United Church of Christ Backs Gay Marriage

The United Church of Christ became the first mainstream Christian denomination to openly support same-sex marriage when the "general synod" (the church governing council) passed a resolution endorsing "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender". In the New York Times article, quotes from various UCC pastors showed slight differences of opinion on the issue, including one minister saying that he would have favored a resolution endorsing civil unions, rather than the right to marriage. The resolution is a continuance of the UCC's long history of championing human rights as it came out against slavery in 1700 and even ordained a woman as early as 1853.
Interestingly, the UCC has been conducting a campaign for gay rights for some time now, starting with a commercial that was turned down by TV networks in which a bouncer at a club would not let nonwhites or gay couples in. At the conclusion of the ad, a text appeared which read "Jesus didn't turn people away...Neither do we"
The UCC is one of several churches that is guided by the philosophy that "God is still speaking", meaning that there is more to interpret than the original text of the Bible. It would be interesting to see the political distribution of the Church membership, especially since there is little evidence of division within the UCC, despite its relatively large population of 1.3 million.