Lutherans Seeking to Have it Both Ways

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA"), my own denomination currently, is continuing to struggle with the issue of openly gay clergy in committed relationships. The Church leadership is still reluctant to take on the flat earth element withing the Church that continues to reject modern medical and mental health knowledge that confirms that sexual orientation is not a choice. As a result the proposal being floated would be to allow individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. In my view, at some point the leadership must confront the element in the Church that refuses to concede that just maybe the ignorant, uneducated authors of the Old Testament got it wrong in their treatment of homosexuality. Accommodating ignorance and superstition will ultimately undermine the Church just as surely as risking the exodus of the Neanderthals. How this issue is resolved is obviously important to me and will likely influence whether or not I remain in the ELCA. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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The nation's largest Lutheran denomination will consider allowing individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, an attempt to avoid the sort of infighting that has threatened to tear other churches apart. A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that course Thursday in a long-awaited report on ministry standards.

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The report, issued at the same time as a broader church social statement on human sexuality, seeks balance on an issue dividing many Protestant churches. Both documents will be considered in August in Minneapolis at the biannual convention of the 4.7-million member denomination.

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Church members on both sides of the issue, however, were dissatisfied with the proposal. Conservatives called it a rejection of Scripture and an advocate for gay clergy said some of the elements take "a step backward." Gays and lesbians can now serve as clergy in the ELCA if they remain celibate, although some congregations have challenged the system and hired pastors in gay relationships. Heterosexual clergy and professional lay workers are to abstain from sex outside marriage. The proposed change would cover those in "lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

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The report identifies fault lines in the church on the gay clergy question, including disagreement over the nature of sin, biblical interpretation, what's best for people with same-sex orientation and the role of social sciences and biology in forming judgments. . . . Leaders of the conservative group Lutheran CORE said they would work to defeat the proposals, describing them as a rejection of Scripture and contrary to the wishes of most church members.