Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI
09-23-06
Faithful take turn in political pulpit
State marriage amendment divides religious
By BILL GLAUBER
bglauber@journalsentinel.com
The battle over Wisconsin's marriage amendment isn't a simple political fight.
It's a struggle over values, too, an issue that bubbled for years in the statehouse
and houses of worship, on the airwaves and in church pews. It likely will come to
a boil in the closing weeks before the Nov. 7 election.
From sermons to lectures, DVDs and church bulletins, religious organizations
and clergy are taking stands, a not-so-subtle intersection of religion and politics
at the ballot box that in many ways is unprecedented in modern Wisconsin
history.
Catholic bishops and evangelical Christian pastors are allied with some mainline
Protestants who support passage of an amendment to the state constitution to
recognize marriage as "between one man and one woman."
On the other side are at least eight mainline Protestant denominational bodies,
scores of clergy and many Jewish leaders who oppose the amendment in part
because the referendum also would prohibit "a legal status identical or
substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals."
The stakes couldn't be greater as the state debates same-sex marriage and civil
unions.
In Wisconsin, both sides organized for months and, in some cases several years,
to garner support in churches and synagogues. Although religious leaders might
be divided over the amendment, they appear more united in opposition to
another Nov. 7 ballot initiative, the advisory referendum to restore the death
penalty.
"This is a culture war, that's what it is," said Julaine Appling, executive director of
the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, a pro-amendment group.
"How many churches have gone down the path of jettisoning the authority of
Scripture?" she said. "The churches that still accept the authority of God's word
accept marriage is only between a man and a woman."
The main group that opposes the marriage amendment, Fair Wisconsin, also is
making a push in the religious community.
"It's important for us to mobilize clergy on our side, who say, 'We are Christian,
we love our neighbors,' " said Joshua Freker, the Fair Wisconsin spokesman.
"Christian and Jews compelled to oppose the amendment because of their faith"
presents a powerful message, Freker said.
In the "faith campaign," religious leaders and organizations representing 5,000
churches and 2 million congregants support the amendment, Appling said.
Organizations representing 500,000 congregants have passed resolutions
against the amendment, according to Fair Wisconsin.
Religion and politics have long mixed in America.
But throwing a religious organization's full weight behind a candidate, at least in
modern times, is unusual because of one simple item - the tax code. Tax-exempt
organizations, such as religious groups, can't endorse candidates. But they can
engage in lobbying activities, which include referendums and constitutional
amendments.
Of course, tax laws don't keep clergy from endorsing candidates. But they have
to be clear they're speaking on their own behalf. Religious groups have taken
stands on the issues of the day, from the abolition of slavery to civil rights,
abortion to matters of war and peace.
Multifaceted issue
Defining marriage, and weighing whether to extend rights to same-sex
relationships involving gays and lesbians, is an issue that crosses political,
religious and social lines.
It's also part of a decades-long conversation conducted in places of worship,
sometimes uniting congregations, sometimes dividing them. At the outset, clergy
and parishioners struggled with the issue of how welcoming congregations
should be with gays and lesbians. The conversation then extended to the debate
over the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers and rabbis.
Religious organizations and clergy entered the political fray that erupted after a
2003 Massachusetts court ruling to legalize same-sex marriage. Twenty states
have adopted marriage amendments.
It shouldn't be a surprise to see a marriage amendment campaign target
churches.
According to a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center for the
People and the Press, 78% of white evangelical Protestants, 74% of black
Protestants, 58% of white Catholics and 47% of white mainline Protestants
oppose gay marriage. Among those who were identified as seculars, 63%
supported gay marriage.
Civil unions were opposed by majorities of white evangelicals, black Protestants
and those who attend church but favored among majorities of white mainline
Protestants, Catholics and seculars, the poll found.
The bottom line: "People know where they stand on the issue," said Kimberly
Conger, an Iowa State University political science professor who has
published extensively on Christian conservatives. "It's a matter of getting
supporters to the polls."
Taking fight to the pews
Appling's group has distributed more than 5,000 copies of a DVD called "The
Battle for Marriage in Wisconsin" to churches.
Amendment opponents also have gone through churches to gain support, often
gathering at sanctuaries before door-knocking campaigns or informational
meetings.
Religious leaders have not shied from the debate. In fact, many have welcomed
the opportunity to speak out.
The state's Catholic bishops weighed this summer when they issued a letter of
support for the amendment while also stating "support for this amendment does
not imply or justify animosity toward any individual or group."
"We're teachers," Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan said in an interview.
"We're best when we encourage, educate and exhort."
Parishioners don't want bishops "to tell them how to vote, and woe to us if we
did," Dolan said.
Dolan and the state's four other bishops began a letter during the winter on the
marriage amendment, as well as the referendum on the death penalty, which
they oppose, he said.
The bishops support the marriage amendment because "we feel as pastors we
need to do anything we can to support and strengthen the pivotal institution of
marriage," Dolan said.
He admitted that "we bishops find ourselves attacked by both sides."
"I don't mind that at all. We have people who are anti-gay, who say, 'You bishops
are too soft on homosexuals, you keep telling us they need to be treated with
dignity and respect and let's just say this is an abomination.' We say, 'Absolutely
not.' A person's dignity is not dependent on their sexual orientation."
Dolan admitted the bishops also face criticism from those who oppose the
amendment.
"I guess what we're saying, marriage is not a human right. It's a responsibility and
a gift," he said.
Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers, leader of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, also views the marriage amendment as
a defining issue.
Only, he's opposed.
In 2005, the synod passed a resolution in opposition to the legislation. At this
year's synod assembly, the group decided to have a conversation about the
amendment, a symbolic and substantive move to discuss an important issue of
the day that Stumme-Diers hopes is continued at individual churches.
"I hear great concern about the marriage amendment both in terms of the tenor
that it takes and the climate it creates in our state," he said. "People are saying
the church needs to speak to this so we will have a more healthy and tolerant
spirit. I hear from people that they are disturbed that civil rights are potentially
going to be curtailed through such a referendum."
Stumme-Diers said the teachings of Jesus show the need to be "attentive to
those who are often left on the outside."
"We need to be especially mindful of those who are vulnerable and ostracized by
society. Jesus is all about honoring relationships and trying to find honest and
safe relationships. For some people, their orientation leads them in ways that
makes us heterosexuals uncomfortable.
"My opposition to the marriage amendment is also about strengthening traditional
marriage. I'm a strong advocate of monogamy and of people being committed to
another person."