Pastors gather to denounce gay marriage

The fight against gay marriage is gaining momentum in the Inland Northwest.

In the wake of a recent court decision supporting the right of gays to wed, a statewide Christian group sponsored a training session for pastors last week to preserve “authentic marriage,” which it defines as a union between a man and a woman.

About 50 pastors from Eastern Washington and North Idaho attended the seminar at Calvary Chapel of Spokane organized by Sound the Alarm, an Edmonds, Wash.-based group dedicated to promoting heterosexual marriage. Pastors watched a promotional video, and were urged to pray and register their members to vote for “biblical righteousness.”

All of the pastors in attendance Friday – nicknamed “circuit riders” – were asked to contact 10 other pastors in their surrounding areas to set up an initial meeting to introduce Sound the Alarm. They also were encouraged to recruit others to join in the national Mayday for Marriage rally planned for Oct. 15 in Washington, D.C.

“Human society will be destroyed if we lose original one-man and one-woman marriage,” said the Rev. Dan Grether of Spokane, a leader of a local organization known as Coalition for Authentic Marriage. “I hope the entire Spokane community would realize that authentic marriage is the very first fundamental institution in human society.”

Not all local religious leaders agree with their message. Several Spokane-area pastors have long supported gay marriage. A few have even performed commitment ceremonies for gays and lesbians in their congregations. Also known as “holy unions,” these ceremonies are a way for gay couples in Washington state or Idaho to publicly declare their love and commitment.

“Because marriage is so powerful and wonderful, because it is a way of knowing God through the love of another person, because it is so important, we feel it needs to be offered to all couples seeking that deep, life-giving relationship,” said the Rev. Andy CastroLang, pastor of Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ in Spokane.

Friday’s gathering of Christian conservatives not only promoted the authentic marriage agenda, it also rallied pastors to get their congregations involved in politics. Although churches cannot endorse a particular candidate, they can register people to vote.

“Most Christians, even ones who are registered, don’t vote,” said the Rev. Ken Ortize, of Calvary Chapel of Spokane. “We’re asking people to understand what biblical principles are and to support the candidates that most closely align with them.”

Sound the Alarm started this spring in response to a series of victories for supporters of gay marriage across the nation. Earlier this month, a King County judge ruled in favor of eight gay couples who sued the county for the right to marry. The decision, however, is stayed until the state Supreme Court reviews the case. A similar lawsuit filed in Thurston County on behalf of 11 same-sex couples is scheduled for a hearing on Sept. 2.

Washington state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages. State law in Idaho bans unions that aren’t between a man and a woman.

Organizers contacted all 5,200 registered churches in Washington state to tell them about Sound the Alarm, and received positive responses from about 3,000, said the Rev. Jacinta Tegman, one the group’s leaders. They sent literature to those churches and began recruiting circuit riders to connect with all of the interested churches. The organization also held a rally at Safeco Field on May 1 that drew about 20,000 people. Now, the organization is hoping to carry that momentum to Eastern Washington.

Last week’s training session was the first held in Eastern Washington.

“If we want to make this a statewide issue, it’s critical that Spokane comes on board,” said Tegman, a pastor with Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, Wash. “It’s important the Christian voice on this side is united with the Christian voice on the West Side.”

Meanwhile, many gays and lesbians in Spokane have turned to other congregations for support. Two in particular are known to embrace members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community: Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Church, where the membership is made up of mostly gays and lesbians; and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane.

The Unitarian church is a “welcoming congregation,” said the Rev. Dr. Richard Erhardt. “We come from the theological position of complete acceptance.”

Erhardt, the church’s pastor, performed a public wedding during this year’s Pride parade in Riverfront Park. About a dozen gay and lesbian couples took part in the ceremony. “I stand in direct opposition to this ‘authentic marriage’ stuff,” said Erhardt. “God makes love … Why are we then defining what is and isn’t a gift of God?”

But many who attended last week’s Sound the Alarm session said their actions are spurred by God’s teachings in the Bible. In previous interviews, conservative church leaders said that the original blueprint for marriage can be found in the Book of Genesis.

When he left the session, the Rev. Ron Armstrong said he was eager to bring Sound the Alarm’s message to his congregation at MeadowWood Christian Center in Liberty Lake. He will ask his congregation to pray more and to vote, he said, as well as to recruit other pastors.

“It’s really motivated me to be a part of this and to inspire others to be a part,” he said. “If the churches and congregations in the Spokane area take action, it will have an impact on the state and nation as a whole.”