Tags : christians, gay rights
Lutheran Church To Vote On Gay Clergy
Minneapolis, MN (AHN) – A vote on whether to allow homosexuals to serve as clergy in the Lutheran Church is scheduled at a national assembly of delegates here Friday, but a technical move to make approval more difficult has already been turned back.
More than 1,000 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have gathered at the Minneapolis Convention Center to consider several “social statements,” proclamations of the organization’s beliefs on significant social issues. A proposal on human sexuality that would allow the ordination of openly gay ministers is receiving the most attention from the delegates.
The statement, “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” has been in development by a task force for eight years. Writing the proposal was not easy, acknowledged the Rev. Peter Strommen, chair of the task force.
“We knew when we accepted the call to serve on this task force that we would face challenges and controversies. Each one of us had experienced them in our local settings,” he wrote in a letter accompanying the document. “The hope of finding a clear path to full consensus among us on what was most controversial has not been realized. We have worshipped, prayed, reflected, argued, sung, laughed, sputtered in anger, dissolved in sorrow, fallen prey to discouragement, and been surprised by joy and hope.”
The lack of consensus was apparent Monday night, when delegates, with 57 percent of the vote, rejected a motion that would have required two-thirds of the delegates to approve the measure.
The seriousness of the issue requires a super-majority vote, the Rev. Gregory Pile, bishop of the Allegheny Synod, said during a two-hour debate. Ronald Pittman, a delegate from the Oregon Synod, countered that a previous action to bar same-sex candidates from ordination had required only a simple majority.
The outcome of the Friday vote will not fragment the church, the denomination’s leading religious official predicted. “Those talking about a dissension leading to division have not been listening to the church over the past four years,” said Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. “The intensity of the rhetoric has been diminished and replaced by a very thoughtful engagement.”
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