wfn.org | Gay marriage ruling won't directly affect churches, bishop says

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 20, 2003	News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212)870-38037New York 
newsdesk@umcom.org 7ALL-GLBT{565}

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*

A Massachusetts court ruling that paves the way for same-sex marriages should
have no direct effect on the churches in that state, according to United
Methodist Bishop Susan Hassinger.

Hassinger, who presides over the United Methodist Church's New England Annual
(regional) Conference, called the ruling "a civil matter, not a religious
matter."

The Nov. 18 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared
that gay couples have the right to marry under the state's constitution. The
court gave the Massachusetts legislature 180 days to create the legal
structure needed to allow such marriages.

Hassinger, based in Lawrence, Mass., said the denomination's Book of
Discipline "identifies marriage as a covenant and specifically says shared
fidelity between a man and a woman." That definition of marriage remains
unless the denomination votes to change it, she stressed.

Found in Paragraph 161 of the Social Principles, the section on marriage
states, "We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in
love, mutual support, personal commitment and shared fidelity between a man
and a woman."

However, she pointed out that the Social Principles also recognize equal
rights regardless of sexual orientation. "In a sense, we walk two sides of a
fence," the bishop said.

That section of Paragraph 162 states that "certain basic human rights and
civil liberties are due all persons. We are committed to supporting those
rights and liberties for homosexual persons. We see a clear issue of simple
justice in protecting their rightful claims where they have shared material
resources, pensions, guardian relationships, mutual powers of attorney and
other such lawful claims typically attendant to contractual relationships
that involve shared contributions, responsibilities, liabilities and equal
protection before the law."

Hassinger noted that theological understandings of marriage and covenant
within the Judeo-Christian tradition "have changed across the millennia."

"In the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments talk about the relationship
between a man and a woman, in essence, with the woman seen as property," she
said. "Jesus, with his discussion of marriage and divorce, seems to recognize
a more equal relationship between a man and a woman."

Paul's writings, she added, show a growing understanding that, in
relationship with God, "all of us are equal."

The Book of Discipline refers to a shared commitment within a marriage,
Hassinger said. An essential part of a religious marriage ceremony is that
the couple is making a covenant in the presence of God and with the support
of the community.

Pastors in the United States are authorized "to perform a ceremony that has
civil and legal implications" as well as religious ones. But in many other
countries, she pointed out, a couple may have two marriage services - a civil
service declaring a contract in the eyes of the law and another service
acknowledging the relationship before the community and God.

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*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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