North Carolina bishops support Supreme Court decision on DOMA

Posted Jun 27, 2013

[Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina press release] Bishop Michael B. Curry, Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple and Bishop Alfred C. Marble of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina voiced their support today for the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevented married same-sex couples in states that recognize their marriages from enjoying the same federal legal protection and benefits that married different-sex couples enjoy:

We give thanks for today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down provisions of DOMA and take a step toward full marriage equality. While we respect that many of our brothers and sisters of all religious stripes are undergoing personal, congregational and denominational discernment regarding what their faith says about marriage equality, our faith leads us to view the Supreme Court’s decision as a blessing.

As the first book of the Bible declares, every human being has been created in the “image of God.” Our value and worth as people derives from holding that image within us, and that value and worth is conferred equally to all. In this way, human equality was decreed by God at the Creation. The recent decision by the Supreme Court heads in the direction of acknowledging that truth of God. There is more work to be done before we realize full human equality for all in our nation and in our world. But we are thankful for this important step on the journey to “freedom and justice for all.”

The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina consists of more than 40,000 baptized members, 117 churches and 10 chaplaincies and campus ministries.


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