8 major religious groups in US prohibit same-sex marriage, according to study

A protester, angry with the US Supreme Court's decision last week that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to wed, carries a sign in front of the court building in Washington on June 29, 2015. Reuters

Eight of the largest religious institutions in the United States oppose same-sex marriage, which was recently legalised by the Supreme Court nationwide.

According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, the major religious groups in America that prohibit gay marriages include American Baptist Churches, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), Islam, and Roman Catholicism.

Other religion institutions that do not allow unions between individuals of the same sexes are Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Orthodox Jewish Movement, Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church.

In a statement last Friday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the fourth largest Christian denomination in the US, acknowledged the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage but maintained it does not approve of such unions.

"The Court's decision does not alter the Lord's doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman ordained by God," the Christian church said.

It also stressed that families with a mother and a father are the "anchor of society."

"While showing respect for those who think differently, the Church will continue to teach and promote marriage between a man and a woman as a central part of our doctrine and practice," the church said.

For Muslims, meanwhile, marriage is strictly "a contract between a man and a woman in which the man provides the woman with financial support in return for exclusive sexual access."

There were past attempts within the United Methodist Church to change their Book of Discipline to allow same-sex marriage, but its faithful rejected the move in a General Conference in 2012.

The religious groups that allow same-sex marriage, meanwhile, include the Conservative Jewish Movement, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reform Jewish Movement, the Society of Friends, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches.

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