House of Bishops Statement on Same Sex Marriage

April 21, 2009

Since the beginning of human history, marriage has been the institutional building block of society.  And since the beginning of human history, marriage has been between a man and a woman, male and female.  The Book of Genesis testifies to this for Christians and Jews.  Aristotle (ca. 350 BC) adds his own secular testimony.  “The dual purpose of marriage is unitive and procreative.   It provides a structure for raising children.  The political state will not be healthy without health citizens, and healthy citizens come from healthy families, comprised of mother, father and child(ren).”     

Our Creator made us male and female, with the result that the physical union in marriage is a reality.  Male and female really unite in a way that is impossible for members of the same sex, and that union is open to the possibility of procreation in a way that no “same-sex union” could possibly be.

Romantic “love,” we agree, is not the concern of the state.  But the crux of the issue is whether marriage serves society and conforms to the will of our Creator.  Gay unions cannot do this because they cannot produce good citizens, and refuse to conform to the way in which human beings were created by God.       

There is an order to all things; there is a natural law-a law of reason, received from our Creator.  Through this law man can comprehend his ultimate end, and the way he must live to fulfill it.  God will not be mocked.  To disdain his law is inevitably to invite disaster, both personal and social.         

While the Anglican Church in America, part of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion does not support discrimination in any fashion against any human being and upholds the dignity of all, neither do we believe that the state has any right to change the definition of a sacramental gift from our Creator. 

Presented and approved by the House of Bishops, Anglican Church in America, meeting in session, April 21, 2009.

The Rt. Rev. Louis W. Falk, President

The Rt. Rev. George D. Langberg, Vice President

The Rt. Rev. Louis Campese, Bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern United States

The Rt. Rev. Juan Garcia, Bishop of Puerto Rico

The Rt. Rev. Wellborn Hudson, Retired

The Rt. Rev. Brian Marsh, Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeast

The Rt. Rev. Stephen Strawn, Bishop of the Diocese of the Missouri Valley

The Rt. Rev. Daren Williams, Bishop of the Diocese of the West