BOSTON
(AP)
—
Leaders
of
churches,
synagogues
and
mosques
around
Massachusetts
condemned
the
Supreme
Judicial
Court’s
rulings
on
gay
marriage
in
a
joint
statement
Saturday
and
urged
a
constitutional
ban
on
such
unions.
A
statement
signed
by
religious
leaders
representing
a
range
of
faiths
and
denominations
urged
lawmakers
to
support
a
constitutional
amendment
defining
marriage
as
between
a
man
and
a
woman.
The
statement
was
released
the
day
before
a
rally
on
the
Boston
Common
opposing
gay
marriage.
“Should
the
Supreme
Judicial
Court’s
decision
to
redefine
marriage
as
any
voluntary
union
of
persons
become
the
law
of
the
land,
it
would
have
an
enormously
negative
impact
on
our
society,”
the
statement
read.
The
signers
of
the
statement
included
Boston
Archbishop
Sean
O’Malley;
Rev.
David
M.
Midwood,
president
of
Vision
New
England,
an
organization
of
evangelical
churches;
the
Islamic
Council
of
New
England,
which
has
about
25
centers
and
mosques;
the
80-church
Black
Ministerial
Alliance;
100
Christian
Orthodox
churches;
and
two
Jewish
leaders.
WASHINGTON
—
A
second
Muslim
group
resigned
from
the
Alliance
for
Marriage,
an
interfaith
coalition
backing
a
constitutional
amendment
against
gay
marriage,
after
being
accused
of
links
to
extremists,
the
Washington
Post
reported.
The
Islamic
Society
of
North
America
withdrew
from
the
alliance
last
week,
becoming
the
second
Muslim
group
to
do
so
in
recent
weeks,
the
Post
reported.
The
organization,
based
in
Indiana,
is
made
up
of
200
mosques
and
Muslim
professional
societies,
according
to
the
Post.
The
group
was
alleged
to
have
links
to
extremists,
charges
which
Sayyid
M.
Syeed,
the
Islamic
Society’s
general
secretary,
called
“completely
baseless,”
the
Post
reported.
“By
sitting
on
the
board,
we
wanted
to
help
the
mission.
If
dropping
out
would
help
the
same
mission,
then
we
should
graciously
and
honorably
bow
out,”
Syeed
told
the
Post.
NEW
YORK
—
The
Association
of
Humanistic
Rabbis
this
week
issued
a
statement
in
support
of
civil
rights
for
sexual
minorities
and
in
support
of
same-sex
marriage,
the
group
said
in
a
news
release.
According
to
the
organization’s
statement,
many
of
its
rabbis
have
spoken
out
for
such
equality
and
performed
same-sex
marriage
ceremonies
since
the
1960s,
when
the
Humanistic
Judaism
movement
began.
The
group
said
in
the
release:
“This
is
a
critical
moment
in
U.S.
history
where
open-minded
and
open-hearted
moral
leadership
is
needed
to
help
our
society
and
the
world
transcend
all
bigotries.
Thus,
the
Association
of
Humanistic
Rabbis
publicly
declares
its
support
for
the
full
equal
rights
of
lesbian,
gay,
bisexual
and
transgender
individuals
and
their
families,
and
for
social
change
toward
understanding
and
celebrating
human
diversity.”
The
group
said
it
is
the
first
association
of
rabbis
to
publicly
encourage
its
members
to
perform
same-sex
ceremonies
and
to
advocate
far-reaching
legal
and
social
change
for
gays.
NORFOLK,
Va.
(AP)
—
Episcopalians
voted
last
week
to
create
a
“reconciliation
commission”
that
will
recommend
how
the
33,000
members
of
the
Diocese
of
Southern
Virginia
can
surmount
disagreements
over
the
denomination’s
endorsement
of
a
non-celibate
gay
man
as
a
bishop.
The
vote,
which
came
during
the
diocese’s
annual
council,
acknowledged
“the
pain,
disunity
and
profound
differences”
that
have
lingered
since
the
national
church’s
General
Convention
allowed
the
ordination
of
Rev.
V.
Gene
Robinson
of
New
Hampshire
in
August.
A
majority
of
the
750
clergy
and
lay
delegates
also
rejected
a
resolution
that
called
on
the
diocese
to
officially
repudiate
the
Robinson
endorsement
as
well
as
the
General
Convention’s
affirmation
of
church
blessings
for
same-gender
unions.
The
idea
of
establishing
a
conciliatory
commission
was
borrowed
from
the
larger
Diocese
of
Virginia,
which
took
that
action
a
week
ago
at
its
annual
meeting.
LONDON
(AP)
—
Archbishop
of
Canterbury
Rowan
Williams
on
Monday
said
a
commission
examining
the
crisis
over
gays
that
is
wracking
the
Anglican
Communion
has
an
“exceptionally
difficult”
task.
The
commission
was
set
up
in
October
amid
the
crisis
over
the
selection
of
gay
cleric
V.
Gene
Robinson
as
Bishop
of
New
Hampshire.
Anglican
leaders
have
warned
that
his
consecration
last
November
could
shatter
the
global
Anglican
Communion.
The
commission
is
also
expected
to
study
the
blessings
given
to
same-sex
couples
by
the
Canadian
diocese
of
New
Westminster
in
British
Columbia.
“They
have
been
charged
with
an
exceptionally
difficult
and
delicate
task,’’
Williams
said
of
the
commission
members,
made
up
of
conservative
and
liberal
church
leaders.
He
added
that
the
commission
would
likely
report
at
the
beginning
of
next
year,
with
a
number
of
interim
reports
issued
before.
