solemnize a same-sex ceremony and includes an “opt in” provision for religious groups to voluntarily register their place of worship as open to same-sex couples desiring a church wedding.
Last year the Baptist council recognized a minister’s freedom to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies but declared any minister personally involved in a same-sex relationship guilty of “conduct unbecoming for a minister.”
Mark Woods, editor of the historic British newspaper the Baptist Times when it closed in 2011 who now writes as a contributing editor for Christian Today, said the final statement approved by the Baptist council reflects pressure from probably a relatively small number of activists who regard gay marriage a litmus test for theological orthodoxy and potentially a test for continued fellowship within the Baptist union.
Woods said it places those who come to a different conclusion about what the Bible says on homosexuality, meanwhile, “outside the mainstream of Baptist life.”
Lynn Green
Woods said any ministers who ignore the council request and officiate at same-sex weddings will now be “in direct opposition” to the leadership and viewed as “rebels against the union, when that is not what they want.”
Lynn Green, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said she was saddened that the group failed to achieve full consensus but commended council members for “mature listening” to competing views.
“What’s been demonstrated here is that we’re listening to one another,” Green said in comments quoted by the Baptist Times, now an online resource managed by the Baptist union. “It’s difficult, but it’s part of our tension.”
“It’s not perfect,” she said of the process, “but it’s where we are.”