State of the union Maine minister calls for ‘renewed vision’ of marriage, notions of family

Marvin Ellison is used to being in the minority. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has just one congregation in Maine, Ellison is a gay man in a society dominated by heterosexuals.

He has taught Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary since 1981 and is well-known for his work on issues of sexuality and social justice in a Christian context.

Now, Ellison is drawing national attention for his examination of same-sex marriage, and his new book thrusts him into the center of one of the hottest political debates in the nation.

The conclusions he draws and the questions he raises about the institution of marriage are likely to raise the hackles of mainline Protestant theologians and conservative Christians alike.

Ellison calls not just for broadening of the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples but for an overhaul of the institution itself. He seeks the development of a renewed vision of marriage and the family that would separate the civil union from the religious one and redefine the notion of family.

“Same-Sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical Analysis” was scheduled to be published this spring. The publisher, Pilgrim Press of Cleveland, last summer moved its publication up to December 2003 when an Ontario appeals court ruled that Canada’s ban on lesbian and gay marriage is unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws.

Since then, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ordered that state’s Legislature to write legislation allowing same-sex unions.

Maine barred same-sex marriage in 1997. The Maine Legislature is expected to take up a bill this session that would change the state’s “next of kin” definition to give domestic partners the same rights as a spouse in estates where there is no will. The bill would also give domestic partners custody rights of the remains of the deceased.

Ellison argues that clergy should no longer act as agents of the state in performing marriage ceremonies, or as advocates for the separation of the civil union from the religious one.

“In my judgment, a thoroughly revised legal and ethical framework is needed that does not rely exclusively on marriage as the signifier of family but recognizes intentionally diverse networks of people committed to each other’s well-being,” he writes in the book.

“Families are formed not because the state issues a license or a religious ceremony is conducted, but because people exercise their moral agency to bond for loving, mutual care,” he writes.

Ellison said earlier this week that his slim volume is not the definitive word on the subject of same-sex marriage or the redefinition of the family. However, as a person of faith and a Christian, he believes that his religious tradition provides an avenue to correct injustices perpetrated in the name of marriage and the family.

“I seek to redefine marriage so it could evolve in a way that it is no longer a partnership of unequals but of equals in both legal and moral standing,” Ellison said.

His previous books include “Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality” and “Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality, and Social Justice.” He worked on the new book last year.

“One of the things I’ve found in my research is how little literature exists on this subject written from the theological perspective of progressive Christians,” Ellison said this week during the seminary’s annual convocation in Bangor.

“Most of the discussion has been among legal scholars and [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered] activists.”

Or from religious conservatives who oppose changes in the status quo of traditional marriage between a heterosexual man and heterosexual woman.

Unlike other theologians on various sides of the same-sex marriage argument, Ellison does not turn to Scripture to make his argument but to the progressive Christian heritage of social justice.

That tradition, as defined by Ellison, is “the never-ending project of setting wrongs right, strengthening connections that are respectful and fair among individuals and groups and making communities more inclusive and welcoming of difference. Seeking justice as rightly related community lies at the very heart of a liberating spirituality.”

From that perspective, Ellison says it is the past of the institution of marriage that makes him wary about extending it to same-sex couples without some fundamental changes.

“My reservation has more to do with a historical awareness of marriage as a site of oppression and tremendous pain and suffering, both for those who engage in it and for those excluded from it,” he writes in the final chapter of the book.

Same-Sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical Analysis by Marvin M. Ellison. The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland. Hardback. 198 pages.