Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Elect First Openly Gay Bishop

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") has joined the Episcopal Church in advancing LGBT equality by electing its first openly gay bishop.   I applaud the move and it is illustrative of why I became a member of the ELCA after I left the Roman Catholic Church in disgust over the Vatican orchestrated worldwide conspiracy to protect child rapists and avoid compensating victims of sexual abuse.  No doubt far right Christofascists will decry the action of the ELCA, but I hope that gays seeking a new church home - especially former Catholics - will consider the ELCA as an option.  Here are highlights from Gay Star News:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first openly gay bishop just four years after it began ordaining openly gay clergy.

The church’s Southwest California Synod voted Friday to elect the Reverend R Guy Erwin, a North Hollywood professor of theology, to the role during a three day assembly in Woodland Hills.  Erwin has taught theology and the history of Christianity at Cal Lutheran University since 2000 and was ordained in 2011.

Emily Eastwood, executive director of Reconciling Works, the Evangelical Lutheran LGBT network, told the LA Times that Erwin’s election as bishop marked a turning point for LGBTs in the church.
‘One of our own has been chosen not in spite of being gay, but because he is truly gifted and skilled for the office,’ she told the LA Times, ‘Once again, today we are proud to be Lutherans.’

Erwin and his long term partner Rob Flynn are both members of St Matthew’s Lutheran Church in North Hollywood.

It is unlikely that Erwin’s election as bishop will result in any conflict within the church as most congregations that oppose LGBT clergy have already left the church.  In 2009 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided that people who are in ‘publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships’ were acceptable for ordination – though Evangelical Lutheran congregations that do not wish to ordain LGBT clergy are not required to.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Affiliated College Opens the Door to Gay Wedding

Eric Palmer, left, and Ethan Tarvin plan to get married in Augustana College's Ascension Chapel. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune / January 10, 2013)

As regular readers know, I am very hard on many Christian denominations, especially the Roman Catholic Church of which I was once a member, for the hate and bigotry that they promote daily against LGBT individuals with no regard whatsoever for the lives that are damaged or ruined or lost to suicide.  Likewise, I often criticize the "good Christians" as I call them who do too little to counter the incessant hate and nastiness spewed by the Christofascists.  But there are some denominations that are working for LGBT equality albeit not at the rate I would want.  One such denomination is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") of which I now count myself a member.   Highlighting the ELCA's pro-equality agenda are developments at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, an ELCA affiliated college, which has opened its chapel doors to same sex weddings.  The Chicago Tribune looks at the development.  Here are article highlights:

When Eric Palmer came to Augustana College four years ago, he wasn't expecting to fall in love. And he certainly wasn't expecting to be a pioneer when he requested to use the chapel to declare his devotion to his fiance.

But his betrothed is Ethan Tarvin, also a senior at the liberal arts college, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. When the Rock Island, Ill., school recently decided to allow its chapel to be used for the blessings of same-sex unions, another barrier quietly fell.

"I didn't have to wrestle with this. ... It was a matter of integrity," said President Steve Bahls, citing the school's anti-discrimination policy. "If you say you don't discriminate based on sexual orientation but you can't use our chapel, then you're a hypocrite."

A decade ago, Bahls said he would have rejected such a request. Even if he did agree, he would have faced swarms of angry alumni — instead of the overwhelming support he received for what is believed to be the first of 26 ELCA colleges nationwide to take such a stand, he said.

For Palmer and Tarvin, their choice of venue for a fall 2013 wedding wasn't about activism, but deep ties to the campus where many life-changing experiences occurred.  "Augustana is just a very sentimental place for us," said Palmer, who met Tarvin in 2011, when he registered him to vote. The two hit it off and got engaged last April Fools' Day.  Said Tarvin: "I met Eric on campus, proposed on campus and it seemed only logical to have the ceremony in the chapel. ... It really represents my personal, professional and religious life."

In a 2009 statement, the churchwide assembly acknowledged that consensus on this dmatter doesn't exist in the ELCA and allowed congregations that choose to do so to find ways to recognize and support same-sex, monogamous relationships, according to the Rev. Mark Wilhelm, program director for ELCA colleges.

"The statement acknowledges that members of our church hold various convictions — and Augustana is reflecting one angle on this," Wilhelm said.

Because the college is affiliated with the ELCA, but not a congregation, the final decision rested with the 58-year-old Bahls. "I asked myself: Is this consistent with church doctrine? Yes. Is it consistent with Augustana's doctrine. Yes. So, to give life to our anti-discrimination policy, I had to make it available to all."

Bahls informed the local bishop and the board of trustees, but did not issue a press release. The news leaked out in November and he braced himself for a firestorm — which never happened.  "That was probably the biggest surprise is how this has been overwhelmingly accepted — not unanimously, but for every negative comment, I received a dozen that were positive," said Bahls, who called each critic to discuss his verdict.

I am proud to be a member of the ELCA and once again urge those looking for a church home - especially those raised Catholic - to check out their local ELCA parish (make sure it is ELCA affiliated and not an affiliate of the anti-gay Missouri Synod Lutheran Church).  The services are nearly identical to a Catholic Mass and one will no longer be associated with the morally bankrupt child rapist enablers and protectors in the Catholic Church hierarchy.

Liberals Need to To Recover 'Hijacked' Christianity

Dan Savage is saying something that I have long advocated: progressive, non-hate filled Christians need to stop yielding the field to the Christofascist who have turned Christianity into something abhorrent that seems focused on the dissemination of hate and fear rather than the Gospel message of Christ.  These "good Christians" need to forcefully speak out and boldly confront the lies and despicable propaganda campaigns of the Christofascists.  From time to time it happens - e.g., some of the ELCA and Episcopal bishops who spoke out against anti-gay initiatives in Minnesota and Washington State - but sadly such is the rare exception and not the norm.  Why does this happen?  Because, in my view, too many pastors and bishops are more afraid of offending hate filled bigots than doing what is morally right.  Because of this cowardice, the Christian brand , if you will, is being destroyed and younger generations are simply walking away from religion.  Candidly, nowadays when I heard someone loudly pronounce that they are a Christian, my initial reaction is negative - I assume that they are a horrible bigot and hypocrite until it is proven otherwise. I suspect that I am not alone in this reaction.  Here are highlights from The Advocate on this issue:

Dan Savage wants liberal Christians to speak up in their churches and speak out about supporting their LGBT friends, family members, and fellow parishioners, the columnist and LGBT activist said in a video released today.

In the latest episode of Savage's new web series, American Savage, the founder of the It Gets Better Project says he's used to fielding complaints as a columnist from Christians who take offense at his across-the-board condemnation of Christians as antigay. 

"We're not all like that," Savage says he hears on a regular basis from people of faith responding to his syndicated sex advice column, Savage Love. He's heard the refrain so often that he's conjured a clever acronym to refer to liberal Christians who support LGBT equality: NALT Christians, or "Not All Like That."

"But the reason so many of us have the idea that you are, indeed, all like that, and the reason that Christian has become synonymous with antigay is because of these loud voices on the Christian right," says Savage in a featured clip of the gay activist speaking at Arizona State University. "And they've hijacked Christianity, with your complicit silence enabling their hijacking of it."

Is Christianity Dying?

An op-ed in the New York Times looks at the decline of liberal Protestant denominations and is critical of these churches that are trying to change with the times and society.  But the malaise isn't limited to liberal denominations - e.g., Episcopal Church, ELCA, etc. - and the Catholic Church in the USA would have recoded significant declines but for the influx of Hispanic immigrants.  With that wave of immigration slowing, the real story may begin to make itself evident.  On the conservative end of the spectrum, the Southern Baptist Convention is struggling as younger members leave once they go off to college.  Yes, some of the mega churches are growing, but having gone to some of them in the past, they seem most focused on the prosperity gospel and provide services that are more akin to a stage production than any traditional connotation of a church service.  

Personally, I believe the real problem for Christianity is that it is based on a book that is increasingly shown to be untrue -the scientific evidence of the non-existence of Adam and Eve is perhaps the most damaging example of late.  With out the fall of man as focused on Adam and Eve, the entire redemption story line leading to Christ falls apart.   Church then ultimately becomes a social outlet that people go to in order to feel better about themselves or on occasion do good works.  With more and more competing social outlets, the attraction simply is falling away.  That leaves denominations left with fear and/or instilled guilt - specialties of the Roman Catholic Church - as the only real stick to keep people coming through the door.  And with the decline of liberal denominations, the intolerant, generally hate-filled message of far right churches increasingly becomes the face of Christianity.  The result? Almost a third of the milennial generation has walked away for organized religion because of its ugly image and ugly conduct towards so many in society.  Here are some op-ed highlights:

IN 1998, John Shelby Spong, then the reliably controversial Episcopal bishop of Newark, published a book entitled “Why Christianity Must Change or Die.” Spong was a uniquely radical figure — during his career, he dismissed almost every element of traditional Christian faith as so much superstition — but most recent leaders of the Episcopal Church have shared his premise. Thus their church has spent the last several decades changing and then changing some more, from a sedate pillar of the WASP establishment into one of the most self-consciously progressive Christian bodies in the United States.

Yet instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace. Last week, while the church’s House of Bishops was approving a rite to bless same-sex unions, Episcopalian church attendance figures for 2000-10 circulated in the religion blogosphere. They showed something between a decline and a collapse.

This decline is the latest chapter in a story dating to the 1960s. The trends unleashed in that era — not only the sexual revolution, but also consumerism and materialism, multiculturalism and relativism — threw all of American Christianity into crisis, and ushered in decades of debate over how to keep the nation’s churches relevant and vital.

Traditional believers, both Protestant and Catholic, have not necessarily thrived in this environment. The most successful Christian bodies have often been politically conservative but theologically shallow, preaching a gospel of health and wealth rather than the full New Testament message. 

But if conservative Christianity has often been compromised, liberal Christianity has simply collapsed. Practically every denomination — Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian — that has tried to adapt itself to contemporary liberal values has seen an Episcopal-style plunge in church attendance.

But if liberals need to come to terms with these failures, religious conservatives should not be smug about them. The defining idea of liberal Christianity — that faith should spur social reform as well as personal conversion — has been an immensely positive force in our national life. No one should wish for its extinction, or for a world where Christianity becomes the exclusive property of the political right. 

What should be wished for, instead, is that liberal Christianity recovers a religious reason for its own existence. As the liberal Protestant scholar Gary Dorrien has pointed out, the Christianity that animated causes such as the Social Gospel and the civil rights movement was much more dogmatic than present-day liberal faith.

Frankly, I believe the decline is irreversible and will likely accelerate as the backward and reactionary conservative denominations drive even more members of the younger generations away from organized religion entirely.

Irish Archbishop: Catholic Church In Ireland at Breaking Point

Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin (pictured at left) has been one of the very few members of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy who has indicated a desire to clean house and admit to the fact that Catholicism is collapsing in Ireland - a nation once considered among the most Catholic countries on earth. Unfortunately, the rest of the hierarchy and many in the laity around the world refuse to open their eyes to the magnitude of the moral bankruptcy of the Church leadership, including Benedict XVI and his anything but saintly predecessor John Paul II who did nothing to weed out predatory priests. Indeed, John Paul II was far more concerned about the reputation of the church than he was about stopping child rapists within the Catholic clergy. Here are highlights from an article in The Guardian that reports on Martin's prognosis for Catholicism in Ireland:

Irish Catholicism is at "breaking point" over the child sex abuse scandals involving the clergy, the leader of Ireland's largest Catholic diocese will say on Sunday. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, will also warn that the paedophile priest controversy is far from over for the Irish church.

In a frank admission of the church's failings on American primetime TV , Martin will say: "There's a real danger today of people saying: 'the child abuse scandal is over, let's bury it, let's move on'.

Regarded as one of the most progressive thinkers in the Irish Catholic church, Martin will appear on CBS's top current affairs show 60 Minutes. He is one of the most senior Catholics to openly criticise the way the hierarchy has handled the abuse allegations.

The head of Dublin's Catholics will tell the programme that "now is not the time to forget" and that the "problems are still there" when it comes to the scandals that have rocked the church and undermined its political power and authority in the Irish Republic.

Archbishop Martin has warned that the church in Ireland needs to make further progress and carry out major reforms before any visit by Pope Benedict could take place.

When Martin was appointed archbishop of Dublin he handed over 65,000 files to the Murphy commission, which was tasked with investigating clerical child abuse in the Irish capital. In his sermons he also confronted the church's leadership over the way they covered up past child abuse scandals by moving priests suspected of being paedophiles into new parishes in other parts of Ireland or abroad. He also met organisations representing the victims of clerical abuse.

It is noteworthy that Martin's predecessor had refused to turn the files over to Irish authorities. An Irish Central story also has some interesting items on what Martin will likely say on 60 Minutes tomorrow night:

Bob Simon’s report looks at how the sexual abuse scandal in Ireland has transformed the way of life.

He shows how the child sex abuse crisis and cover-up in the Catholic Church in Ireland has taken a devastating toll on one of the most Catholic countries in the world. Some parishes that once saw 90 percent Sunday Mass attendance are down to two percent.

A country that once produced so many priests that they were considered an important export now doesn’t have enough for its own churches the report finds.

If the Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church were smart, they both launch major initiatives to attract Catholics who want to remain churchgoers but who are fed up financing the morally bankrupt monsters in the Catholic Church hierarchy. Where the laity likes to face reality or not, by continuing to support their parishes, they are supporting Rome and all of the corrupt protectors of child rapists throughout the Church hierarchy.

Why Do State Legislators Listen to Unindicted Criminal Co-Conspirators and Their Associates?

With same sex marriage legislation now working through the legislatures of Maryland, New Jersey and Washington State, one of the strongest opponents to CIVIL marriage equality will be Roman Catholic bishops. In some instances, perhaps the very same bishops whose dioceses were implicated in the cover up of sexual abuse crimes against children and youth. I've asked before the question of why does anyone listen to these foul clerical bureaucrats. The question takes on new importance now that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the criminal cases now pending in that city against Catholic priests. CBS News looks at the development with these highlights:

PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors on Monday accused the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of being an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a clergy sex abuse case and said the Roman Catholic Church fed predators a steady supply of children.

The comments came in a key hearing before the March trial of a high-ranking church official, a priest and a former priest. Monsignor William Lynn, 61, is charged with conspiring with priests and church officials to keep priests accused of sex abuse in ministry and parishioners in the dark.

"The archdiocese is supplying him with an endless supply of victims," Cipolletti said Monday. The judge asked if prosecutors consider the archdiocese "an unindicted co-conspirator." "Certainly," Cipolletti said. "It's not like there aren't other people (in the archdiocese) involved. There absolutely are."

The February 2011 grand jury report blasted Bevilacqua and his successor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, for their handling of priest abuse complaints but said there wasn't enough evidence to charge them with any crimes.

True, the case in the CBS News piece involves the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but the very same pattern of malfeasance occurred time and time again in virtually 2/3's of U. S. dioceses and countless other ones around the world. Yet despite this, we see the spectacle of Catholic bishops being treated with deference and allowed to testify against CIVIL marriage equality when instead, they or their dioceses likely ought to be under criminal investigation. As case in point is described in a Seattle Post story on hearings taking place before the Washington legislature. Here are some highlights:

The Senate hearing displayed divisions and passions: A Catholic archbishop testified against same-sex marriage. An Evangelican Lutheran Church bishop said congregations that want to marry same-sex couples should be permitted to do so. An Assembly of God pastor arguing against the legislation was followed by a Reform rabbi claiming that religious freedom means allowing gays and lesbians to wed.

Roman Catholic Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who has urged Catholics to lobby legislators against marriage equality, warned of "the grave challenge this legislation poses to the common good."

"The natural structure of human sexuality orders the transmission of human life through man and woman," said Sartain. "Because only the union of a man and a woman can generate new life, no other human relationship is its equivalent."

What about the harm done to the commion good by the rape and sexual abuse of countless tens of thousands of children and youths around the world - all sought to be covered up by the Vatican and its bishops and cardinals? The Catholic Church bishops deserve no deference and legislators with any decency ought to refuse to listen to their disingenus testimony.

There was one bright spot in the testimony in Olympia, however. It was what was said by the ELCA bishop:

A very different view came from the Rt. Rev. Chris Boerger, Northwest bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He noted that the church has approved blessing of same-sex couples in lifelong, loving, monogamous relationships. "We can't call it marriage, you can," Boerger added.

It's not hard given this contrast in denominations to see why to the extent I remain nominally Christian, I want to be a member of the ELCA.

A Lutheran Bishop's Challenge to Catholic Bishops

As long time readers know, one of the first things I did at the beginning of my coming out journey was to distance myself from the Roman Catholic Church in which I had been raised. Why remain in a faith tradition that denigrates you - especially when that same denomination is controlled by those who would rather protect child rapists than turn them over to the police. By coincidence, I ultimately found myself in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") in a parish that for the most part actually seemed to want to practice the Gospel message of Christ. Power, control and manipulation of others, and of course money - the truly sacred things to the Catholic Church hierarchy - seemed to way down the priority list. Then in 2009, after considerable controversy, the ELCA took the step of allowing partnered same sex clergy. Sadly, some of the modern day Pharisees within the parish ranks fled the ELCA and the denomination suffered from "doing the right thing." Now, with the Roman Catholic Church spending millions of dollars to denigrate LGBT individuals, the former presiding bishop of the ELCA has issued a challenge to a group of Roman Catholic bishops. Will they accept the challenge? Probably not. But Bishop Herbert W. Chilstom's op-ed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune clearly sets the standard of what Christian leaders ought to be about in the debate over same sex marriage. Here are some highlights:

May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota? First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that, I must tell you that I believe you are making a significant mistake.

Over my 35 years as an active and retired bishop I have come to know hundreds of gay and lesbian persons. I have yet to meet even one who is opposed to the marriage of one man and one woman. After all, they are the daughters and sons of such unions.

What they cannot understand is why church leaders would oppose their fundamental desire and right to be in partnership with someone they love and respect who happens to be of the same gender and sexual orientation. They don't understand why they should not enjoy all the rights and privileges their straight counterparts take for granted.

More than a half century ago Father Francis Gilligan spoke out for equality for African American citizens of Minnesota. Though many argued on the basis of the Bible that these neighbors were inferior to others, Gilligan fought tirelessly for justice for these brothers and sisters.

In our generation homosexual persons are subject to the same discrimination. Their detractors often use the Bible and tradition as weapons of choice.

Is it not time for religious leaders, walking in the footsteps of Father Gilligan, to do the same for another minority, neighbors who are as responsible as our African American sisters and brothers?

Let me put out a challenge to each of you brothers. Invite 15 gay and lesbian persons from your respective areas, one at a time, to spend two hours with you.

Thirty hours are a pittance compared to the time you are investing to promote adoption of the marriage amendment. Use the time, not for confession, but to listen to them describe what it is like to live in our culture in Minnesota.

Hear as they tell you what it means be a child of God and a faithful member of your church, persons who happen to be gay or lesbian through no choice of their own. I can promise you, based on my experience, that your heart will be deeply moved by what you hear.

When you have finished your time with these sisters and brothers in Christ, spend a quiet hour reflecting on a single question: "As I understand the heart of my Savior Jesus, how would he treat these sons and daughters of my church?"

Anti-gay Comments Spark Mass Exodus from Finnish Lutheran Church

It's 180 degrees opposite of the situation in the USA where bigots and homophobes are leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") because of its LGBT accepting policy adopted over a year ago by the denomination's Churchwide Assembly. In Finland, people are leaving the ELCA's sister church because of anti-gay comments, not because the church is too gay friendly. Much of the blame for the sudden exodus of 24,000 members in one week falls on Päivi Räsänen (pictured at left) who made anti-gay statements during a televised debate. With 2/3rd of Americans believing that churches and religion are responsible for gay teen suicides one can only hope that a similar exodus will begin from anti-gay denominations in the USA. Here are highlights from the Helsinki Times:
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Last week’s televised debate over gay rights has prompted a record number of people to leave the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church.
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The number leaving increased sharply on 12 October following the broadcast of a debate programme focused on gay rights on Network 2 of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). By Monday 18 October, more than 24,000 people had left Finland’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church
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In addition to the growth in numbers, two other developments in the exodus from the church were noted. “The age distribution has levelled out. Previously 18-year-olds made up the largest age group, but now older age brackets have joined in en masse. The Church is losing working-age Finns,” comments Petri Karisma of eroakirkosta.fi, a website set up to facilitate departure from the Church. The other key development is the rise in the number of women leaving the Church. They now already account for around half of the exodus.
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The minister in charge of church affairs Stefan Wallin (Swedish People’s Party) said on Sunday that Päivi Räsänen, the leader of the Christian Democrats, could not escape her responsibility for the record number of people leaving the Evangelical-Lutheran Church after the televised gay rights debate.
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[I]f Räsänen’s objective is to prune the Church’s membership register and turn back the Church’s clock, she should be honest about it rather than departing the scene at a time when the consequences of her views – views that lead to inequality – begin to affect the church’s reputation as well as its finances,” Wallin said.

Evangelical Lutheran Church Reinstates Gay Clergy

In a move that will drive the Southern Baptist want to be Missouri Synod Lutherans to apoplexy, The larger and modernity embracing Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has reinstated six gay clergy who had previously been removed from the ranks of rostered clergy because they were in committed same sex relationships. More reinstatements are to follow. In my view, this is a wonderful occurrence and I hope more previously demonized gay clergy will find themselves reinstated within the ELCA. The irony in the whole partnered gay clergy issue is that evangelical Christians who are typically the most homophobic also have the highest divorce rate - they personify those who wear their religion on their sleeves, seek to inflict their religious beliefs on all, and then are utter hypocrites when it comes to their very selective application of Bible passages. Here are some highlights from the Plain Dealer:
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Seven pastors who work in the San Francisco Bay area and were barred from serving in the nation's largest Lutheran group because of a policy that required gay clergy to be celibate are being welcomed into the denomination.
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will add six of the pastors to its clergy roster at a service at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco on Sunday. Another pastor who was expelled from the church, but was later reinstated, will participate in the service.
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The group is among the first gay, bisexual or transgender Lutheran pastors to be reinstated or added to the rolls of the ELCA since the organization voted last year to lift the policy requiring celibacy.
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Megan Rohrer, one of the pastors who will participate in Sunday's rite of reception service, grew up in South Dakota and attended a Lutheran college where she said students tried to exorcise her "gay demons" by throwing holy water on her. Some of those people are now Lutheran pastors in South Dakota, she said.
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Rohrer, who is transgender and a lesbian, was ordained by four congregations in San Francisco in 2006, but could not join the ELCA roster until the denomination's national assembly approved the new policy in August.
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Jeff Johnson, another one of the pastors who will be added to the roster, said the ELCA's position for years of not accepting the choice of some congregations to ordain gay clergy was painful and disappointing. "The actions the church is taking on Sunday affirms the decisions of those congregations," Johnson, pastor of the University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley, said. "The church is respecting our family, our partners, the choices we're making."
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The special rite of reception that will be used for the first time on Sunday was developed specifically to welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pastors, said Melissa Ramirez Cooper, a spokeswoman for the ELCA.
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Two more rite of reception services are scheduled for September in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area and another will follow in Chicago, Cooper said.

Antigay Lutheran Pastor "Outed"

As a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") I have not bitten my tongue when it comes to homophobic Lutheran parishes voting to leave the ELCA because the national church has voted to accept partnered gay clergy and recognize same sex relationships albeit not granting them the title of "marriage." As so often is the case, the movement to leave the ELCA has been spearheaded by individual pastors who seem just a wee bit too hysterical over the issue of homosexuality. Indeed, these pastors are reminiscent of Robert Knight and Peter LaBarbera, doyennes of the closeted professional Christian set. Reverend Tom Brock (pictured at above left), up until now the Associate Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis, is a case in point. While busy denouncing gays and spearheading his parish's move to leave the ELCA, the good Mr. Brock turns out to be a closet case. Fortunately, he has been outed by Lavender Magazine and has now been placed on leave by his parish. The hypocrisy of individuals like Brock who transfer their own self-loathing to the rest of the gay community is what makes me almost rejoice when they are exposed for frauds. Yes, it may seem cruel on my part, but when one factors in the number of gay lives people like Brock may damage, it is Divine justice when they go down in flames. Here are some story highlights based on an under cover reporter's experiences:
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[I]n a free society of consenting adult citizens, “live and let live” should remain the common baseline. I may not like what you do or believe, but as long as you’re not hurting anyone, destroying common property, or infringing on the rights or life of others, including myself, then it’s no problem. As the New Testament holds: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
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Unfortunately, petty demagogues of various religious faiths will claim that it’s their way to heaven, or the highway to hell—black and white, with no gray. If you disagree, you’re deemed to be a moral relativist who at the very least will be trivialized. At worst, like Joan of Arc in the Middle Ages, you’ll be burned at the stake by the Catholic Church as a crossdressing heretic. Or, in 21st-Century Iran, you’ll be hanged for being a gay teen under Islamic law.
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Of course, these are extreme examples, but they caution that zealotry, too long unchecked, can be disastrous. They’re reminders that two of the world’s largest religions have barbaric cruelty in their legacies
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As cantankerous and varied as GLBT activism is, virtually everyone holds privacy sacred. The exception is if someone in a public position of political, social, or theological influence engages in homosexual or transgender activity while at the same time denouncing the basic civil rights of GLBT citizens.
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[I]t’s a universal consensus among GLBT individuals and straight allies that to bash GLBT persons physically and/or sociopolitically—but then turn around, and be homosexually active oneself—is hypocrisy.
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Reverend Tom Brock is the Associate Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis. He is known for his denunciations of homosexuality and GLBT rights on his daily KKMS AM 980 radio program, The Pastor’s Study. His video series lambastes with outrage the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) for progressive attitudes toward women’s reproductive rights, racial equality, ecological stewardship—and, worst of all in his view, openly gay or lesbian pastors having the right to minister if they are in a committed monogamous relationship with a member of the same sex.
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In stunning contrast to all this homophobic vitriol, I observed firsthand that the words spoken by the 49-year-old, unmarried Brock from his ivory bully pulpits do not match his actions.
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My first encounter with Brock was at a confidential meeting of gay men “struggling with chastity” at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in St. Anthony, a suburb northeast of Minneapolis. It’s not a Lutheran church, but rather a Catholic one. This group is sponsored by Faith in Action (FIA), Minnesota’s official arm of the global Catholic gay-chastity-maintenance organization called Courage. It models itself after the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
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Once this opening ritual concludes, the next phase commences, as each person directly shares how well or not he fared during the previous week, or since the last meeting he attended, in his struggle to maintain homosexual chastity. He reports any homosexual fantasies or feelings; any resistance or nonresistance to masturbation; any homosexual contact or activity experienced; and/or any encounter with homoerotic or arousal-inducing images of men.
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Brock recounted that it had been “a good week.” He had been on a trip to the East Coast, and had kept his mind off men. . . . Brock observed that he sometimes “feels effeminate” because he has no interest in the sports page, and that he feels deficient because he finds society’s mass interest in sports to be a bore.
On the other hand, most of the men, including Brock, expressed a deep love for opera and classical music. He related that he was especially fond of a Ralph Vaughan Williams composition.
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When it was Brock’s turn to share, he related that he recently had been on “a preaching mission to Slovakia,” where he met with other clergy. Then, Brock admitted, “I fell into temptation. I was weak. That place has this really, really weird, demonic energy. I just got weak, and I had been so good for a long time. Things had been going so well for a long time.
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One thing I noticed is that all FIA participants held a sweepingly generalized caricature view of how they thought gay men interacted and lived in general. The myth of the so-called “gay agenda,” along with a basic ignorance of myriad differences between gay men, was intrinsic. In his video series, seething with disgust, Brock stirs his viewers to leave ELCA because of its inclusion of gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships. He exhorts his flock: “Game over!”
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ELCA’s loving moral courage and serious efforts toward restoring compassion, as well as a concept maligned a lot lately by reactionary rhetoric—“justice”—serve to rescue Christianity from the pre-Enlightenment crowd. It’s cause for optimism.

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Personally, I have found the ELCA to be a welcome change from the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Church in which I was raised. I sincerely hope that more anti-gay hypocrites like Rev. Brock get exposed so that the resistance to the national church's efforts to truly preach the Gospel messages is not impeded by individuals like Brock

ELCA Reinstating Two Gay Ministers

While the U.S. military and the Catholic Church continue their witch hunts against gays, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") is reinstating two ministers who had been removed from the list of rostered clergy prior to the vote of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly last August to allow partnered gay clergy. One pastor had remained at his parish as it defied the previous ELCA policy that permitted only celibate gay clergy. As I have noted before, in my opinion, the ELCA offers a wonderful opportunity for LGBT individuals who were raised Catholic to find a church home that mirrors the liturgy of the church they were raised in without being subjected to all of the anti-gay bile that is constantly disseminated by the Catholic Church hierarchy. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:
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ATLANTA -- A gay Atlanta pastor and his partner who have been at the center of a battle over the treatment of gay clergy by the nation's largest Lutheran denomination are being reinstated to the denomination's clergy roster, church officials announced Tuesday.
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The Rev. Bradley Schmeling and his partner, the Rev. Darin Easler, have been approved for reinstatement, the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said in a news release. The approval came roughly eight months after the denomination voted to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, and just weeks after the ELCA's church council officially revised the church's policy on gay ministers.
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"I'm grateful that this journey has come full circle and that the church has changed its policy," Schmeling said Tuesday. "I think the church saw the gifts and the abilities of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and saw that the spirit was calling them into ministry and wanted to create a way for people to serve," he said.
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Even though Schmeling had been removed from the ELCA clergy roster, he remained pastor at St. John's, putting the church in violation of ELCA guidelines, said the Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod. "There are people in our church that believe that pastors in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships should not serve as pastors in this church," Gordy said in the church statement. "But the assembly said that while we were not in agreement on this, congregations could call persons in such relationship to serve as pastors, and St. John has chosen to do this." Despite the opposition from some to the change in church policy, "I believe that we will learn to live in this new reality," Gordy said.
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Schmeling said the reinstatement is good news for others as well. "I'm happy for the many people who always hoped to be ordained as pastors now have an open pathway before them," he said.

Anglican Church Seeking Catholics Fleeing Predator Priests

While I have already posted today about the ongoing debacle in the Roman Catholic Church which may yet take down the current Pope, this Sunday op-ed in the Times of London was just too good to pass up. Talk about a case of tit for tat. Not long ago, the Roman Catholic Church indicated that it would happily welcome homophobic members of the Church of England who just could not handle allowing openly gay clergy and bishops. Well, now, with claims of sexual abuse by priests sweeping across Europe, the suggestion has been made that Anglicans need to extend a welcoming hand to Catholics who are worried about their children being subjected to sexual abuse by Catholic priests. That's not to say that the Anglican church is perfect, but at least there has not been a documented cover up of abuse mandated by the Pope on down. I have long thought that the Episcopal Church (Christ and St. Likes Episcopal in Norfolk is pictured at left) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America needed to actively recruit disillusioned Catholics who would enjoy the basically the same liturgy and beliefs without financially underwriting the nasty, morally deficient Catholic Church hierarchy. Here are some highlights from the Times of London column:
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Has the time come for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to open the door to the many millions of British Roman Catholic worshippers who may be worried that their children are likely to be interfered with by priests? I think it’s correct that young children are slightly less at risk from the Anglican clergy, although it would be unwise of Rowan to offer any cast-iron promises, just in case.
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Last year Pope Benedict XVI invited disillusioned Anglicans to join the Church of Rome if they were disapproving of, or merely bored by, women priests and homosexuals but fancied instead a few Latin incantations, rosary beads and the whiff of incense; this took the Church of England by surprise.
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Now is Beardo’s chance to get his own back. He should strike while the iron is hot. Give the émigré left-footers free passage, one of those Christingle oranges and a DVD collection of The Vicar of Dibley — they can even cling on to transubstantiation, if they keep quiet about it.
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[Irish] Cardinal Sean Brady, has admitted that he was present at meetings in the 1970's when children who were abused by a paedophile priest were forced, there and then, to sign a vow of silence. . . . Brady now accepts that the church’s response to this scandal has been “hopelessly inadequate” (although he hasn’t yet used the words “criminal” and “totalitarian”) but he will not resign over the business. This weekend Ireland’s “faithful”, as Benny the 16th puts it, have received a letter from him personally, which presumably included an apology somewhere along the way. Meanwhile, there have been similar scandals in Holland, Spain, Switzerland and Austria
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But the church still gives the impression that while its legions of kiddie-fiddling priests are probably, on the whole, a bad thing, they are not half as Satanic as stuff like condoms, socialism and gender equality. You suspect that it is the church’s entrenched position within much of Europe that has enabled it to sidestep public abhorrence for so long, and thus to react with apparent insouciance whenever these scandals arise and remain immune to proper investigation.
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However, the public across Europe is becoming more secular and more questioning of those in authority. It is disinclined to believe in the infallibility of anyone, be it a politician, a pop star or a pope. And those new watchwords — transparency and openness — are not qualities that one associates with the Holy See.
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Admittedly, the op-ed is written somewhat tongue in cheek, but the basic point is on the mark. Why are Catholics remaining with a Church that has a leadership that makes Mafia dons look forth right and honorable? For Catholic readers, I sincerely encourage you to check out the Episcopal and Lutheran alternatives: same basic faith without the moral bankruptcy through out the Church leadership.

Letter by 120 Clergy From 19 Denominations Supports Marriage Equality in New Jersey

Maggie Gallagher and her fellow bigots, who seek to write religious based discrimination into the laws of every state it would seem, generally put out the myth that all Christians oppose CIVIL marriage equality for same sex couples. Such is NOT the case in reality, although the lazy main stream news media generally rolls over and gives the Christianists a platform without offering opposing views from other clergy. Now, a letter signed by 120 members of the clergy from various denominations addressed to the New Jersey legislature reconfirms that Ms. Gallahger and her fellow gay-haters do NOT represent the views of all religious people. Pam's House Blend has a full copy of the letter that can be viewed here. I applaud the letter's signers and truly hope they and others like them will continue to make more noise and not allow Maggie Gallagher and similar Christo-fascists dominate the discussion. Here are some highlights from the letter:

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We are 120 clergy members across New Jersey from 19 faiths and denominations. We are but a sample of New Jersey clergy who support marriage equality and wish to marry same-sex couples legally. We are Baptist, Buddhist, Episcopal, Ethical Culture Society, Interfaith, Jewish Conservative, Jewish Reconstructionist, Jewish Reform, Lutheran, Metropolitan Community Church, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed Church of America, Sankey Tribe, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ and Unity Fellowship Church. Among us are members of the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers, who do not have clergy.
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We 120 clergy members ask you to put the marriage equality bill to a vote in your respective houses - without precondition - before the end of the current legislative session. In our nation founded on the separation of church and state, the State of New Jersey should not be in the business of telling faiths and clergy whom we can or cannot legally marry. We take issue with the State's current marriage law, which is not religiously neutral but reflects the beliefs of leaders of a particular faith community which opposes marriage equality.
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As 120 clergy across New Jersey from 19 faiths and denominations, we urgently ask you to put the marriage equality bill to a vote in your respective houses - without precondition - before the end of the current legislative session. The State must get out of our sanctuaries and uphold our religious freedom as clergy to marry whom we wish, or don't wish, under State law.
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he names of the signatories of the letter can be found at PHB, as noted above. I am proud that there are a number of Lutheran clergy who signed the letter.

Lutheran Human Warmth and Care Fund

As I have mentioned before, I sublet a portion of my office space to the ELCA Lutheran Bishop of Virginia for the bishop's eastern office. The office staff includes the director of the The Lutheran Council of Tidewater (The LCT) which operates the Human Warmth and Care Fund in Southeastern Virginia. All contributions to the Human Warmth and Care Fund go directly toward helping those in need pay utility bills; there is NO administrative fee.

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This year, with the depressed economy, there is increased demand for assistance and less money available to make the small family by family donations that can keep heat/power from being cut off during these coldest months. I can personally attest that unpaid volunteers man the phones and deal with utility companies to prevent power/heat from being turned off at the homes of the less fortunate. Volunteers also act as a clearing house for directing the needy to other potential resources.

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Call LCT for particulars - the office number is 757-623-0155. Or go to the LCT website and donate online or learn about other volunteer opportunities.

St. John Lutheran - A Study in Prejudice

I have previously written about St. John's Lutheran Church in the Roanoke area of Virginia and its move to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") because of the national church's vote back in August to allow partnered gay clergy in monogamous relationships. That was more than St. John's homophobic pastor could take and from a new Roanoke Times story it seems he pushed for the parish to leave the ELCA. Like so many of those I deem to be false Christians, Pastor Mark Graham clings to strict application of a few Bible passages while utterly ignoring others and missing Christ's message - just like the Biblical Pharisees so thoroughly condemned through out the New Testament. One can only hope that history will view the good reverend in the same light as rabid pro-slavery, pro-segregation Southern Baptist pastors from the past. Here are some highlights from the Roanoke Times story that look the turmoil that Rev. Graham has unleashed:

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St. John Lutheran Church looks fine from the outside. Inside, it is a church in pain. Married couples are at odds. So are parents and children. The oldest of friends are not speaking. Many people have left the Southwest Roanoke County church altogether. One woman took her husband's ashes from the church columbarium with her. Some can't even bear to look at the building as they drive by.
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At the root of it is the question of homosexuality and an August vote in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to accept as clergy gay people in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous" relationships and to recognize and support such relationships in general. Previously, the church allowed gay clergy to serve only if they were celibate. That was more than St. John's leaders could bear.
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And that in turn was more than some church members could bear. "I've grieved more over this than I did over the passing of my mother and my father," said Richard Herring, 68, a charter member of the church. The Herrings and others have left St. John in search of new church families. Sunday attendance is down from an average of 600 before the vote to 450, and contributions are down, too,
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"Six months ago, these people were our dearest friends," lamented Bethany Uhl, 59, a 13-year member who walked away. "Membership at a church is different from membership at Sam's Club. If you're a church, that's family." To finalize its break from the ELCA, the congregation must ratify the first vote with a second on Jan. 10.
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Some people left St. John long before the September vote because they didn't like where Graham was headed theologically. People were "tired of the law, the law, the law," Uhl said. "Pretty much the only sins we've heard about for the last six years are homosexuality and abortion," Herring said.
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For Graham, the question of homosexuality is only the smoke. "The fire is the issue of the authenticity of Scripture," he said. To him, Scripture holds one consistent position on homosexuality: that it's a sin. To ignore the Bible on that point is to open the door to ignoring it on other points. "If the Bible is wrong about marriage and sexuality, it could be wrong about Jesus Christ," he said.
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But not everyone reads Scripture the same way. "It's not that simple," said Harold Uhl. "It's clearly a matter of a broad view of the understanding of the openness of Jesus to people and where they are. ... Did God really mean those specific words, or is the overall openness of Jesus" what's important? Herring put it this way: "How much hatred do we have to have for others to live as our Lord has commanded?"
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Herring said the decision was "rammed down our throats." To him, it felt like Graham saying, "Hey folks, I've got the votes. I've been waiting for this, planning for this, and if you don't like it, there's the door. Good luck, and God bless you."
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As is the case with many of the unduly hysterical homophobes, one cannot help but wonder what personal demons are haunting Rev. Graham. He sounds a lot like Ted Haggard before his hypocrisy was revealed. One never knows.

Modern Day Pharisees Continue to Exit the ELCA

It is sad that closed minded homophobes within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") are so insecure with their own sexuality and biased against those who are not just like themselves that they are leaving the ELCA and now organizing a new Lutheran organization that will embrace their bigotry and super selective anti-gay reading of the Bible while utterly ignoring the larger Gospel message and those inconvenient passages that they routinely violate themselves. One can only hope that posterity lumps these folks in with racists, anti-Semites and others who place the hatred of others above living a truly Christian life. Personally, I do not understand what they find so frightening about gay clergy - like the Roman Catholic Church, I suspect they already have countless closet cases within the ranks of the break away clergy. Indeed, some of the clergy leading the break away movement are most probably self-loathing closet cases who adopt an anti-gay stance as the best way of denying their own situation just like the most hysterically anti-gay mouth pieces of the professional Christian organizations. Here are some highlights from a Washington Post story on these modern day Pharisees:

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NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. -- The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. . . . Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August.
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John Brooks, spokesman at the ELCA's Chicago-based headquarters, said Lutheran CORE's move was not unexpected. He expressed hope that church members would ultimately opt to stay in the denomination as it strives to be "a place for all people despite any differences we might have on any issues."
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Neither Brooks nor Lutheran CORE leaders would guess what kind of numbers a new denomination might attract. Lutheran CORE leaders believe there is deep opposition to the new policy among rank-and-file churchgoers, but said some may not be willing to actually depart the ELCA over it. So far, he said, five congregations nationwide have voted to leave the ELCA. More have started the process, with 87 taking a first vote to leave the denomination. Of those, 28 did not achieve the two-thirds vote necessary to leave the ELCA. In all, there are 10,300 ELCA churches in the country with about 4.7 million members.
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If a congregation passes the two-thirds bar on its first vote, it must then wait 90 days before taking a second, final vote that also requires a two-thirds majority. . . . In addition to helping birth a new Lutheran church body, Lutheran CORE leaders said their organization would continue its recent move toward creating a free-floating synod within the ELCA for congregations opposed to the liberalized policy but who don't want to leave the denomination.
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So much effort, time and money that could be better spent on feeding the hungry and clothing the poor rather than taking closed minded, anti-modernity bigotry to a higher level. WWJD?

Bigots/Hypocrites at Apostles Lutheran Church Vote to Leave ELCA

I have previously written about St. John's Lutheran Church in Roanoke, Virginia, which is moving towards leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") over the issue of partnered gay clergy. These folks insist on blindly literally applying a handful of Bible passages construed to condemn modern day same sex relationships while ignoring a host of other Bible passages which, if applied literally, would disturb their self-centered little lives. Now the hypocrisy and bigotry has moved closer to home as Apostles Lutheran Church in neighboring Chesapeake, Virginia (pictured above - Pharisee in chief, Pastor John Dooley is also pictured), has voted to leave the ELCA. I can only wonder if these modern day Pharisees allow divorced members in the congregation, wear blended fabric clothing and violate countless other Bible provisions which if applied literally would make life difficult. As I have stated over and over, if the Bible must be construed literally as the anti-gay bigots contend, then they must apply ALL of the Bible in the same manner. Otherwise they are hypocrites and modern day Pharisees - it's really that simple. Sadly, new stories fail to confront this issue and demand an explanation of the selectivity of what these people decide to apply literally to harm others. Does it cross the minds of these anti-gay bigots how history will perceive them as equivalents of the Southern Baptists who broke from the national church so that they could maintain slavery? Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Apostles Lutheran Church voted Sunday to quit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after the denomination's approval of co-habitation for gay clergy. The Chesapeake church's separation reflected its members' belief that the ELCA was increasingly moving away from Scripture as the standard for church life, said the Rev. John Dooley, senior pastor. The vote was 65-8. Apostles has nearly 400 members.
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Dooley said Apostles, at 370 Johnstown Road, was the first of the 15 ELCA churches in South Hampton Roads to leave since the denomination's national assembly acted. For years, gay ordination and same-sex relationships have been a hot-button topic in the ELCA, as well as the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church.
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Apostles has joined Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. The group has 249 congregations, many formerly in the ELCA. Apostles is the only member church in Virginia. It could be joined by St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Roanoke, which has scheduled a January vote on leaving the ELCA.

Charleston Church Puts 'Lutheran' Back in Its Name

It has been distressing to see some congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") abandon the national church in the wake of the Churchwide Assembly vote in August to recognize same sex relationships and to allow partnered gay clergy in Synods/parishes that want them. With all the huge issues that parishes could and should be focusing upon - feeding the poor, housing the homeless, aiding the victims of domestic violence, the list goes on and on - it is a sad commentary that some people's idea of what it means to be Christian is reduced down to the single issue of demonizing a segment of the population who are merely living their lives in accordance with the way God made them to be. I have previously written about St. John's Lutheran, an ELCA parish in Roanoke, Virginia that is moving towards leaving the ELCA because of anti-gay animus. Interestingly, I received this comment just today from one of the "pro-gay" parishioners at St. John's:

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Hello, I am a member of St. John, 40 years now and my entire family and I voted with the minority. Please recognize that though we were out voted, we fought and voiced our opinions. Not everyone in Roanoke is "backwater" as you say. We are deeply disappointed with the leadership of this church. The message from the pulpit has slowly become more and more tainted with "anti" messages for many years now. The ELCA vote was just the "means" to pull away. This has been one of the most difficult times of my life to be forced to leave something that has been such a pivotal place in my life-baptism, confirmation, marriage, and on and on... The GRACE of GOD is for all, unconditionally.
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Another ELCA church seems to be wavering in its resolve to depart from the ELCA and I hope that calmer heads will prevail to avoid fractures like those that have occurred at St. John's. Here are some highlights from the Charleston Gazette:

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St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Charleston is going by its full name again. Since August, a black cloth had hung over the word "Lutheran" on the church's sign on Corridor G. It was Pastor Richard Mahan's way of protesting the vote by leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow gays and lesbians in lifelong, monogamous relationships to serve as clergy.
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But it's clear the controversy over gay clergy has overshadowed other matters -- not just at St. Timothy, but at Lutheran churches across the country, said Bishop Ralph Dunkin of the ELCA's West Virginia-Maryland Synod. "This has just diverted the whole mission of the church," Dunkin said.
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Homosexuality isn't a "foundational issue" for the ELCA, Dunkin said. At the assembly, people also discussed fighting malaria and HIV worldwide. They heard reports from church missionaries and Lutheran social service agencies. The media didn't focus on those topics, he said: "They're just not controversial."
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Since the assembly, about 50 of the ELCA's 10,400 congregations have taken steps to separate from the denomination, according to a news release the ELCA posted to its Web site last week.
. . . Dunkin said he senses that fear is at the root of the controversy. Americans are worried about everything from health-care reform to losing their jobs to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. "I think we're living in an age of fear right now, ever since Sept. 11. So whenever something new occurs, it adds to the fear," he said. "We're worried about what we're going to lose, versus what might we gain."

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I sincerely hope that anti-gay members of the ELCA will open their minds and realize that we gays are really not very different from them. Who one loves and wants to spend their life with should not be controversial.

More Anti-Gay Jihad from the Catholic Church

With all of the internal house cleaning the Roman Catholic Church needs to be doing in the wake of the sex abuse scandal - not to mention all the poor and hungry people around the world who need to be clothed and fed per Christ's directive - one would think that the Church would have better things to do than continue obsess over same sex marriage and/or the acceptance of gays as fully human. But such is clearly not the case. First, we have the Catholic Church officials in Finland threatening the Evangelical Lutheran Church about accepting gay marriage. Next we see the Vatican cutting a deal to allow anti-gay Anglicans into the Catholic Church. Sometimes I truly believe that the Vatican deliberately sets off stories such as these merely in the hope that the media will be distracted and not do another story on the still on going sexual abuse lawsuits around the USA and the world. Meanwhile, of course, the message to people is that gays are inferior and a threat to society. First some highlights from IceNews on the situation in Finland:

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Finland’s Catholic Bishop, Teemu Sippo, has warned of an impending rift between the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church and Finland’s Catholic Church over the issue of gay marriage. Sippo has expressed his concern over recent events in Sweden where the Lutheran Church is set to extend the performance of religious ceremonies to same sex couples. “The Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex couples. It doesn’t view it as morally acceptable,” Sippo stated. “Everything that happens in Sweden usually reaches Finland sooner or later.”

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In addition to the condemnation of gay marriage Sippo also denounced the practice of the city of Helsinki and liberal groups of distributing free condoms claiming the move incites sex rather than protects the individual. “Handing out condoms is like telling people to use them. I believe youths should instead be encouraged to practice abstinence,” the Bishop said.

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Meanwhile, it turns out that the Vatican has been secretly negotiating a deal that will allow break away Anglicans and married Anglican priests to join the Catholic Church. Apparently, the requirement of celibacy for priests goes out the window if the Pope believes that there's more to gain by turning a blind eye on this alleged theological requirement. How does one say HYPOCRITE?? Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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In a bid to attract disillusioned members of the Anglican Communion, the Vatican announced yesterday that it would establish a special arrangement to allow them to join the Catholic Church while preserving their own liturgy and spiritual legacy, including married priests.

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The Catholic Church plan "reflects a really bold determination by Rome to seize the moment and do what it can to reach out to those who share its stance on women priests and homosexuality," said Ian Markham, dean of the Virginia Theological Seminary, an Episcopal seminary in Alexandria. "It is very, very bold and very interesting." . . . These former Anglicans would be considered theologically Catholic but with their own traditions, such as use of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

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Between 100 and 200 of the 7,000 Episcopal congregations have broken away in a dispute over the 2003 ordination of Gene Robinson, a gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire, as well as over female clergy and the church's definition of salvation. Many allied themselves with conservative Anglican primates in such countries as Nigeria and Uganda.

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[T]he Vatican's move could strain the sometimes delicate alliances within the breakaway conservative churches, Markham said. One camp sees Anglicanism as a version of Catholic theology, while the other group is more evangelical and suspicious of Catholicism. "This offer by Rome could peel off some of those Anglo-Catholics," he said. "I think some of them will be tempted to go."

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As one who was raised Catholic, NOTHING could ever convince me to return to the Catholic Church which has done - and continues to do - so much damage to LGBT individuals. Between the hypocrisy and corruption of the Church hierarchy and the fact that the faith that is based on guilt and fear with no hint of a loving God, I would never go back. I feel at home and accepted in the Evangelical Lutheran Church which gives me a catholic like mass without all the negative baggage.

Minneapolis Church Votes to Leave ELCA

UPDATED: This afternoon I had the occasion to talk with an ELCA pastor about the parishes voting to leave the ELCA because of it recent vote to accept partnered gay clergy. This pastor was saddened by such moves and agreed with me that the intellectual dishonesty of those who seek to literally apply arguably anti-gay Bible passages while ignoring many more Bible dictates was appalling. Indeed hypocritical. The other things that this pastor pointed out were (1) that 90% of ELCA parishes will feel zero impact from this move since no parish can be forced to accept a partnered gay pastor and (2) by leaving the ELCA or withholding money from the national church body, the main punishment falls on mission work and other worthy charitable work. Thus those "punished" are not even those with whom the homophobes are upset.

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Roanoke, Virginia, apparently does not have a monopoly on modern day Pharisees within the Evangelical Lutheran Church - now an ELCA parish in Minneapolis, Minnesota has voted to split from the national church over the recent vote to allow partnered gay clergy and to give recognition and ministry to committed same sex relationships. As I have asked in prior posts, are the good members of St. Paul Lutheran Church applying the same literal biblical application to all other passages in the Bible as they say should apply to anti-gay passages? I suspect we know that answer - of course not, only the gays get special mandatory literal application of a few Bible passages. I suspect St. Paul's has any number of divorced and remarried members and that countless other Bible passages are ignored when found to be inconvenient for the heterosexual members of the parish. In short, the homophobes at St. Paul's are hypocrites and bigots like the ones at St. John's in Roanoke. Here are some highlights:

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A Minneapolis church is just the third in the nation to vote to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In a bold move over the weekend, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Minneapolis voted overwhelmingly to leave the ELCA in protest over last month's vote to allow the ordination of gay clergy members who are not celibate. It was the first of two votes required to make the move.

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We're profoundly saddened by this. We really didn't want to leave a denomination we've been a part of and various predecessor bodies for 130 years," said Pastor Roland Wells. Pastor Wells said 96 percent of his congregation voted to split from the ELCA.

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So far that church in Minneapolis is one of only three in the country to begin the process of leaving the ELCA. The other two are in Arizona and Virginia.

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It is always easier to hang on to one's bigotry than to open one's mind and consider that past ways of thinking were in error. Some people just seem to have the need to have someone to look down on and condemn to stroke their own egos and sense of self-righteous. History will not be kind to St. Paul's when the day comes when their action makes them akin to segregationists of the 1960's.