c. 2006 Religion News Service

Canadian Poll Finds Support for Marriage Commissioners to Opt Out

TORONTO (RNS) A majority of Canadians believe marriage commissioners should be allowed to refuse to perform a same-sex wedding if it is against their religious or ethical beliefs, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted last month, found that 57 percent of Canadians said public officials who conduct generally secular wedding ceremonies _ including justices of the peace _ should be permitted to opt out of officiating at gay weddings.

The survey also found that 72 percent of respondents feel clergy should have the right not to marry a same-sex couple if such unions run counter to their beliefs.

Currently, civil marriage commissioners can say no to presiding at any wedding, but complaints can be filed against them with human rights bodies and potentially courts.

The poll comes amid promises by Canada’s new Conservative-led government to reopen debate on same-sex marriage. Last summer, under the previous Liberal government, Canada became the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage.

The survey also found a majority of Canadians favor a review of Ottawa’s same-sex marriage law to ensure it does not infringe on freedom of religion, with 64 percent of those polled supporting a full or partial review of the existing legislation “to make sure that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are fully protected.”

But the vote to revisit same-sex marriage laws is expected to be defeated by a combination of opposition members of Parliament, supported by a few Conservatives. In that event, the government has said it would introduce the Defense of Religion Act.

If passed, the legislation would give civic officials the right to refuse to perform the ceremony, as well as protect the free-speech rights of religious leaders and others who criticize homosexual behavior or refuse to do business with gay rights groups.

The numbers expressed in the poll reflect an “overwhelming” level of support for the rights of marriage commissioners and clergy, said pollster Conrad Winn. “I mean, you can’t get three-quarters of Canadians to agree on the weather.”

_ Ron Csillag

Controversial Gay Parade OK’d for Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel’s attorney general said a controversial gay parade slated to take place in Jerusalem on Friday (Nov. 10) can proceed as scheduled, despite fears of violence from religious fundamentalists.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Sunday rejected a request by the Israel Police to cancel the parade. For the past several weeks, fervently Orthodox Jews have set trash cans on fire at major intersections to protest the parade, which Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders have all tried to halt.

During a Nov. 1 demonstration attended by thousands of black-coated ultra-Orthodox men, prominent rabbis attributed Israel’s security woes to the “promiscuous” lifestyle led by many Israelis.

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, who heads the fervently religious Eda Haredit rabbinical court in Jerusalem, told the protesters that Israel failed to score a strong victory against Hezbollah during the recent war in Lebanon “due to the obscenity and promiscuity in the Holy Land.”

Top rabbinical authorities also signed a poster, hung in fervently religious neighborhoods, decrying “the evil mob seeking to defile the holy city of Jerusalem.”

Prominent Muslim and Christian leaders have also called for the parade to be permanently banned from the city, which is holy to all three monotheistic faiths.

Noa Satath, general director of the Jerusalem Open House, an advocacy organization for Israeli and Palestinian gays and lesbians, hailed Mazuz’s decision as “a victory of freedom of speech and democracy.” Unlike the annual gay parade in Tel Aviv, Satath said “our parade will not be eccentric or outwardly sexual. It has never been our intention to offend the religious communities in town.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Gay and lesbian groups around the world have rushed to show solidarity with the Jerusalem Open House, the parade’s organizer.

New York-based Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, which calls itself the world’s largest gay and lesbian synagogue, has launched a fundraising campaign to help the Open House defray its legal costs.

“We firmly believe that tolerance is holy and that (gay-lesbian) groups, whether they are in Jerusalem or Albany or Queens, should be able to march through the streets of their communities, and without fear of bodily harm,” Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, the synagogue’s spiritual leader, said in a Nov. 2 statement.

_ Michele Chabin

Poll: N.J. Voters Support Civil Unions, Not Gay Marriage

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Half of New Jersey’s registered voters agree gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but they balk at calling it marriage, according to a poll by The Star-Ledger newspaper.

Fifty percent of those polled agreed with the recent state Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples are entitled to all the protections state law gives married couples. But overall, only one in four agreed that it should be called marriage, the poll found.

“People in New Jersey are very supportive of equal rights, but the concept of marriage is more complicated,” said Mickey Blum, whose firm, Blum & Weprin Associates, performed the telephone survey of 777 people for the newspaper. The poll, conducted Nov. 1-2, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Blum noted that the portion of people who said they were undecided about whether the state Legislature should grant gay couples the right to marry was 17 percent, which is unusually high.

“This is an issue people are struggling with,” she said. “They seem to be trying to decide what is reasonable or fair.”

“I think gays should have the same rights as everybody else, but I am also Catholic and my church says it’s wrong for gays to marry,” said Antonia Clampett, 62, of Hopewell, N.J., who participated in the poll. “It is a shame, because nobody should have to live a lie.”

Overall, 23 percent of those polled favored allowing gays to marry in New Jersey. Along party lines, 32 percent of Democrats supported gay marriage, but only 17 percent of Republicans.

A similar partisan divide was apparent in sentiments about civil unions. Sixty-four percent of Democrats agreed with the state Supreme Court’s decision, compared with 34 percent of Republicans.

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said the high number of undecided responses in the poll offers a clear sign that people don’t really understand what gay marriage would mean.

“There is talk about pushing through a civil union bill, but we urge the Legislature to give us time,” he said. “We will do the education, but we need that 180 days to do it. We’ve waited this long. What’s a little more time?”

_ Judy Peet and Rick Hepp

Quote of the Day: Gayle Haggard, wife of evangelical leader Ted Haggard

(RNS) “For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case. My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.”

_ Gayle Haggard, in a letter to the women of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., after her husband, Pastor Ted Haggard, was removed on charges of “sexual immorality” related to a relationship with a male escort and allegations of drug abuse. Ted Haggard also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

KRE/PH END RNS