Lutherans Recommend Tolerance on Gay Policy

January 14, 2005
By Neela Banerjee

A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
recommended yesterday that it retain its policy against
blessing same-sex unions and ordaining gays, but suggested
that sanctions could be avoided for pastors and
congregations that chose to do so.

The sixth-largest Christian denomination, with five million
members in the United States and Caribbean, the Lutheran
Church is attempting to resolve what the task force called
a "deep, pervasive" disagreement about the role and
treatment of gay men and lesbians.

The task force, comprising 14 clergy members and lay people
who worked for three years on these issues, recommended
that the church consider not enforcing sanctions against
those who acted outside the policy. Those who defy church
policies now face a range of disciplinary actions. The
approach would allow those who agree and disagree with the
policy to stay within the church, the group said.

"I think this is about letting people be responsible to
human conscience, rather than a capricious decision to let
people do what they want to do," said the Rev. Margaret G.
Payne, bishop of the church's New England Synod and the
chairwoman of the task force.

The recommendations are expected to draw comment from
churches and regional synods. The church's national
assembly will address any changes to the policy on
homosexuality at its meeting in Orlando, Fla., in August.

Some clergy members said that by giving local churches and
synods wiggle room, the task force had found a way to
preserve the unity of the church.

"The task force didn't want legislation: that would have
created a win-lose situation," said the Rev. Dr. Philip D.
W. Krey, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia. "They wanted to legitimize both sides of the
issue. This allows each side to be conscientious objectors,
allows them to legitimately disagree and act on it and not
be disciplined for it."

But Word Alone, a biblically orthodox Lutheran group,
sharply criticized the recommendations as an attempt to
hoodwink parishioners into believing that policies remained
unchanging despite the fact that sanctions may not be
enforced.

Lutherans Concerned, a group that seeks greater acceptance
of gays in the church, contended that the recommendations
did not go far enough to dispel the punitive atmosphere
around issues of homosexuality.

"We were dismayed and deeply saddened by the
recommendations because we felt they perpetuate a system of
selective discrimination of gays and lesbians in the
Lutheran church," said Emily Eastwood, the group's
executive director.

The Lutheran Church's efforts to negotiate a compromise
come at a time when other mainline Protestant denominations
have been roiled by disputes over the acceptance of gay
clergy members. Recently, the United Methodist Church
defrocked a minister in Pennsylvania who had admitted to
being in a long-term lesbian relationship. She is appealing
the decision.

The Episcopal Church USA is also wrestling with the issue
of homosexuality. The Episcopal bishops met in Salt Lake
City on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss how to respond to
what is known as the Windsor Report. It was produced last
fall by an international committee of church leaders trying
to reconcile the conflict over homosexuality in the
worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church
is the American affiliate.

The rift deepened in 2003 when the Episcopal Church
ordained an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, and several
church provinces in Africa, Asia and Latin America
threatened to break ties with the Americans.

The Windsor Report called on the Episcopal Church to
declare a "moratorium" on ordaining bishops living in gay
relationships and to halt public "rites of blessing" for
same-sex unions. The American bishops said yesterday that
they did not have enough time in Utah to reach agreement on
those recommendations. However, as the Windsor Report
called for, they issued a statement expressing their
"sincere regret for the pain, the hurt, and the damage
caused to our Anglican bonds by certain actions of our
church."

The presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, said from Salt Lake
City, "We perhaps have not been the most sensitive partners
in terms of taking with full seriousness the integrity of
other provinces and their struggles."
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As someone who was married in and has been attending an Episcopal church for the past several years, this was an issue a few friends, my wife and I mulled over some time ago.
After giving the topic a little thought, I ultimately decided to take the passive route and mind my own business. Heck, I drink on occasion, smoke too much and sometimes eat past the point of full. Does that somehow indicate that God shouldn't play a significant role in my life?
Just as Christian denominations run the gamut from Catholic to Pentecostal, Presbyterian to Greek Orthodox, so too should their individual congregations be allowed to adapt to the spiritual needs of their communities.
Where love and/or vice are concerned, I am reminded of the old saw, "Let him without sin cast the first stone," or "Judge not, lest you be judged."
Not that I necessarily consider homosexuality a sin deserving of judgment, of course, but you get the idea.
Whether an individual is coming to the church as a teacher or a student, why should fellow Christians suffer the loss of her example purely on the basis of what might go on after dinner?
Like it or not, homosexuality and the clergy have a long-lasting relationship. As opposed to, say, secret pedophilia, a little honest testimony of legal non-conformity should have place in someone's pew.