http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7205
[Virtue Online] 7 Dec 2007--In 1988, the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, the United Church of Canada terminated a historic journey and jumped into the abyss. Founded in 1925 with the union of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches plus varied Union churches, it dominated much of the Canadian scene outside Quebec and was to be found in virtually every town or village. Although still large in census figures in 2007, it is rapidly declining in attendance while rising in average age.
The historic act of deciding at its national General Council that sexual orientation was no barrier to ordination gave a jump-start to a process that had radical implications for Canada. On the one hand, despite the claims that this really was no change, since never in church documents had sexual orientation been linked to ordination, this facilitated the rapid dismantlement in Canada of heterosexual marriage as the legal norm over the 1990s.
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