U.S. Lutheran branch loosens gay clergy
policy
Reuters
Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:40pm EDT
By Ed
Stoddard
DALLAS (Reuters) - The largest American Lutheran
denomination cleared the way on Friday to allow gays and lesbians in committed
relationships to serve in ministry, ending a policy that had opened leadership
posts to them only if they remained celibate.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also
encouraged its congregations to find ways to support or recognize members in
"accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships."
But it did not give official sanction to gay marriage or
approve any rites for such ceremonies.
Still, the stance taken by the 4.6-million-member church
is one of the most liberal by any U.S. denomination on matters of sexual
orientation, which are among the most divisive political and religious issues in
America today.
The church adopted the resolution at its biennial
meeting in Minneapolis.
"It is about people in committed, same-gender
relationships," said John Brooks, the director of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America's news service and a spokesman for the church.
Previously gays and lesbians had been barred from
service unless they stayed celibate.
The resolution, approved by a vote of 559 to 441, said
the church was committed to finding ways to allow people in "accountable,
lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of
this church."
The measure applies to clergy as well as professional
lay leaders.
The assembly still has to approve procedural changes to
allow the resolution to go forward. Brooks said he expected the new policy to be
in place by 2010.
WIDER DEBATE
The move follows the lifting last month of a de facto
ban by the U.S. Episcopal Church on the consecration of gay bishops, setting the
stage for wider conflict in the global Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of
Anglicanism, is also in the process of developing official rites or liturgies to
bless same-sex unions.
All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of
America's wider debate over issues such as gay marriage, child adoption by
same-sex parents and the status of homosexuals in the military. Gay marriage has
been approved in six U.S. states but it is being challenged in
Maine.
According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public
Life, the United Church of Christ is alone among major U.S. Christian
denominations in officially recognizing gay marriage.
Polls consistently show gays enjoying growing acceptance
in American society, a fact readily visible in popular culture. But fast-growing
faiths in the United States such as many evangelical Protestant churches and the
Mormon church regard homosexual relations as sinful and proscribed by
scripture.
Ballot initiatives to ban gay marriage at the state
level have been a regular feature in recent U.S. election cycles and
commentators say they have helped boost turnout among the Republican Party's
conservative Christian base.
(Editing by Xavier Briand)
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The report from Reuters' new service
follows this good news from the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly. For more news and
reflections on this vote and other LGBT initiatives, you can go to 