THE WATER COOLER FROM FACEBOOK. COM/STATESMAN

In the immediate wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last week legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, Austin’s faith community reacted in varying ways. The Austin diocese expressed its disappointment with the ruling, while others like the Central Presbyterian Church were prepared immediately to conduct weddings. For others, there was a gray area. The Rev. Sid Hall of Trinity United Methodist Church in Austin’s Hyde Park said the Methodist Church’s stance on gay marriage put them “out of step” with the culture and his own morals. “I want to treat gay and straight people by the same standards.”

Tom Brown: Unfortunately in the United Methodist Church, at least in this conference, if a pastor should marry gays, s/he can be defrocked or possibly worse. So, they need to be prudent in what they say and do. One assistant pastor in Austin had to relocate with her family to another state where the local conference accepted gays.

Alex Cole: There are a lot of things that I would like to do that are forbidden by the Bible. “Culture” and “what I believe is moral and right” don’t enter into the equation.

Lindsay Harper: This was a ruling on marriage, not matrimony!

Janet Shires: If they can marry people who have committed adultery, why can’t they marry gays? Pastors can refuse to marry anyone if they don’t care any more about their parishioners than that.

Desi Mora: Who cares what the church believes on marriage? It’s a social contract between two people to live together and to form a family. I have been married for almost 40 years never married in any church — are they going to tell me that we are not married now because the church does not like it? They do not have a monopoly on marriages. Grow up and move on, and do not forget you guys are not paying taxes.

Clay Daniel: I don’t think Jesus was concerned with being “defrocked.” Jesus was everything the church is not.