UCC is first denomination to endorse gay marriage

The leaders of one of America’s most historic Christian denominations voted overwhelmingly July 4 to endorse same-sex civil marriage and encourage their local congregations to extend religious marriage to gay couples.

Meeting July 4 in Atlanta, about 1,000 delegates to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ approved the measure on a show-of-hands vote, according to a release from the denomination.

The resolution is the first action fully supporting same-sex marriage by any major Christian denomination in the United States. Several others, including the Southern Baptist Convention, have publicly opposed the practice.

The 1.3 million-member denomination has its roots in two Reformed religious traditions-the Puritan Congregationalists who were among America’s first settlers, and German Protestant immigrants who settled in the Midwest in the 1800s.

Associated Baptist Press