Churches Initiate a Broad Discussion of Same-Sex Marriage

South African Council of Churches (SACC)Kempton Park Conference Centre, Gauteng, South Africa

7 February 2006

Representatives of a wide range of Christian churches met at Kempton Park Conference Centre 6–7 February 2006 under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches to discuss the issue of same-sex marriages. The seminar took place in the context of the recent Constitutional Court ruling that requires Parliament to revise the Marriage Act to conform to the equality clause of the Constitution.

The gathering included most of the Council’s 26 member denominations, as well as a range of Christian churches that are not part of the SACC. For some denominations, it was their first involvement in an SACC consultation.

Bishop Lunga ka Siboto, Second Vice President of the SACC, said that the Constitutional Court decision had “prompted much soul-searching among Christians”. Despite the intensity of feeling that the topic evokes for many Christians, the two-day seminar was conducted in an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect.

Delegates heard presentations from a variety of speakers, including lesbian and gay Christians, the Marriage Alliance, and the SA Human Rights Commission. Mr Justice Dikgang Moseneke, Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, told those present that “it is quite clear from the Constitution” that “every one of us has the right to be different”.

The gathering was not intended to develop a definitive “church” position on the issue of same-sex unions, but rather to initiate and build a constructive dialogue on issues of sexuality and marriage. This will, in part, inform the Council as it prepares to engage the forthcoming Parliamentary debate on how to respond to the Constitutional Court ruling. The General Secretary of the SACC, Dr Molefe Tsele, emphasized, however, that the dialogue revealed the need for churches to think further ahead and to begin to prepare Christians for likely changes in the law.

Although delegates expressed a wide range of views on questions of sexuality, theology and marriage, a number of common themes and viewpoints began to emerge from small group discussions on the second day of the seminar. Some of the broad areas of consensus included:

* The Bible has always been and continues to be the bedrock of Christian faith and understanding of the world. It remains the church’s primary guide to decisions affecting same-sex unions.

* God is present and active in human society and this shapes our understanding of scripture and its implications for social and political issues. Delegates warned against adopting a strictly literal or fundamentalist reading of scripture or attempting to use the Bible to justify one's own beliefs. They noted that, in many respects, the debate about sexuality in the church is really a struggle over the use and meaning of scripture.

* The church is called by God to accept, affirm and love all people. Christians should therefore be slow to condemn, but must listen carefully to the pain and hurt of lesbian and gay people and to try to understand who they are.

* Delegates expressed a commitment to a secular state as a way of giving all faith groups equal space to articulate their views. The seminar also acknowledged the Constitution as a social pact that has been informed by the values and aspirations of all South Africans. The Constitution must remain the starting point for legal discussions of the state’s obligation to same-sex couples.

* Participants noted that the current definition of marriage does not encourage same-sex couples to establish faithful, lasting relationships or to celebrate their sexuality within the grace of God.

The Seminar agreed that it was essential for churches to sustain and deepen the dialogue on marriage and called on the SACC to continue to facilitate an increasingly inclusive discussion. Some participants said that it was the first time that they had ever thought seriously about the issue of same-sex couples, and they had had their minds “blown open”.

For more information, contact: Fr Jo Mdhlela
(c) South African Council of Churches
Website: www.sacc.org.za

My Credo

This article is a speech by Albert Einstein to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin, in the autumn of 1932. This short speech appears in the Appendix of Einstein by Michael White and John Gribbin, Dutton, Penguin Books USA Inc., New York, 1994, p. 262.

Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of' others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them. I do not believe in freedom of the will. Schopenhauer's words: 'Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wills' accompany me in all situations throughout my life and reconcile me with the actions of others even if they are rather painful to me. This awareness of the lack of freedom of will preserves me from taking too seriously myself and my fellow men as acting and deciding individuals and from losing my temper. I never coveted affluence and luxury and even despise them a good deal. My passion for social justice has often brought me into conflict with people, as did my aversion to any obligation and dependence I do not regard as absolutely necessary. I always have a high regard for the individual and have an insuperable distaste for violence and clubmanship. All these motives made me into a passionate pactfist and anti-militarist. I am against any nationalism, even in the guise of mere patriotism. Privileges based on position and property have always seemed to me unjust and pernicious, as did any exaggerated personality cult. I am an adherent of the ideal of democracy, although I well know the weaknesses of the democratic form of government. Social equality and economic protection of the individual appeared to me always as the important communal aims of the state. Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated. The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.