Marriage debate splits congregations

The 60,000-member Alliance of Baptists, on the other hand, has come out against the amendment. If you're keeping score, the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals is pro-amendment but the Evangelical Lutheran Church is against it, along with 25 other religious organizations who wrote an open letter to Congress in June. The coalition included three Sikh groups, seven Jewish groups, the Episcopal Church USA and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Some, like the Alliance of Baptists, argue that the amendment violates the First Amendment. "We oppose any effort by the church or state to use the other for its own purposes," the group's executive director told the Associated Press. Some, like the Evangelical Lutherans, oppose gay marriage but are against the marriage amendment.

The Unitarian Universalist Church's General Assembly voted in 1996 in favor of legalizing same-sex marriages.

"We're not telling different religious denominations that they must perform marriages for gays and lesbians," explains the Rev. Tom Goldsmith, pastor of Salt Lake's First Unitarian Church. But gays and lesbians "do have the right to get married. It is totally up to the (individual) church," he argues.

First Unitarian is a member of the Don't Amend Alliance, which is campaigning against Utah's Amendment 3. That amendment defines marriage as the "legal union between a man and a woman" and also states that "no other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect." It is this second part that Don't Amend members hope will sway Utah voters to reject the amendment. Utah already has a law banning same-sex marriage, the Rev. Goldsmith says. If the state amendment is passed, "all we'd be doing is preventing gays and lesbians from receiving legal rights. . . . You can't have two tiers of rights and benefits for citizens in the same community without it being overt discrimination."

Some churches, like the Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ, haven't taken an official stand about the federal amendment. "We're not a hierarchical church," explains the Rev. Jill Warner, pastor of Holladay United Church of Christ, so there is no national body to take a vote or issue a statement. Some UCC congregations, after a lengthy deliberation process, have declared themselves "open and affirming" churches, welcoming and ordaining gays. HUCC is "open and affirming," and Warner herself has performed same-sex unions and marriages.

Nationally, Warner says, "We have some very conservative (UCC) churches who believe we're going against the Bible to do this."

For many Christians, the debate over same-sex marriage comes down to what Jesus said and did.