Unitarians On Trial

Two Unitarian ministers in upstate New York have become the first clergy members to face criminal charges for performing wedding ceremonies for gay couples. The local D.A. views it as a simple issue of seperating church and state. Gay marriage is fine, he says — so long as it’s religious. Does this mean opponents of gay marriage sanctioned by the state will accept it if the weddings take place in a house of worship? Not likely. The D.A.’s strategy is likely a cynical one, but it does open up a new front in the conflict, and one worth investigating not just in other gay marriage hot spots — San Francisco, Multnomah County — but in the halls of academe, where scholars may shed light on the tortured history of church v. state, never as simple as it seems.

Read Keith Eddings’ report.

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