Open Minded and Closed Minded Lutherans

The Church of Sweden - a sister church to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - has elected Eva Brunne, 55 (pictured at left), as the world's first openly lesbian bishop this past week thereby demonstrating that some within the Lutheran Church have embraced modern knowledge on sexual orientation and grasp that LGBT individuals are fully human and entitled to full membership in the Church. Here are some highlights from Metro.US:

*
Yesterday was a historic one for the church: Eva Brunne, 55, became the world’s first openly lesbian bishop. Only two weeks ago the Lutheran Church of Sweden — the country’s largest — said yes to same-sex marriages. Metro spoke to Eva Brunne before her ordination in Stockholm.
*
You’ll be the world’s first openly lesbian bishop. How does it feel to have so much public and media attention devoted to your sexual orientation?
*
I don’t think a heterosexual bishop would ever be asked about his wife or marriage, but I am happy if I, to some degree, can be a symbolic figure. Of course there are other things in my life that qualify me as a bishop.
*
Sadly, some parishes within the ELCA here in the USA are a different story from the Church of Sweden - such as the Roanoke, Virginia, parish that I discussed in a prior post that has generated comments from some of the church's members, including one that I received yesterday (I chose not to publish it in its entirety). I do not intend to be cruel to the writer of the most recent comment, but the intellectual dishonesty and contortions used to justify clinging to a few arguably anti-gay passages in the Bible, while basically ignoring prohibitions against divorce are unbelievable. Indeed, after indicating that no variance should be allowed vis-a-vis anti-gay passages, the writer said:

*
God does not like divorce but accepts it when unbelievers are involved (1Corin 7:10-15). In the same context, if a church leader is experiencing emotional difficulty because of a messy divorce it would be advised that he/she take an absence from their leadership duties until such problems are dealt with. . . . What is really sad in this whole situation, is the fact that only a small number of ELCA churches are taking the correct stance.

*

To the writer apparently these passages are to be ignored while passages purportedly against homosexuality are inviolate:

*
Mark 10:11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
*
Mark 10:12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
*

To me, these passages are pretty clear and I see no way that the writer can find ways around them yet mindlessly cling to the literal application of passages that do not effect her. The truth is that the Bible CANNOT be applied literally. When it is applied literally, all kinds of horrors can be justified, ranging from slavery, the murder of women and children, the subjugation of women, racial segregation, etc. The list goes on and on. Why is it so difficult to understand that the Bible was written over 2000 years ago by people who lacked modern knowledge - indeed, they believed the universe revolved around the earth - and knew nothing about modern mental health knowledge? Yet only when it comes to condemning gays, is a literal application acceptable to some.

*

And as for the writer's comment that "all people are welcome in her church," she has a strange view of what being "welcome" means. Being told your relationships are sinful and that you cannot be a member of the clergy is not my idea of being welcome. I guess this woman believes blacks found segregation to be a welcome experience as well. It boggles my mind how people can be so mindlessly bigoted. My relationship with the boyfriend in no way affects her and were we to marry, her marriage would not be impacted one iota.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden Says Yes to Gay Marriage

With some far right members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America already having vapors and conniption fits over the Churchwide Assembly vote this past August to allow partnered gay clergy, this move to allow same sex church weddings - which I support completely - by the ELCA's sister Church of Sweden ought to put the Neanderthals into utter aneurysm territory. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a trend where modern knowledge of the immutability of one's sexual orientation will trump ignorance and bigotry. Here are some highlights from The Local, a Swedish English publication:

*

The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning. The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.

*

“The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” Åsa Regnér, head of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) - the country's largest gay rights group, said in a statement. In June, the church board took the first step towards permitting same-sex marriages by submitting a petition to the Church of Sweden Synod – the church's highest decision-making body.

*

The board proposed the church continue to perform wedding ceremonies following new legislation which came into force on May 1st and grants same-sex couples in Sweden the same legal marriage status as heterosexuals.

*

Current church regulations will likely continue to apply in practice, with some alterations, such as replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” when a homosexual couple is married. Individual pastors would also still be able to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

*

The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church.

*

Not surprisingly, homophobes in other denominations - which in my opinion have forgotten the real Gospel message - have gone off the deep end as further reported by The Local:

*

Representatives from the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Sweden, however, were disappointed by Thursday’s decision.“It is with great sorry that we receive news that the Church of Sweden’s Synod has today decided to wed same-sex couples that it will be referred to as marriage.

*

Church of England spokesperson Steve Jenkins confirmed that relations between the two churches may be headed for a turbulent phase in the wake of the decision.

Sweden Approves Gay Marriage

The march of gay equality continues overseas even as the USA continues to allow impermissible religious belief to impact the civil laws in this country in violation of the separation of church and state allegedly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The latest nation to embrace gay equality under the law is Sweden which today saw its legislature vote for gender neutral marriage by a large margin. Sweden joins a growing list of nations where gays are entitled to equal marriage rights or rights approximating marriage. No doubt the professional Christian set in the USA will be shrieking yet again as if the world were ending. Here are some highlights from Top News:

*

Stockholm - A broad majority in the Swedish parliament Wednesday approved adoption of same-sex marriage legislation after a six-hour debate. Six of the seven parties in parliament had backed the proposal drafted by the Committee on Civil Affairs to introduce a gender- neutral marriage law. . . . The proposal was approved by a 261 to 22 vote, with 16 abstentions.

*

The new legislation is to take effect as of May 1, and replaces the legislation approved in 1995 that allows same-sex couples to form a union in Sweden via registered partnership. Couples who have registered partnership can keep that status or amend it by an application to the authorities or marry.

*

The changes will not affect church marriage ceremonies for the time being. The Church of Sweden, a Lutheran church, was this autumn due to discuss its stance. It was disestablished in 2000, receiving the same "faith community" designation as other faiths, such as the Pentecostal, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Jewish and Muslim. A majority of bishops in the Church of Sweden in February said the church should no longer handle legal registrations of marriage.

*

For the USA, a solution to the issue of same sex marriage is to get the churches of all denominations out of the civil marriage business. Marriage should be a civil law issue handled by the government and church marriage ceremonies should be left t the churches to decide how they will or will not accept same sex unions.

Church of Sweden, Sweden's Biggest Church Supports Gay Marriage Bill

This denomination, the Church of Sweden, is a sister church to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America a/k/a the ELCA (my current denomination). Hopefully, this will put further pressure on the ELCA to make a major position change at the next general meeting of the denomination. The Church of Norway, another ELCA sister church is already moving along the lines of the Church of Sweden. Here are highlights from 365gay.com ( http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/12/121207sweden.htm)

(Stockholm) The Church of Sweden said Wednesday that it approves of legislation that would make laws governing marriage gender neutral. The denomination describes itself as Evangelical Lutheran and its membership includes about 75 percent of Sweden's population. In making its statement of support for the bill now before Parliament the Church, however, said it would continue to use the word "marriage" to refer to opposite sex unions.

The statement said that marriage and partnership are "forms of partnership of equal value". The support of the Church is considered the last major hurdle the legislation faced before going before Parliament. Six of Sweden's seven political parties support the legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry, leaving only the small Christian Democratic Party opposing the measure.

If passed it would create gender-neutral marriage, allow churches to perform ceremonies, provide same-sex couples with the right to adopt children and allow lesbians to have artificial insemination. Sweden already has civil partnerships under a law enacted in 1995 that gives most of the rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples who register. But it does not provide for adoption of IVF.

A parliamentary committee studying the issue last year called civil partnerships outdated and recommended Parliament allow same-sex marriage.