Don't Weaken Church

We should call on Memorial Church to allow same-sex blessing ceremonies. But when we do, we should call on them in the name of God, not the name of Harvard.

Memorial Church is a Harvard church in the sense that it serves Harvard students, faculty and staff. We might ask it to accommodate itself to the Harvard community for the sake of peace, a general calm in the community, but we cannot and should not ask it to waver in its commitment to principle. Not only will such accommodation weaken the church, it will weaken the moral force of its pronouncements.

Therefore, when we call for Memorial Church to perform same-sex ceremonies, we should do so out of a sense of moral purpose, not out of obedience to Harvard.