No one's forcing them to do gay weddings. They can simply stop doing "weddings for profit". They are being forced to choose another profession, but so do we insist that burglars do the same. (No, I am not equating these people with burglars - just pointing out the legal angle).
The whole wedding industry is going to be effected by this - but the Church, IMO, should not be part of the wedding industry. And anybody who does not believe there is such a thing as the "wedding industry" has apparently never had to finance one.
The Church (God's Church) should never have sanctioned any connection of Church weddings to state regulation. IMO, the Church's role in Biblical marriage is or should be completely separate from civil authority. As such, there is no practical or Biblical reason for churches to charge any fee for weddings.
No money changing hands - no authority to regulate. Simple.
JMO. I don't like the way things are going either. I don't agree with any attempt to regulate what The Church may do regarding weddings with her own time and property. But two individuals marrying people for profit does not constitute a Church, IMO.
FreeMe, you're DEAD on with this one. I am a pastor in the ELCA and this wedding situation is going to get really sticky if someone (or someones) decide to make a stink of it following the recent SCOTUS non-decision. First, this "wedding chapel" is NOT a congregation. Wedding ceremonies occur as a part of the regular worship life of a congregation and the pastor or pastors called to that congregation preside over the marriage. Unfortunately, this means that when I preside at a marriage, I am simultaneously acting as an officer of the state and a called and ordained minister of Word and Sacrament (marriage is not a sacrament in the Lutheran church, BTW) I don't do weddings for profit - I do them because we as the Church of God bless the love and relationship that has grown between two people as a reflection of God's love for the world in and through Jesus Christ. Do I regularly receive honorariums for weddings? Yes - but not required. For non-members I charge a set fee for premarital counseling services. The honorarium and any costs associated with musicians in the service are minute compared to the wedding industry that FreeMe is talking about. My ideal wedding service is one that occurs on Sunday morning during the regularly scheduled worship service and takes about 5-10 extra minutes within the service. It is public and includes celebration of Holy Communion. I've never gotten to preside at such a service, but I always suggest it.
What we have in mind with a wedding now days is actually modeled on a Victorian court wedding, no matter if it is in a church building or some other venue. The church doesn't need to be an official part of this - it is the one place where the idea of separation of Church and State has miserably failed in our nation. Unfortunately it is the reality in which we live right now.
