Clergy Against California Marriage Amendment

Perhaps dozens of them! Ignoring the insistence of some that churches stay out of the marriage licensing question, a handful of clergy types are getting a lot of news media attention by advocating the neutering of marriage.

Janette Williams of the Pasadena Star News reports on a reverend who got way too much attention.

The pastor of 60-member San Marino Congregational United Church of Christ announced Friday he no longer will perform wedding ceremonies in California until the state's ban on same-sex marriage is "repealed, overturned or corrected." The Rev. Art Cribbs, speaking to a small crowd of church members and supporters near the Pasadena Court building, said the wedding he performed May 23 would be his last until gay couples are given an equal right to marry.

"I have the support of most of the congregation," Cribbs said.

It's good to know which churches aren't following the teachings of the person named in their church name.

[More is below the fold if you care to read it.]

"Our church is involved in justice issues, we are against discrimination," he said. "I personally have known the pain of rejection."

I guarantee you this guy discriminates and rejects all of the time.

Three years ago, the San Marino church became an "open and affirming" congregation, welcoming same-sex unions, said church trustee Holy Burns.

Holy Burns? Okay.

On what Scriptural or traditional or revelational basis was this change made? Or do the doctrines of the church change with the whims of the clergy?

Supporters attending the news conference included the Rev. Susan Russell from All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, where the first gay wedding ceremonies in the city were performed last year.

"I stand in solidarity (with) this profound stand for justice," said Russell, president of Integrity USA, the 30-year-old advocacy organization for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

No one, she said, has the right to insert religious beliefs into the state Constitution.

Wait. I'm confused. I thought the fight for justice was a religious belief of those churches – so that shouldn't be inserted into the state constitution? Then what are they saying, exactly?

Elsa Seifert, a member of the Altadena Community United Church of Christ, said she and her pastor, Joe McGowan, came to support Cribbs' position.

Jaimee Lynn Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports from the OC.

Although the 10 speakers outnumbered spectators at a press conference at Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa, Christians, Pagans, Jews and atheists alike still pushed to get their message heard: overturn Proposition 8.

So, again, we're to put the opinions of some clergy over our constitution?

"We saw it coming, but it still hurt," said the Rev. Sarah Halverson of Fairview Community Church. "Every step we take is a step closer to equality."

I want to include as many of the church names as I can.

The paper then promoted a rally by the marriage neutering crowd.

I have to ask – where were these people before May 2008? Art Cribbs had been performing marriages for close to 20 years before the state supreme court ordered the neutering of state marriage licenses. Was it not a right before May 2008 for same-sex pairings to get a state marriage license? Or did it only become a right when the court said it was? If it only became a right when the court said it was, why is it any less valid that it is no longer a right when the people vote and say it isn't?

Unless Cribbs has some sort of "epiphany", I can't take him seriously, since he was performing marriages for all of those years while same-sex pairings couldn't get a state license.