Mainline leaders endorse marriage amendment

WASHINGTON — Conservative activists in five mainline Protestant denominations have endorsed a federal amendment that would prohibit gay marriage.

Coordinated by the Washington-based Association for Church Renewal, the one-paragraph statement released March 12 says a constitutional amendment is necessary to “safeguard this fundamental social institution from unwarranted and destructive revision.”

“It is becoming increasingly clear that legal measures to protect the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman are necessary to preserve the place of marriage in our society,” the statement said. Signers include leaders of evangelical “renewal movements” in the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and American Baptist Churches in the USA.

The Association for Church Renewal is based at the Institute for Religion and Democracy, a conservative think tank headed by Diane Knippers, an Episcopal laywoman.  (TAB)