Across country, black pastors weigh in on Obama's same-sex marriage support

[el_em_en_oh]

Washington (CNN) - Addressing his large, mostly black congregation on Sunday morning, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith did not mince words about where he stood on President Barack Obama's newly announced support for same-sex marriage: The church is against it, he said, prompting shouts of "Amen!" from the pews.

And yet Smith hardly issued a full condemnation of the president.

"We may disagree with our president on this one issue," Smith said from the pulpit of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington. "But we will keep him lifted up in prayer. ... Pray for President Barack Obama."

And Smith said there were much bigger challenges facing the black community - "larger challenges that we have to struggle with" - bringing his full congregation to its feet, with many more amens.

Days after Obama announced his personal support for same-sex marriage, pastors across the country offered their Sunday-morning opinions on the development, with the words of black pastors - a key base of support for Obama in 2008, that is also largely opposed to gay marriage - carrying special weight in a presidential election year.But black pastors were hardly monolithic in addressing Obama's remarks.

In Baltimore, Emmett Burns, a politically well-connected black minister who said he supported Obama in 2008, held an event at Rising Sun Baptist Church to publicly withdraw support from the president over Obama's same-sex marriage support.

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"I love the president, but I cannot support what he has done," Burns said at the church.

In an interview with CNN, Burns predicted that Obama's support for legalized same-sex marriage would lead to his defeat in November.

The Rev. Calvin Butts, an influential black pastor in New York City, did not endorse Obama's views but denounced those who are ready to "watch others be discriminated against, marginalized, and literally hated in the name of God."

"Our God is love," he said.

And like Smith in Washington, plenty of black ministers talked about distinguishing between opposition to same-sex marriage and views about Obama.

"I don't see how you cannot talk about it," the Rev. Tim McDonald, based in Atlanta, said earlier this week. "I have to. You can say I'm opposed to it (same-sex marriage), but that doesn't mean I'm against the president."

Though African-Americans provided Obama with record support in 2008, they are also significantly more likely to oppose same-sex marriage than are whites. That may be because black Americans are more likely to frequently attend church than white Americans.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted in April found that 49% of African-Americans oppose legalized same-sex marriage, compared with 39% who support it. Among whites, by contrast, Pew found that 47% supported gay marriage, while 43% opposed it.

African-American pastors have been prominent in the movement to ban same-sex marriage. In North Carolina, black leaders helped lead the successful campaign for a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage and domestic partnerships.

In California, 70% of African-Americans supported Prop 8, the 2008 state gay marriage ban, even though 94% of black voters in California backed Obama.

McDonald, who founded a group called the African-American Ministers Leadership Council, says he opposes same-sex marriage, but that he is more concerned about issues such as health care, education and jobs.

But he says more black pastors are talking about same-sex marriage than ever before. "Three years ago, there was not even a conversation about this issue," McDoland says. "There wasn't even an entertainment of a conversation about this."

In Atlanta, at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church - where Martin Luther King Jr. got his start - the Rev. Ralph Warnock addressed the president's remarks near the end of his sermon.

"The president is entitled to his opinion," Warnock said. "He is the president of the United States, not the pastor of the United States."

Warnock said that there is a place for gays in the church, and that "we don't have to solve this today."

Black churchgoers on Sunday appeared split on same-sex marriage, though many of those opposed to it said they still supported Obama.

"It's a human rights issue, not a gay issue. All people that pay taxes should get ... the same privileges and rights," said Terence Johnson, a congregant at Salem Bible Church in Atlanta.

At Shiloh Baptist in Washington, Shauna King said she does not support same-sex marriage, but that she respects the president's decision on it.

SOURCE: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/13/across-country-black-pastors-weigh-in-on-obamas-same-sex-marriage-support/?hpt=us_mid

[brice1967]

I'd agree that the economy is far more worthy of a healthy conversation than gay marriage.  After all, the economy affects us all...gay/straight, black/white/, hispanic/asian.....  There isn't one gay union or marriage that has affected or will affect me, my marriage or my life.

The problem with the economy is, there is no easy fix.  (Well, there is but our government and political affiliation stands in the way of fixing it.)  Furthermore, we (as a nation) tend to spend more time and money on foreign affairs than we do domestically.  

California is a perfect example of spending run amok.  They spent $2.3 billion more dollars than their budget allotted.  (Of course this is domestic spending... the nations biggest welfare state, if I'm not mistaken.)  Maybe it is just me, but I still can't fathom the idea of spending ones way out of a recession.  Personally, I've tried it and it doesn't work.  I had to re-evaluate my priorities, cut my spending, and start paying my bills.  

Brown is now looking for someone to blame this on, but he needs not look further than his desk and the administrative desks of some small towns that have people on the payroll for $250,000 a year.  

Somewhere, I'm guessing between greed and "philanthropy", you find this....

[el_em_en_oh]

I agree... we SHOULD be talking about more important issues (ie: the economy), but apparently, CNN and just about every other news agency/outlet in town is keeping this "issue" front & center.

Only reason I posted is because I thought it was interesting that some Black-Church's are swinging one way, and some are swinging the other (at least that's the way I read the article).

Honestly, I have no stance on the issue either way. Gay marriage, yes? Gay marriage, no? I have no opinion one way or the other. I have no issue with it one way or the other.

How's THAT for indecisive!!!

[teko]

Interesting. I saw a poll on CNN last night that said 51 percent of the people in general are in favor of Gay marriage.

Christians believe that Gay sex and marriage is wrong biblically.

Untill you separate the Church from the State, this will continue.

Do we rule under the Constitution or the Bible.

It has to be the Constitution imo because we live in a melting pot of different religions and faiths, no faith, different cultures etc. You cannot take one way and force it on all the rest.

Was the presidents move calculated? Maybe. Not even sure it really matters. But what it did do is force his opposition to come out and take a stand as well and the lines have been drawn. Will people vote for Obama for that one stance? Some will and others will run from him. Same with the republican side.

I think we need to move on to something worth discussing frankly. Like the econemy.

[brice1967]

Shrewd and calculated....  (It would take a lot more than his stand on gay marriage for me to cast a ballot his way.)  (With that said, I'm not in a big rush to vote for Romney either because of the middle ground you mentioned.)

I think the President knows that he has lost some ground and is looking for a place to make some gains.  I think he feels that there are enough gay voters and others for gays rights that find that serious enough to cast a ballot one way or the other.  (If religion would do it, why not gay rights?)

The more I look into political trends, the more intrigued yet the more befuddled I become.  

At this point, I'd be more apt to vote for a person who stepped up and said, "I am willing to be this nation's whipping boy. I probably won't get a whole bunch accomplished because of political party biases.  If I do get something handled...(assuming you don't know that I don't have that much power) go ahead and vote for me again.  Love ya!"

[el_em_en_oh]

I have to say, I had NO IDEA that this country (dem or repub) was so religiously motivated in their political ideology.

Politics and religion go hand-in-hand, and if the developments of the last week don't prove that, I'm not sure what will.

Ideologically speaking, if Democrats are FOR gay-marriage, and Republicans are AGAINST gay-marriage, then the "Black-Church", in general, swings more to the Right than to the Left???

I'm so confused by this.

I really think the President was trying to stay along party lines, by announcing that he supports gay-marriage, and that he saw the "Black-Church", and the black population's support of him as a foregone conclusion (and that nothing he said or did would sway them away from him). And I think he NAILED IT, quite honestly.

Nothing he says or does will sway Democrats (be they black or white) away from him.

I guess the same could be said of a Republican President...

The 2 parties are polar opposites, and never the 2 shall meet (on common ground).

Unfortunately for us, that's the only way out of this mess... common ground being met between the 2 parties.

Shrewd move on BO's part, I must say.