Following the Episcopalians’ decision to permit LGBT bishops, the Presbyterian Church U. S. A. approved a measure allowing local churches to decide on the fitness of an individual to be ordained or serve as a lay official, even if the issue of sexual orientation arises. The measure does not, however, revoke a church law that says clergy, lay elders and deacons must limit sexual relations to marriage.
This is a move in the right direction, though the Presbyterians are clearly trying to placate several factions at once. I wonder, though, at the older law limiting the sexual relations of clergy to marriage. It would now seem to approve the sexual relations of gay and lesbian clergy married in Massachusetts, but not if they live elsewhere. Do they then break church law if they move outside the state? What if a gay American minister is married in Canada? Does that count? God works in mysterious ways. This appears to be one of them.
In this context, it’s worth reading the recent proposal from radical theological thinktank Ekklesia that:
. . . the legal and ceremonial aspects of forming partnerships should be considered distinct, and the differences between religious and civil definitions of marriage openly acknowledged by all concerned.
In this way, individuals who want to enter into marriage as a religious commitment within Christian and other contexts would be free to do so. But registering their partnership under law would be a separate process allowing different arrangements depending upon their intent — and including provisions for the protection of children. . . .
It would also separate arguments within religious communities about gay marriage and cohabitation from the state’s provision of legal contracts for relationships, and would make space for both faith-based and secular understandings — without privileging or constraining either.
It’s a compelling argument for the separation of church and state from a religious perspective, and an important contribution to the current marriage debate.