Bolbach, who is a lawyer and legal publishing company executive in Washington, acknowledged, “I don’t think our denomination is ready for [changing the definition of marriage], but what do pastors do in jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is legal?”
What do they do? They apply the current Church Law. On Independence Day, we should remind ourselves of the Freedom of Religion and Separation of Church and State. The Church does not have to apply Federal and State laws. It has the autonomy to do what its own ecclesiastical law rules, even if that means going to prison for it.
The BOO says marriage is a civil contract (W.4-9000). We officiate at marriages because the state gives us the authority to. Church and state are already entwined in marriage.
ReplyDeleteIf you want the autonomy to do as you please with respect to weddings, then you should bless a marriage that is done by civil authorities.
I think in many areas of ministry it's up to individual pastors to follow their consciences and face subsequent repercussions from both the state and/or their ecclesiastical bodies as appropriate.
ReplyDeleteMarriages are religious services which the State does not give us the right to conduct. Before there was any State, the church practiced the service of marriage. There is no moral authority over the Church which can make us do what the State requires - in many nations around the earth - China, Iran, and Myanmar - church people are arrested for practicing their faith. That's why the new moderator's comments are foolish. As a lawyer, she may think one way, but as a Christian, she is free from the Law.
ReplyDeleteStushie, sorry, you are wrong. In medieval Europe, marriage was a matter of contract (most people didn't get married). One went to the door of the church to have the union blessed. Marriage is NOT a sacrament in the presbyterian tradition. I'm not suggesting that you do anything that contravenes your morals, but your morals should not make impossible what other good Christians believe is moral and right.
ReplyDeleteIf marriage is a religious service and not a civil contract, why do I have 48 hours to file paperwork with the clerk of court in my county after I "perform" one, in order for the signatures (and thus, the marriage license) to be valid?
ReplyDeleteIs the author of this post suggesting that I witness and solemnize 'marriages' that have no paperwork whatsoever?
Sorry Joan Calvin, as a native born Scot I perhaps understand more about European and early presbyterian practices than people give me credit for.
ReplyDeleteThe PCUSA defines a marriage as being between a man and a woman. Until that definition is redefined, church law trumps civil law.
BTW, anonymous, you can perform a marriage service in the church without a civil license. The Church would recognize the marriage but the State would not...which is actually the reverse of what is happening in civil union cases.
ReplyDeleteI watched the proceedings, and I thought that Margaret Lauterer said that, not Cynthia Bolbach, who made a comment about whether the institution of marriage is harmed more by people like Larry King or the elderly same-sex couple who were after many years able to have their union recognized. Perhaps she also said something about what do pastors do in areas where it is legal, but that is not the part of her answer that stood out to me.
ReplyDeleteSarah, it was reported by the PCUSA's own press that the new moderator said it. I was using their quote in the first paragraph of my post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stushie. It is up to the pastor to decide for whom they will or will not conduct a ceremony, not the state. They're pastors, not apparatchiks.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the argument that pastors in the PCUSA need guidance about which marriages to perform in those states which sanction same-sex marriage. Though I hope they'd do the right thing, they're completely within their rights as pastors in the PCUSA to do the wrong thing and refuse. I, for one, have no interest in forcing people to act against their conscience (if only they had the good manners to return the favor!) If one pastor says no, another will say yes, and who cares? It isn't like they're performing some magic incantation. One pastor is as good as another.
Regardless of what happened at GA, Stushie is also right that one can be married in a PCUSA church even if the state doesn't recognize the marriage.