Church puts civil marriage rites to vote - NewsObserver.com
The congregation at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church will vote this month on whether to stop holding state-sanctioned marriages inside their walls, a policy that would continue until same-sex couples can be legally wed.
If passed by a majority, couples getting married at Pullen could enjoy a spiritual ceremony inside the Raleigh church, whether gay or straight. But no marriage license could be signed by a Pullen pastor, and no such legal document could be issued there while North Carolina forbids same-sex marriage. The vote will be on Nov. 20.
“For us, it’s very much a civil rights issue,” said Brooks Wicker, co-chair of Pullen’s deacon council. “It’s in keeping with our tradition of trying to live into the gospel, treating everyone justly and fairly.”
With a long history of political and social activism, including opposition to segregation and the Vietnam War, Pullen has blessed gay marriages for the past 20 years. Its uncommon stance on the issue got the church kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In July, Pastor Nancy Petty told her flock at Pullen that she didn’t want to legally marry anyone until she could legally wed everyone.
A lesbian herself and Pullen’s first female pastor, she described acting as an agent of the state, and signing marriage licenses, as a burden on her conscience.
She asked to be relieved of the duty and asked for a conversation within the church. Two listening sessions followed her request, Wicker said, and the participants overwhelmingly supported Petty’s request.