Campus pastor's suspension intensifies denomination's gay marriage debate
Several Evangelical Covenant clergy are facing discipline for participating in a same-sex wedding. Thousands of people connected to the denomination are petitioning for a moratorium on such actions.
The suspension of a popular Christian university chaplain has highlighted tensions over same-sex marriage in a Protestant denomination that forbids it—yet takes pride in its willingness to allow congregants to hold opinions contrary to church doctrine.
Judy Peterson, ordained in the Evangelical Covenant Church and pastor at its flagship North Park University in Chicago, presided at the wedding of two men in April. That act resulted in her suspension, followed by a petition calling on ECC leaders to place a moratorium on their guidelines forbidding clergy to officiate at same-sex weddings. The petition had more than 4,900 signatures as of January 29.
She is one of several pastors facing discipline related to same-sex marriage in the ECC, which has more than 850 churches in North America, with about 225,000 weekly attenders. Some congregants hope the church’s tradition of tolerance for those who take issue with its official stances can lead toward a more amicable resolution of an issue that has split other churches.
