Same-Sex Marriage Ban Galvanizes, Polarizes Churches

It’s not unusual in an election year to find campaign fliers tucked under windshield wipers after Sunday church services in Orange County--the sprawling parking lots are an easy target for organizers. But a controversial state initiative that would ban same-sex marriage has driven political campaigning at local churches to a new level.

In pulpits and parking lots, Proposition 22 has activated and polarized Orange County churches like few other initiatives in recent years, religious leaders say.

The March 7 ballot measure has “been a bigger deal than any of the other propositions this time around,” said Pastor Dave Rolph of the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, a congregation of 25,000. “People in the church feel very strongly about it.”

The initiative declares that only marriages between men and women are valid. This would prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex marriages granted by other states, though currently no state allows them.

It drew early support from leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But three Southern California bishops--Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist--issued a joint statement opposing the measure, which they said could lead to discrimination.

Proposition 22 has stirred up unusual levels of church involvement in the political arena, observers say, in part because it’s more than just a moral issue: Marriage is central to the religious mission.

“This is a major issue for churches,” said Fred Smoller, an associate professor of political science at Chapman University in Orange. “If there’s any part of the political or legal process that’s controlled by clergy, it’s the marriage laws.”

Proposition 22 has been easily the highest-profile ballot issue this year at Mariners Church in Irvine, said senior pastor Kenton Beshore.

“In the Bible, God defines marriage and limits it to a man and a woman,” said Beshore, who urged his congregants to cast their votes in support of Proposition 22. “I say, ‘Here’s one you get to vote on that’s biblical.’ ”

Bob Johnson, administrative pastor of Calvary Church of Santa Ana, holds a similar view.

“God’s first institution is the relationship of a man to a woman,” said Johnson, whose church has urged parishioners to cast their votes in favor of the initiative. “It’s a biblical issue. People don’t like to hear it, but homosexuality is a sin. It’s an abomination to God.”

Many clergy are adamant that they respect the line between church and state, but that they have an obligation to speak out on issues that have religious relevance.

“We can’t back candidates,” Johnson said. “If we do, we lose our tax-exempt status. But our pastor can stand in the pulpit on Sunday and say vote ‘yes’ on [Proposition 22] and there’s no risk there.”

Going beyond any previous effort on a political issue, Johnson’s church also distributed pro-Proposition 22 fliers to congregants in a recent weekly bulletin sent to the 4,000 members.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange sent a bulletin insert in Spanish and English to all 55 parishes that was produced by the California Catholic Conference of Bishops in Sacramento.

Although churches supporting the measure predominate in Orange County, some have been equally active in opposing it.

“The intent of the bill was mean-spirited,” said the Rev. Fred Plumer, senior pastor of Irvine United Church of Christ. Plumer’s church has performed same-sex marriages for a decade and has hosted several large gatherings of Proposition 22 opponents, including representatives from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Religious Leadership Roundtable.

“Every week, we clergy get up and we quote from the Bible,” Plumer said. “One of the things in the Bible is that God is love. It seems to me we Christians ought to recognize that anything that enhances love is enhancing God. If we could give gays and lesbians the same expectations and support we give to married couples, the world would be a better place.”