Fundies attack in San Jose
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc.../printstory.jsp
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Gay-vow backlash brewing in S.J.
EVANGELICALS SEEK TO TOSS OUT COUNCIL RULING
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
Incensed by the city of San Jose's decision to recognize same-sex marriages, a group of evangelical Christians has hired a well-regarded Sacramento consultant to explore a recall effort or ballot initiative to overturn the action.
``The repercussions are going to be different here than in San Francisco,'' said Bill Buchholz, pastor of the Family Community Church, of the council's March 9 vote. ``People make jokes about San Francisco. We don't want them making jokes about San Jose.''
Sacramento-based Russo, Marsh + Rogers will begin by surveying Silicon Valley attitudes before recommending a course of action, said Larry Pegram, a city council member for two terms in the 1970s who attends one of the churches involved, South Valley Christian. The firm's successes include the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis and the campaign for Proposition 22, the state initiative defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The firm could not be reached for comment Monday.
In Silicon Valley, the evangelical clout could be potent. San Jose has the largest concentration of evangelical megachurches -- those that draw more than 2,000 people to multiple Sunday services -- in Northern California, according to a study by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research. Most megachurches are in Southern California but in the north, no city has more than San Jose's four.
A conservative estimate puts the city's evangelical church membership at 20,000. And in general, the churches are experiencing rapid growth. Evangelicals believe in the literal truth of the Bible, including that God intended marriage to be between a man and a woman.
Political observers say it's not inconceivable the groups could collect the nearly 46,000 signatures needed to qualify a mayoral recall for the ballot. A referendum would take about 19,000 signatures.
``Overturning a city law would be unusual, but I wouldn't discount it,'' said Bill Spohn, a professor of religion at Santa Clara University. ``If you're a church leader, it's an issue you can really galvanize people around. In terms of politics, it's not so much money but the people they can mobilize.''
In 1996, a coalition of taxpayer groups and evangelical congregations collected 60,000 signatures to stop a domestic partnership registry approved by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from taking effect. Two years later, the board, seeking to avoid a referendum over the controversial measure, voted 4-1 to repeal its own ordinance.
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales said he hopes cooler heads prevail.
``This could be incredibly divisive for the people of San Jose and possibly their congregations,'' he said. ``I hope they'll allow some time to go by and see what the court says.''
But Gonzales' own unwillingness to wait until the state Supreme Court ruling expected this summer heightened the pastors' frustration. They met with the mayor before the vote, but he seemed to have his mind made up, said Doug Tiffin, one of the group of about 20 pastors at the meeting.
``We pleaded with him to wait, and he dismissed us,'' said Tiffin, pastor of the Crossroads Bible Church.
Recent findings by the Mercury News that the mayor is collecting campaign funds beyond city limits has only added to their consternation.
``It's a leadership style that seems to dismiss the input of the people,'' Tiffin said. ``He seems to put himself above the law, which we feel is poor leadership.''
The organizing group includes the pastors of Family Community Church, Jubilee Christian Center, Cathedral of Faith, South Valley Christian Church -- who altogether preach to nearly 15,000 on a Sunday -- and other evangelical churches whose services attract 1,000 to 2,000. Interest in the campaign is reportedly growing outside that church coalition.
``If there is action taken, and I sense there probably will be, it will certainly be broader-based than just a group of pastors,'' Pegram said. He belongs to the Values Advocacy Council of Santa Clara County, a year-old organization that helped raise $10,000 to hire the consultants. ``The city council decision was certainly the catalyst to bring all of the interested people together.''
This is the ``sleeping giant'' that local clergy warned would be awakened by the council's action in response to San Francisco's authorization of same-sex marriages last month. Thousands of couples from all over the country flocked there to be wed.
One of them was San Jose city employee Tina Salas, who then sought city benefits available to married couples but not domestic partners -- for example, health care for the couple's children. Her request prompted the city to move swiftly to allow her to immediately qualify for marriage benefits.
For Gonzales, it was an equal-rights decision, one that will be rescinded if the state Supreme Court rules against same-sex marriage this summer.
A good number of Christian pastors supported the city's decision. And Santa Clara County filed a friend of the court brief to help San Francisco as it battles the state over the right to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
To most of the South Bay's evangelical pastors, who largely don't support domestic partners' policies but have chosen not to oppose them, sanctification of same-sex marriage crossed the line -- violating not only a moral code but state law -- Proposition 22.
``You have a city official telling you same-sex marriage is a civil right. We want people to understand this is someone redefining something that God created,'' Buchholz said. ``We may not be unanimous about this, but the majority of the churches are united. We're going to take a stand.''
The same-sex marriage issue promises to be as galvanizing as abortion, at the local, as well as national, level, said Kyle Fisk, executive administrator of the National Association of Evangelicals.
``Frankly, this may be the mobilizing issue,'' he said. ``And it's not just evangelical Christians but Catholics, Mormons and Jews who are concerned about protecting the definition of marriage and the family as the basic social structure of our country.''
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