NORTH AMERICAN SCENE: Unitarians Allow Homosexual Rite

The liberal Unitarian Universalist Association on June 25 endorsed legalization of marriage “between any two committed persons” regardless of sex. Individual churches that endorse the new policy of the Boston-based 205,000-member denomination now have permission to perform same-sex ceremonies.

Meanwhile, numerous Protestant denominations this summer are also grappling with homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage. The United Methodist Church, America’s second-largest Protestant denomination, retained a ban on homosexual ordinations in April (CT, June 17, 1996, p. 58), as did the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. General Assembly (in this issue).

Several smaller denominations are supporting traditional marriage resolutions as homosexual marriage becomes a hot political issue (CT, March 4, 1996, p. 64). At the 271,000-member Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) General Assembly, delegates voted that government action “to sanction and legitimize homosexual relationships by the legalization of homosexual marriages is an abominable sin calling for God’s judgment.” Around 200 homosexual-rights supporters marched June 19 in front of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church to oppose host pastor D. James Kennedy, an outspoken critic of homosexuality.

As the Southern Baptists–the nation’s largest Protestant body–did in June, (CT, July 15, 1996, p. 66), the PCA passed a resolution saying, “We abhor what Disney and other corporations do to promote the homosexual lifestyle.”

The 90,000-member Cumberland Presbyterian Church, meeting in Huntsville, Alabama, for its 166th general assembly, passed a resolution June 20 prohibiting the ordination of practicing homosexuals as “deacons, elders, or ministers of the word and sacrament.” It marked the first time the denomination made a specific statement regarding homosexuality.

The 230,000 member Wesleyan Church, with headquarters in Indianapolis, passed a resolution in June that “even the propensity toward homosexuality” is not in God’s will. “On this matter we cannot and will not compromise–the only marriage blessed by God is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman.”