California Churches Coming to grips with same-sex marriage ruling

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Perilous Times and Decaying Morality

California Churches Coming to grips with same-sex marriage ruling*

Liberal and conservative congregations alike discuss whether gays and
lesbians will be allowed to wed in their churches, synagogues and temples.

By Maria L. La Ganga, Hector Becerra and Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles
Times Staff Writers
May 20, 2008

Pastor Gregory L. Waybright struggled from the pulpit Sunday to
reconcile the laws of God with the laws of man.

Though he wanted his church "to be a welcoming and loving house," he
told worshipers at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, the California
Supreme Court's decision last week to legalize gay marriage in
California "is a contradiction of what God's word says."

The 4-3 ruling, which held that same-sex couples have a constitutional
right to marry, has prompted conservative and liberal congregations
alike to discuss whether gay and lesbian members will be allowed to wed
in their churches, synagogues and temples.

"These are the kinds of issues every religion has to grapple with," said
James A. Donahue, president of the Graduate Theological Union, a
Berkeley-based consortium of theological schools. "How do you factor in
the role of contemporary human rights, civil rights, the data about
homosexuality" with "core traditions and beliefs?"

At Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church of Pasadena, the mood was
celebratory Sunday, with Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" played at
services in honor of the decision.

At Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood -- which offers "outreach to
the gay, lesbian and bisexual community," according to its website --
Rabbi Denise L. Eger's e-mail box was filled almost instantly with
requests from joyful congregants wanting to get married.

But at the Islamic Society of Orange County, Imam Muzammil H. Siddiqi
told his congregation during Friday prayers that the high court's
decision was a severe disappointment and goes against Islamic teaching.

The ruling "is a violation of God's law," Siddiqi, an authority on
Islamic law, said in an interview. "I hope all people of faith -- Jews,
Christians and Muslims -- speak up against this." At Lake Avenue, a
large and diverse church that is part of the Conservative Congregational
Christian Conference, Waybright told worshipers that he did not want to
be "self- righteous or condemn anyone." Still, he said, "it's my
responsibility . . . to keep pointing you to God's way." The Bible, he
noted, makes clear that marriage is between a man and a woman.

A mile or so away at All Saints Episcopal Church, the Rev. Susan Russell
led a between-services forum on the religious, legal and political
ramifications of the court's decision.

"The justices have ruled in favor of the sanctity of marriage and
against bigotry," Russell declared, as the audience cheered. "This is
good news for all Californians."

But even though All Saints has been blessing same-sex unions for more
than 15 years, the ruling unleashed a wave of uncertainty.

"At this point in the Episcopal Church, our prayer book still defines
marriage between a man and a woman," Russell said in an interview.
"There's some question about whether we can, within the canons of our
church, extend the sacrament to same-gender couples."

The decision raises questions, too, about what All Saints' blessing
ceremonies mean anymore, Russell said. Should couples who have had such
ceremonies get married too? Will the civil steps suffice? Or should they
go through another church ritual? And what kinds of ceremonies will All
Saints provide as it moves forward?

The questions are personal for Russell, who celebrated her union with
her partner in an official blessing ceremony two years ago. Russell said
she and her partner haven't begun discussing what the new ruling will
mean for them. As for her church, she said, "I'm glad we have 30 days to
think it through."

In recent years, conflicts over homosexuality and the Bible have
unsettled many denominations, especially such mainline Protestant
churches as Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical Lutherans and
Episcopalians.

Although the specifics vary, the controversies for all of these faith
groups and for Conservative Judaism have revolved broadly around whether
to provide official recognition to the unions of same-sex couples and
whether to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy.

Thursday's court decision is expected to add fuel to the debate, with
several denominations poised to again take up gay-related issues at
their national conventions this year.

William McKinney, president of the Pacific School of Religion in
Berkeley and a professor of American religion there, said the ruling was
applauded on his campus, which is a multidenominational, theologically
liberal Christian seminary.

Yet he said he felt an element of trepidation as well.

"We're celebrating it on the one hand," McKinney said, noting that San
Francisco's 2004 decision allowing same-sex weddings had given many
people, both gay and straight, new appreciation for the powerful
symbolism of marriage.

"On the other hand, though, this sets us up for another round of the
culture wars," he said. "As a straight, married man, I feel for my gay
friends whose private life is once again going to be the subject of
public debate."

Though gay unions are prohibited in Orthodox Judaism, other branches of
the faith have varied widely in their attitudes and practices.

For Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, who heads the Conservative Jewish
congregation at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, the court's decision has
changed the way he will handle celebrating the unions of gay and lesbian
couples at his synagogue.

"I did not in the past. I will now," he said in an interview. "I was
really waiting for this [decision]. . . . From my point of view, it's a
very courageous thing and is part of the evolution of religious mores."

Schulweis has been a rabbi for more than half a century and has seen his
religion evolve, he said, first allowing women into the full "ritual
life of the community," then ordaining them as rabbis and cantors, and
eventually embracing homosexuals.

"It's one of the most exciting parts of seeing religion as not static
and inflexible but as sensitive to different times and different
information and different knowledge," Schulweis said.

"What in the world did people in the biblical time know about homosexuals?"

In contrast, since 2000 rabbis in Reform Judaism have been allowed to
officiate at same-sex commitment ceremonies. Reform Rabbi Lawrence
Goldmark, who leads Temple Beth Ohr, a La Mirada congregation, said he
has never been asked to perform a same-sex ceremony, but would be happy
to marry anyone -- as long as they're Jewish.

At Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles, the Rev. William Epps said his
congregation has been focused on its 123rd anniversary -- which it
celebrated Sunday -- and has given no thought to the Supreme Court ruling.

Traditional Baptist churches "would not embrace same-sex marriages,"
Epps said, although he would be happy to devote a Bible study session to
the matter if anyone wanted.

He himself has never been asked to bless a same-sex union. And what
would he do if a homosexual couple asked him to marry them now?

"I'd have to prayerfully think about it," Epps said in an interview. "I
would think it would be something I would have to seriously grapple with."