On May 21, the Penn Northeast Conference held a "day of dialogue" among its 156 churches (including its one and only ONA church) to discuss controversial issues facing the General Synod.

"Of the people who showed up," says the Rev. Alan C. Miller, Conference Minister, "by far the largest attendance was at the same-sex marriage discussion."

"Eighty percent of those gathered were against the same-sex marriage resolutions and offered support for the one-man, one-woman resolution," Miller says. "I think our General Synod delegates were surprised that the reaction - the percentage - was that great against the resolutions."

Miller says one church already has voted to leave the UCC simply because the issue is being considered. "And we've already been informed that three other churches will vote out if this passes," he says.

And from a related story:

The UCC's Calvin Synod says it might consider leaving the denomination if a proposed resolution affirming same-gender marriage equality is passed by the church's General Synod during its biennial meeting in Atlanta July 1-5.

...

However the resolution passed by the Calvin Synod, comprised of 29 churches and more than 2,500 congregants, claims the Bible records "the constant opposition of God-fearing people to all sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage" and calls unions between homosexual persons to be "unholy abominations, unfit for the sight of the Lord and the righteous."

It denies that same-gender marriage meets the definition of marriage, declares that such "heresy is intolerable" to its members and ministers and calls on the UCC to "disavow this heresy."

The Calvin Synod comes from Hungarian Protestants taken in by the UCC after the failed uprising against the Soviet occupation in 1956. If you didn't quite catch it, they're quite a bit more conservative than the church at large.

Oddly enough, in my own area, the reaction is somewhat more muted:

The Rev. Marja Coons-Torn, Penn Central Conference Minister, says she has received letters from concerned members about the marriage equality measure, but the tone has been civil.

"We certainly have opposition to it here and I am hearing from people who are opposed to it," Coons-Torn says. "But I have to tell you that it's in pretty respectful ways."

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"If it came to an up-or-down vote on the [Southern California - Nevada] resolution, probably our delegation is not yet at the point where they will be able to support it wholeheartedly," Coons-Torn says. "Many, if not most people, might be able to support civil unions but can't go all the way in supporting the word `marriage.'"

In any case, if the "pro" resolution passes, it will cost the UCC in division and lost revenue for the national church. It is, in other words, a live issue.

What can you do?

Well, if you're not a member of a UCC church, not much right now. We're not a terribly hierarchical denomination; a letter-writing campaign pressuring the higher-ups will probably get you a lot of sympathy and agreement, but it's up to the body to vote on this. You could toss the national church a few bucks, or write and let them know that you'd think about joining a mega-cool denomination that approved of SSM, but I ain't telling you to.

No, for right now, just keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and get those itchy typing fingers ready for this summer. 'Cause you know that every right-wing loon and his Senate sockpuppet is going to be denouncing us as Exhibit 1A in the decline and fall of the American Empire...