An upstate New York district attorney has filed criminal charges against two Unitarian Universalist ministers for performing same-sex weddings, the first attempted prosecution in the United States of clergy for marrying gay couples, the Washington Post reports. The Ulster County D.A. brought the charges against the Rev. Kay Greenleaf and the Rev. Dawn Sangrey, "who performed 13 same-sex marriages in a scenic field in New Paltz, N.Y., two weekends ago," the paper recounts.
While ministers from gay-supportive denominations condemned the charges, the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty [sic] Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that "We have an obligation to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's," adding, "If these ministers feel this is an unjust law, then I'll look forward to reading their letter from the Ulster County Jail."
No, can't think of a better example of what a mean-spirited, anti-spiritual, state-worshipping faith the Southern Baptists now represent.
Vatican Joins Islamic States at U.N.; Polygamy OK, Gay Unions Anathema.
Another example of religious corruption on a grand scale. A bloc of more than 50 Islamic states, backed by the Vatican, is seeking to halt U.N. efforts to extend spousal benefits to partners of gay employees from countries where such benefits are provided, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. But get this: "The United Nations has recognized polygamy, a common practice in the Islamic world, as a legitimate form of marriage and permits employees to divide their benefits among more than one wife," says the Washington Post. Which, apparently, is just fine with the Vatican.
A Different Religious View.
A very distinct, spiritually nourishing view, from Jewish Week, where David Ellenson writes:
As a religious Jew who favors the extension of full rights to gays and lesbians in both civil and religious realms, I contend that "the actual realization of the biblical quest for justice" is the primary motivating factor for our support of this stance. ...
For many of us, this biblical quest for justice stems from a vision of humanity that is stated at the beginning of Genesis, where the Torah teaches that every human being is created b"tzelem, "in the image of God." Furthermore, this notion is complemented by the demand found in Exodus and elsewhere in the Torah that commands us as Jews to champion an ethic of compassion and empathy. The Bible reminds us again and again not to "oppress the stranger, for we were strangers in the Land of Egypt and you know the heart of the stranger."
A Jew who takes these commandments seriously can assert with religious integrity that the overarching ethos of these mitzvot provides sufficient sanction for the claim that Jewish tradition can permit gays and lesbians to enjoy the same privileges and entitlements that heterosexuals do.
No, such views won't please the Vatican, nor the Islamists, nor
the Orthodox Jews, for that matter. Way too life-affirming and
spirit-filled for that.