Lutheran Church Ordains Noncelibate Gay Pastors
Religion and sexuality are rarely comfortable topics at the dinner table, but they are a couple of the most common subjects brought up by families and friends who love to debate. The following statement encapsulates the latest news regarding the hot topic of religion and homosexuality:
“The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, known as the E.L.C.A., with 4.6 million members, is now the largest Protestant church in the United States to permit noncelibate gay ministers to serve in the ranks of its clergy — an issue that has caused wrenching divisions for it as well as for many other denominations.”1
On Sunday, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco was the first to give rite of reception to seven gay pastorssince the watershed vote last year permitting noncelibate gay minsters to be ordained. Two more rite of reception services are scheduled: one in St. Paul, MN area in September and another in Chicago, IL.
Here are some additional background facts:
- Since ECLA’s inception in 1988, gay pastors were allowed as long as they abstained from sexual relations.
- A resolution to allow gay minister in committed relationships serve the church was passed back in 2007 (vote of 538-431), and the policy officially passed in 2009 (vote of 559 to 441).
- Protestantism “is one of the four major divisions within Christianity (or five, if Anglicanism is considered separately) together with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church.”2
- Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a 16th century German reformer, who was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church with The Edict of Worms (1521), as a result of his differing view on Justification–justification by grace through faith and not through works (Roman Catholics hold the position of ”faith formed by love”, or “faith and works”).3
Read on:
Reuters.com – Lutherans to allow pastors in gay relationships (from 2007)
FoxNews.com – Gay Lutheran Pastors to Join Church Roster
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