WETHERSFIELD, Conn.--Differing views on homosexuality and gay marriage have splintered another denomination, according to the Associated Press. A Wethersfield congregation voted June 6 to leave the United Church of Christ.
According to the report, members of the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield voted 510-to-59 to break away from the denomination, saying they don't agree with the UCC's support of gay rights and gay marriage. Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and Episcopal denominations have also lost members over the issue within the past year.
The Wethersfield congregation, the largest United Church of Christ church in New England, was independent for most of its 369-year history. It joined the United Church of Christ in 1961.
Congregation members held hands and sang a hymn in the sanctuary of the church's historic meetinghouse after the vote. A similar vote last year failed by a slim margin.
The Reverend Davida Foy Crabtree, conference minister of the UCC Connecticut Conference, said she was saddened by the vote. She reaffirmed, however, that the denomination will continue to include many perspectives, such as pro- and anti-homosexual marriage opinions, within the church.
