The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is the nation's third largest Protestant church (5.49 million members) and largest African-American denomination. In a statement addressing same-sex marriage, issued on March 30 from their international headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, Presiding Bishop G. E. Patterson said COGIC "stands firmly against same-sex marriages because we believe it to be contrary to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures."
The statement from COGIC also took issue with those who argue that same-sex marriage is a civil right: "Homosexuality is a lifestyle; it is not to be compared with a minority ethnic group such as Blacks or Jews. It is a lifestyle that has destroyed every civilization of the past that embraced it."
Assemblies of God (AOG) is the eighth largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. with 2.68 million members. Their Position Paper on Homosexuality includes this belief statement: "The biblical order for human sexual expression is that of an intimate physical relationship to be shared exclusively within a lifelong marriage covenant -- a heterosexual and monogamous relationship." Position Papers are official documents of the AOG and have been approved by its highest legislative bodies.
A smaller denomination in the Pentecostal tradition, The Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), instructs their membership that: "Marriage is ordained of God and is a spiritual union in which a man and a woman are joined by God to live together as one" (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:7).
Anglican Tradition
Those working for society's full acceptance of homosexuality have made no greater institutional inroads than in the liberal Episcopal Church USA. Case in point, the denomination consecrated a practicing homosexual man as bishop during its annual convention last August.
Despite the Episcopal Church's leading role in promoting same-sex marriage, the official standard of the church, the Book of Common Prayer, in several passages refers solely to "woman and man" as those to be married. From the section titled The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage: "Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony .... The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord."
In the Episcopal Church, the Book of Common Prayer is the definitive descriptive expression of Episcopal beliefs.
Reformed/Presbyterian Tradition
The largest Presbyterian body in the nation, The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA), maintains doctrinal standards which state that a Christian marriage is one in which "a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other ...."
However, the PCUSA supports extending "gay and lesbian couples access to the civil status of civil marriage and to share fully and equally in the rights and responsibilities of that status," according to Rev. Elenora Gidding, director of the Washington, DC, office of the PCUSA. Gidding made the comment at a March 3 press conference prior to the U.S. Senate hearings on the Federal Marriage Amendment. She clearly stated that the PCUSA opposes such a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
As further evidence of support for the homosexual political agenda among PCUSA leadership, last summer the PCUSA named a radical feminist pastor to its highest elected post. Susan Andrews, pastor of Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, is on record as saying it is her "fondest dream" that the PCUSA remove its ban on ordaining practicing homosexuals.
PCUSA pastor Parker T. Williamson, editor-in-chief of the Presbyterian Layman, calls Andrew's selection an "unfortunate" vote by the General Assembly.
"Susan Andrews stands for everything that has caused the decline of this once great denomination," Williamson said. "She is part of an organization called the Covenant Network of Presbyterians that has been lobbying for the full inclusions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons into the leadership of the church."
The Presbyterian Church In America (PCA) is a smaller, theologically conservative group that split from the liberal mainline church 30 years ago. Their primary expression of orthodoxy is the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), written in the 1640s. The WCF chapter titled "Of Marriage and Divorce" begins with the statement: "Marriage is to be between one man and one woman ...."
At their General Assembly in June 2003, the PCA used that WCF language in a resolution to reaffirm the denomination's strong stand for a Biblical view of marriage.
Lutheran Tradition
