ABSTRACT
Mainline Presbyterians and mainline Protestants are also nearly identical in party identification and political ideology. Mainline Presbyterians constitute 1.4 percent of adult Americans. The American Revolution divided Episcopalians as Northerners tended to support England and maintain related religious ties, while Southerners tended to be more supportive of the revolution. The constitution was adopted in Philadelphia in 1789, unifying Episcopalians across the United States into one national church. The interviews provide some firsthand insights by regional religious authorities for a qualitative dimension toward understanding Presbyterian Church U.S.A. responses to marriage equality, while recognizing that the small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. The standing commission on liturgy and music had previously released a long study with multidimensional reflections on marriage equality and proposed liturgies. Advances in same-sex marriage first occurred in smaller states where people were more likely to know each other and be accustomed to living and working together.
