ATLANTA — The leaders of one of America’s most historic Christian denominations voted overwhelmingly to endorse same-sex civil “marriage” and encourage their local congregations to extend religious marriage to gay couples.
Meeting July 4 in Atlanta, about 1,000 delegates to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) overwhelmingly approved the measure on a show-of-hands vote, according to a release from the denomination.
The resolution is the first action fully supporting same-sex “marriage” by any major Christian denomination in the United States. The 1.3 million-member UCC denomination has its roots in two Reformed religious traditions — the Puritan Congregationalists, who were among America’s first settlers, and German Protestant immigrants who settled in the Midwest in the 1800s.
For more than 30 years, UCC officials have passed resolutions supportive of gay rights. (TAB)
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