I'm happy the secular courts could give the Bishop a theology of justice and of the dignity of every person.

Too bad he can't now respond to that new theology faithfully.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I live in Canada, where same sex marriage has been the law for several years now.

I am part of the Anglican Church of Canada, which has not yet been able to find its mind on this issue.

I am a priest in a diocese where our Synod has taken no position, and where our bishop has taken a qualified "no" on the issue.

I can respect those who feel the issue is such that an act of ecclesiastical rebellion is in order. I decline to join them.

It seems to me we cannot criticize the lawlessness of the schismatics if we are committing comparable acts of lawlessness.

Malcolm French

One stand of conscience our bishop advised (but did not require) us to take when same-sex marriage was legalized in California was to ask all couples to be married in a civil ceremony before seeking a blessing from the Church. . .in short, to treat couples equally within the bounds of the discipline of the canons and the BCP until such a time that The Episcopal Church officially expands the sacramental understanding of marriage.

The practical hardship with this approach fell primarily on the parishes that relied a great deal on weddings for income from those largely outside the parochial community.

Theologically, I find it helpful to remember that the church does not make a marriage sacramental. The couple and God do. The Church is only really empowered to bless such unions. Everything else is politics, both within the church and in relationship with the greater world.

How ironic that Bishop Scarfe brags that the plaintiffs in Varnum v. Brien are an Episcopal same-sex couple, but that he betrays ambivalence about such couples. He admits that he thought that civil unions were enough for LGBTs. Separate and unequal was his initial approach, which probably explains why he failed to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Iowa Supreme Court, echoing the failure of the denomination itself to do so. There were no Episcopal amici briefs other than Integrity. The Episcopal Church welcomes you! He seems to be playing a game of catch-up now that civil law is more enlightened than church law.

He claims to rejoice that same-sex couples will now be equal under Iowa State law but he continues his ambivalent gesture now by attempting to quarantine his priests from involvement with such civil marriages. No priest may work for the state if the couple is same-sex. Priests may not sign marriage licenses. Instead they are allowed to do a blessing of same-sex couple, but it is not clear whether such a blessing is to be a blessing of a civil marriage, a form already in The Prayer Book. But he interprets the Prayer Book and the so-called sacrament of marriage as necessarily excluding such couples. His prime motive in asking his priests now to sign state licenses is discrimination against same-sex couples. He would have had a better case if he had said the church should sign no state licenses, but again it would be too late because the prime motive would still be because the church has failed to support the equal protection embodied in state law.

He has abandoned the separate and unequal civil unions in the civil realm but wants to preserve it in the diocese in the form of blessings for same-sex couples who have civil marriages.

It is not clear whether he is afraid to stand for liberal principles or whether he simply wants to wash his hands of this issue and let others lead.

I do not imagine a same-sex couple who get married in Iowa would be eager to be blessed in a denomination which can't figure out what to do with same-sexers. The bishop seems to see homosexuality as a problem rather than his own muted homophobia.

The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association filed amici briefs and were ecstatic about the Iowa decision. The Episcopal Church seems to have its head in the sand with a PB preferring to preach Hallmark card sermons. The Bishop of Iowa is a symbol of the current state of the denomination.

Gary Paul Gilbert

I'm trying to respect Bishop Scarfe's decision: really, I am.

...but I seem to remember that Bishop Bruno of Los Angeles decided differently, and lo, the sky did not fall (he wasn't even disinvited from Lambeth! And while yes, Prop H8 was passed, I really don't think you can lay that at +Jon's feet---um, foot.)

"Perfect love cast out fear": let's face it, Bishop Scarfe's attitude reeks of the latter.

TEC needs more of the former: opposite-sex, same-sex, and perfect!

JC Fisher

This is very discouraging at a time when the GLBT community again seeks fairness and justice in the Episcopal Church. As Integrity's motto prays: All of the Sacraments for all the Baptized.

Bp. Scarfe might well support fairness and equality by recognizing that all marriages for ALL couples should be legally bound in civil jurisdiction, then should be sacramentally bound in God's precinct.

As GC 2009 approaches, I again await with hope that we will be granted a full welcome to participate in all of the sacraments with all of our baptized Christian brothers and sisters. I long to be a full member of the church in which I was reared from infancy. Until that happens, I will remain outside the red doors just as Bp. Robinson was forced to remain outside Lambeth Palace. May I do this with as much dignity and grace as he did.

I am an Episcopalian, gay and an Iowan --- Alan Scarfe is my bishop. I have a good deal of respect and affection for him. And I am not surprised that he chooses to obey both state law and the canons of the church --- even though I do not agree with church law in this instance. It's a very Iowa thing to do. We generally obey the law.

Like Malcolm French, I fail to see how we can criticize lawless schismatics if we behave as lawlessly --- no matter how just our cause may be and no matter how frustrated we are because we can't have what we want right now.

I'm encouraged, too, that Bishop Scarfe, who once thought civil unions were sufficient, now begins to feel differently. Many of my friends and neighbors are at a similar place and many others farther behind.

The future of gay marriage in Iowa is a very ify thing. If our constitution were as easy to amend as California's, the window of opportunity would be very brief. I guarantee it.

What happens in the long run depends in large part on the words, deeds and example of the gay community and its allies. Bishop Scarfe I think is a worthy ally.

Frank D. Myers
Mason City, Iowa

Regarding the Anglican Church of Canada, same-sex couples who wish to marry in church have the option of going to a United Church of Canada congregation. The United Church of Canada, the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, officially supports full civil and religious rights for LGBTs and allows its congregations to choose to marry or not marry same-sex couples. This issue doesn't have to be as difficult as some people seem to think. I have trouble respecting a church which, in Malcolm French's words, "has not yet been able to find its mind on this issue." When the Anglican Church of Canada locates its mind (is that a ghost in the machine, to echo a phrase from philosopher Gilbert Ryle?), they might give us a call.

I am not encouraged that Bishop Scarfe sat back and treated the debate about LGBT rights as a specator sport. As a moral authority he should have been more involved than he was. How could he not have the diocese file a friend of the court brief on such a fundamental issue of human rights and equality before the law?

I am coming to respect the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association more and more these days and believe Episcopalians need to rethink their commitment to human rights, if thee is any.

I don't see criticism of the hypocrisy of the institution as lawlessness, pace Frank Myers. The good Bishop of Iowa has failed to speak out and act up for marriage equality. Same-sex couples who decide they must have a church wedding may simply choose an Open and Affirming United Church of Congregation.

I am beginning that part of the reason the Bishops have been so pathetic is that this denomination is still into theology, doctrines, creeds, and other medieval nonsense and downplays social justice.

The Episcopal Church still could be a bridge between Reformed traditions and the more liturgical traditions but so far it seems too scared to stand for anything of substance.

Gary Paul Gilbert