Denomination’s vote on gay marriages causes confusion
In tiny Highland Home, Ala., the word around town recently was that the Church of Christ had endorsed same-sex marriage.
Not so, church members rushed to inform their community.
“I am sure that if we face that in our little community, where the church has been in existence since the mid-1800s, that it is surely an issue elsewhere,” said E. Dean Kelly, the congregation’s minister.
Indeed, confusion with the United Church of Christ became an issue for many Churches of Christ across the nation after that denomination’s general synod, meeting in Atlanta on July 4, passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage.
At Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, spokeswoman Wendy Kilmer said a parent of one prospective student called to withdraw the student’s application because of it.
“But once it was explained, there was no problem,” Kilmer said.
After the United Church of Christ vote, a few newspaper headlines left the mistaken impression by shortening the denomination’s name to “Church of Christ.”
In response, some members of Churches of Christ wrote letters to the editor, others took out advertisements, and still others were quoted in newspapers such as the Jackson Sun in Tennessee and the Daily Leader in Brookhaven, Miss., which wrote stories about the confusion.
Not so, church members rushed to inform their community.
“I am sure that if we face that in our little community, where the church has been in existence since the mid-1800s, that it is surely an issue elsewhere,” said E. Dean Kelly, the congregation’s minister.
Indeed, confusion with the United Church of Christ became an issue for many Churches of Christ across the nation after that denomination’s general synod, meeting in Atlanta on July 4, passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage.
At Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, spokeswoman Wendy Kilmer said a parent of one prospective student called to withdraw the student’s application because of it.
“But once it was explained, there was no problem,” Kilmer said.
After the United Church of Christ vote, a few newspaper headlines left the mistaken impression by shortening the denomination’s name to “Church of Christ.”
In response, some members of Churches of Christ wrote letters to the editor, others took out advertisements, and still others were quoted in newspapers such as the Jackson Sun in Tennessee and the Daily Leader in Brookhaven, Miss., which wrote stories about the confusion.
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