On the whole, a pastor’s job is not particularly dangerous. Most of us who serve communities of faith aren’t called upon to jump out of airplanes or to put out forest fires. It’s true, clergy are at higher risk of heart disease, stress and depression than the general population, but that’s because too many of us can’t resist that second piece of pound cake at the covered-dish supper and don’t take proper care of ourselves.
I was surprised, therefore, to hear about identical bills recently filed in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate, informally titled the Pastor Protection Act. Protection from what? I wondered. From spitballs fired by unruly Sunday school scholars? From clock-watchers who rise up in arms when worship runs too long? From irate parents whose children aren’t cast as Joseph or Mary in the Christmas pageant?
No, those threats actually exist. According to House Bill 43 and Senate Bill 110, I need to be protected from an altogether imaginary danger — that of getting sued by a couple I decline to marry.
In the course of my ministry of more than 37 years and as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, I have seldom felt conscience-bound to turn down a couple seeking marriage. In those rare instances when there was a red flag too blatant to ignore — verbal or physical abuse, for instance — I have referred the couple to therapy and declined to perform the marriage.
Under my denomination’s constitution, making that decision is my sacred obligation as an ordained teaching elder. And under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, making that decision is my right as a person of faith.
We Presbyterians have a motto: The church can make no law to bind the conscience. I feel blessed to live in a country that says the same about the state. The state can’t bind the conscience, either. No one can require me to marry — or not to marry — any couple.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding marriage equality, however, some people opposed to the court’s decision have been mongering an imaginary fear — the fear that same-sex couples are out to get any clergy person who refuses to marry them and any congregation that declines to host their wedding.
Hence the so-called Pastor Protection Act, which states that “a clergy member or minister may not be required to solemnize any marriage or provide services, accommodations, facilities, goods or privileges related to the solemnization, formation or celebration of marriage if such an action would cause the church, organization or individual to violate a sincerely held religious belief …”
Only God knows what’s in the heart of any other person, but I strongly suspect that behind this bit of spurious legislation is the same old homophobia that has haunted our culture for centuries.
By proposing to protect pastors like me from an imaginary threat, HB 43 and SB 110 strike yet another blow against Floridians who face actual threats every day, due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Not only are these bills unnecessary; they’re incendiary. They pour gasoline on a fire that I, as a person of faith, believe God would have us extinguish.
I respect faith leaders who would decline to marry a couple for any reason dictated by their conscience. Some clergy refuse to marry people who have been divorced, couples who are already living together, or couples who don’t profess the same religious faith. Why is it that these clerics suddenly need protection from same-sex couples?
I’m thinking that these bills have a lot more to do with political machination than clergy protection. Fear is a powerful tool for motivating — and misdirecting — voters.
To the proponents of the Pastor Protection Act: Thanks, but no thanks. I didn’t need protection before the Supreme Court decision, and I don’t need protection now.
The Rev. Brant S. Copeland is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee.
