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Much like their counterparts in North Carolina earlier this year, Roman Catholic and Episcopal Church bishops in Maine, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington State are facing off on opposite sides of marriage ballot measures.
In Maryland, Maine and Washington, voters are being asked to weigh in on referendums that would legalize same-sex marriage in those states. Minnesota voters are considering an amendment to the state constitution that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Unlike in North Carolina, where traditional marriage advocates successfully argued their case to a decisive result, activists in the four states voting November 6 are expecting far closer contests in states that are considered more socially liberal.
Washington State
Enacting same-sex marriage is “a conservative proposal” consistent with basic Christian teaching and the Christian life, Episcopal Bishop Greg Rickel argued in a statement released at a September news conference held at a Seattle Episcopal parish in support of Referendum 74.
Rickel, whose Olympia diocese encompasses Western Washington, has been supportive of same-sex blessings within his own denomination, having voted at Episcopal General Convention in July to approve a “provisional” rite for same-sex couples.
“I am for it,” Rickel endorsed in his statement about the same-sex marriage referendum. “I hope we will finally make way for this to happen, not only in our society, but also in our church.”
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the state’s four Catholic bishops have written pastoral statements and recorded videos opposing Referendum 74, arguing that God is the author of marriage between a man and a woman with procreation as a central goal. Seattle’s Catholic Archbishop J. Peter Sartain testified against same-sex marriage when the legislature considered it, and Catholic parishes were directly involved in collecting signatures during the petition drive to force the legislature’s passage of same-sex marriage to a ballot referendum.
Maryland
While acknowledging in an October 15 pastoral letter to his diocese that Episcopalians “have a wide range of views about how same-gendered couples should be treated” Maryland Episcopal Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton said the church has “expanded the purpose of marriage to include the mutual joy and love of the couple and not just for procreation.”
“Clearly our view of marriage has evolved over thousands of years since the time when women were considered property and men could ‘own’ as many of them as he could afford either as wives or slaves for their enjoyment,” Sutton wrote. “There are fewer than a handful of Bible verses used by those opposed to same-sex relationships, and none spoken by Jesus.”
The Maryland Bishop went on to argue that Jesus “practiced a radical inclusion of those who are the ‘other,’”and that the state’s same-sex ballot measure, Question 6, seeks “to correct past injustices by extending the legal benefits of marriage to all citizens no matter their sexual orientation.”
While Sutton allowed that “sexual expression is to be celebrated in the context of marriage,” he wrote that Jesus Christ “practiced a radical inclusion of those who are the ‘other.’”
“There are theological and ethical differences about the mystery and gift of human sexuality, to be sure, but for me the bottom line is ‘to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God,’” Sutton wrote, quoting Micah 6:8. “Will we do what the Lord requires of us on behalf of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents?”
Sutton concluded by noting that clergy act as agents of the state when officiating at weddings, and that “clergy are free to make decisions whether to perform certain marriages or not.”
“Many Episcopal clergy in good conscience cannot perform same gender marriages, but for those who have discerned that such committed relationships can bear the marks of holy matrimony, they would have my permission and encouragement to do so under this legislation,” Sutton wrote.
Sutton’s diocese covers 10 counties, including the city of Baltimore. Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde, whose diocese covers the Washington suburbs and southern Maryland, also supported the measure in February. The diocese currently allows priests to conduct same-sex marriages within the District of Columbia, where it is legal, but not in Maryland.
Minnesota
The religious divide has been most visible in Minnesota, where openly partnered homosexual bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire recently faced off with National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown in a live debate aired on Minnesota Public Radio. Brown was joined by Pastor Jerry McAfee of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in supporting the constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, while Robinson was paired with Sarah Walker of the pro-same sex marriage organization Minnesotans United for All Families in opposing the amendment.
The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota voted last year in favor of a resolution opposing amending the state constitution. Lutherans — heavily represented in Minnesota — have been divided, with Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) officials supporting the constitutional amendment, while five of the state’s six Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) synods have opposed it. In mid-October, former ELCA Presiding Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom published an open letter to Minneapolis-St. Paul Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt criticizing his vocal support of the constitutional amendment.
Maine
In Maine, where voters are considering Question 1 to legalize same-sex marriage, religious leaders have disagreed about the referendum’s effect on religious liberty.
“Clergy of all denominations are free to refuse to marry couples for many personal or philosophical reasons,” said Bishop Stephen T. Lane of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine at a September press conference held at St. Luke’s Cathedral. “Question 1 affirms that right in Maine law.”
Opponents of the referendum have argued that it does not protect business owners and others from discrimination lawsuits if they refuse to provide services to same-sex couples, as some Vermont businesses have found in recent lawsuits against them.
Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland Richard J. Malone has issued a 23-page pastoral letter outlining the church’s teaching on marriage, saying that marriage is in its essence “the union of one man and one woman who are open to the gift of new life.”
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