Marriage and the ministry.

The United Methodist Church's debate over same-sex unions is making headlines. But the denomination is hardy alone. From Reform Judaism to the Episcopal Church, religious bodies across the nation are grappling with the same issue.

On February 11 a Methodist Church panel in California decided not to bring formal charges against 68 ministers who blessed a 1999 union between Ellie Charlton and Jeanne Barnett. The Rev. Donald Fado, who presided over the Sacramento ceremony, described it as an act of protest against the Methodist ban on same-sex unions.

Despite the resolution regarding Charlton's and Barnett's union, Bishop Melvin Talbert of the church's California-Northern Nevada Conference quickly pointed out: "This decision will not resolve the tension within the community."

Judaism's liberal Reform branch also will debate same-sex blessings at a March 26-29 convention in Greensboro, N.C. Officials in the Women's Rabbinic Network have vowed to press for legalization of the blessings by submitting a resolution for a vote. "Each Rabbi should decide about officiation according to his/her own rabbinic conscience," the resolution reads.

In the Episcopal Church, the Right Rev. John Palmer Croneberger, bishop of the Newark, N.J., diocese, said in late January that he would support ceremonies for same-sex couples living in "faithful, committed, and monogamous" relationships. "We don't need to make a big fuss over this," he told The Bergen Record. "We just need to do it."

Meanwhile, the debate in the 3.6-million-member Presbyterian Church threatens to split the church into two bodies. Two proposals, which will be introduced at the church's general assembly in July, would allow pro-gay congregations to withdraw from the denomination without sanction. Such a move would not only leave the Presbyterian Church under the control of conservatives who oppose same-sex unions but would also signal further escalation of what continues to be an explosive debate among the nation's religious bodies.