United Church Of Christ Set To Consider Gay Marriage

POSTED: 9:11 am CDT July 1, 2005
UPDATED: 9:23 am CDT July 1, 2005

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The United Church of Christ is poised to become the largest Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage.

But conservatives within the liberal 1.3 million-member denomination believe endorsement at the church's annual meeting in Atlanta this weekend would be costly.

They concede the measure is likely to win approval. But the Reverend Brett Becker predicts approval would lead to the eventual collapse of the denomination.

Becker's pastor of the Saint Paul United Church of Christ in the San Antonio suburb of Cibolo and a spokesman for the church's conservative congregations. He says that if Christians are to be true followers of Christ, they must follow his teachings on marriage. He says that means the union of one man and one woman.

Becker says he and other conservative pastors should continue to welcome homosexuals into the church, but encourage them to change their behavior. ------ On the Net: United Church of Christ

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Bill