Congregations take opposing sides of measure on same-sex marriages

Editor's note: This is the second story in a two-part series on the overlap of religion and politics in the 2004 election.

By Carol Reeves
Gazette-Times reporter

Today, members of First Congregational United Church of Christ and First United Methodist Church will be out in Corvallis knocking on doors to persuade people to vote against ballot Measure 36 — an initiative to define marriage in the Oregon Constitution as being only between one man and one woman.

But in churches such as Kings Circle Assembly of God, Calvary Chapel, Grant Avenue Baptist and Corvallis Church of the Nazarene, members are using bumper stickers and yard signs to show they support the initiative.

Each congregation believes it's doing the right thing. Yet their actions indicate completely opposite perspectives on this particular campaign issue. Differences of opinion also exist among faith communities on the war in Iraq, social justice and environmental issues, not to mention who should be elected president.

The result is more debate than usual in this election year related to whose side God is on.

What concerns the Rev. Kerry McRoberts of the Kings Circle church is how polarized religious groups have become in a debate over how Jesus would vote.

"There will always be disagreements of opinion," he said, "but there should not be the hatred you see toward people who have different values or beliefs."

One of McRoberts' pet peeves during election season is the political stereotyping of faith groups. His congregation is like most, where there is a mixture of people from both major parties, plus those who claim neither.

"I have a grave problem with certain Christian leaders who have been identified by the secular culture as representing all of us. I may agree with 90 percent of their theology, but this identification with a certain political party that causes our nation to believe the Christian message is tied up with Republicans alienates a large portion of the population," said McRoberts.

He doesn't believe truth can be defined in terms of one political philosophy over another.

"I don't want to be identified with an elephant, I want to be identified with the cross. What I stress to my church is that you need to conscientiously and purposefully vote according to your Christian values, not your political party," McRoberts said.

The Rev. Liz Oettinger, pastor of the First Congregational Church, tells her congregation the same thing — vote according to what you believe is right.

The church rarely takes a public stand such as the one it is taking this year on Measure 36 — that only happens when there is a single mind among members about a particular issue, she said.

A congregational vote was taken in June to oppose the constitutional amendment that upholds a traditional definition of marriage. The church's name will appear along with arguments against Measure 36 in the state's voter pamphlet, and it sponsored a booth at the Benton County Fair to speak out against the proposed ban on same-sex marriage.

"We are a community that really encourages diversity among our members, but the church has taken a stand to be welcoming of gay and lesbian persons. Because this particular issue has been so identified with ‘Christian' values and so many churches have poured lots of money and effort to block gay marriage, we chose to make a public statement that there's not one Christian view on this," Oettinger said.

Evidence of this can be found in the refusal of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon to declare a position on Measure 36. The interfaith group represents 17 denominations from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to Quakers to Greek Orthodox, and has voiced opposition in the past to three anti-gay measures in Oregon.

But the result of defeating this initiative would change the traditional definition of marriage, a step some member groups are not willing to take.

"Simply put, we don't have consensus on this issue," said the group's executive director, David Leslie.

Some faith communities are trying to stay neutral. John Butler, director of the Unity Church in Corvallis, thinks individual religious beliefs and practices should be kept out of politics.

"It's not that we cannot use our spiritual values to determine our vote, but for governmental policy it is wrong to impose religious values," Butler said.

"I use the analogy that it is no different than the ayatollahs enforcing their religious values in Iran, or the Taliban in Afghanistan," he said.

David and Mary Dohrmann, leaders of the Heart of the Valley Sufi Circle, said their approach also is one of keeping religion and politics as separate as possible.

"One thing is clear," they observed. "When power and religion are joined, the result more often than not has been an abuse of power and a distortion of religious ideals and teachings."

Supporters of Measure 36, however, believe the debate over same-sex marriage is a crucial moral issue that must be addressed.

They include the state's two largest religious bodies, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, plus more than 2,000 mostly evangelical churches representing at least 20 different denominations that make up the Defense of Marriage Coalition. The coalition was instrumental in getting the marriage amendment on the November ballot.

The Corvallis Church of the Nazarene is one of several local churches that are distributing DVDs provided by the coalition that outline seven reasons for preserving a one-man, one-woman definition of marriage. Five hundred of the disks will be passed out Sunday morning.

The Rev. Russ Stiverson says church members will be encouraged to share the DVD with friends and neighbors to help them understand why they should vote "yes" on Measure 36.

"The question is not whose side is God on, it's who is on God's side," the senior pastor said. "If you take the Bible for what it says, God has defined the institution of marriage as being one man and his wife."

Stiverson realizes some people are offended by such cut-and-dry statements, but noted, "Sometimes the gospel is offensive.

"Sometimes what we do as churches is we want to be all-inclusive," he continued. "When it comes to these kinds of social issues, some say we're in a different time and we can lower the bar. But God's standards — what he expects us to live up to — never change."

If Measure 36 is defeated and gay and lesbian marriages are legalized, Stiverson said, it will not only signal a breakdown of God's intention for marriage, it will also compromise a "concept man has known since the beginning of time."

"When we allow these things to go by the wayside, that's how whole societies go by the wayside," Stiverson said.

Carol Reeves covers religion for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached by e-mail at carol.reeves@lee.net or by phone at 758-9516.