Posted on 07/09/2004 9:07:32 PM PDT by xzins
AME rejects same-sex unions
National convention forbids ministers from performing gay marriages
By CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS
Staff Writer
Delegates at the national convention of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church voted unanimously Wednesday not to allow any of the church’s ministers to perform same-sex unions.
The 2.5 million-member, mostly African-American denomination is the most recent Christian group in the nation to address the hot-button issue of gay marriage.
Delegates at the AME convention in Indianapolis used a unanimous voice vote to pass the motion, which made it illegal within the denomination for any minister to perform a same-sex marriage or civil union.
The vote came without any debate, said the Rev. Joe Darby, pastor of Charleston’s Morris Brown AME, who attended the conference. He said it went smoothly because members consider other issues, such as civil rights, education and the presidential election, more urgent.
“This was not a matter of major contention. We have greater fish to fry than the same-sex marriage thing,” he said. “I think this vote was done so that those who would try to use it as an issue wouldn’t have it as a tool.”
Debate on same-sex unions and such issues as ordination of gays and lesbians has been an issue in many major Christian denominations nationwide.
Last week, members of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) voted down a measure to allow individual presbyteries to ordain gays and lesbians to ministry or lay offices. Earlier this year, the United Methodist Church voted to maintain its doctrine that homosexuality is at odds with basic biblical teaching, and voted against ordaining gay clergy and performing same sex unions.
The AME decision did not surprise the Rev. Andy Sidden, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Columbia, which ministers largely to gays and lesbians, and performs same-sex marriage ceremonies.
“Ten years ago, the AME church wouldn’t even have had this vote. At least now they’re bringing it to a vote,” Sidden said. “Maybe 10 years from now they’ll decide differently, but African-American couples that need recognition of their love can’t wait 10 years. They’ll just come to churches like ours which offer that recognition.”
With its vote, the AME church is the first mostly African-American church group to take an official vote on the topic this year. Prominent black clergy in the Baptist faith nationwide have spoken out against homosexuality in recent months as well.
The Rev. J.P. Neal, pastor of White Oak Baptist Church in Ridgeway, said the issue of same-sex unions hasn’t been a topic in his church, but he understands why others are addressing it.
“I think churches are being forced to take a stand on this issue because it’s become a pressing political issue and it’s being addressed in the larger culture,” Neal said.
“Within the culture of individual black churches, you’ll find more tolerance for individual difference, but churches as a larger body are having to address this, and most are coming down on the side of traditional teachings.”
The AME church is the second largest mostly black Christian denomination in South Carolina, with more than 400,000 members. The largest is the Baptist Education and Missionary Convention, which has more than 600,000 members.
It deeply saddens many liberals/family-wreckers/progressives that they can't make inroads in a community they think they should own completely...
When they tried to equate the "gay thing" with '60s civil rights, a lot of the 60s oppressed came forward and said "hold on there". Black was what God gave them; gay waqs what some chose...
God will most surely bless the AME for their unwavering faithfulness.
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