{"id":117,"date":"2010-05-05T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/05\/elca-starts-reinstating-gay-clergy-thanks-to-new-rules.html"},"modified":"2010-05-05T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-05T11:00:00","slug":"elca-starts-reinstating-gay-clergy-thanks-to-new-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/05\/elca-starts-reinstating-gay-clergy-thanks-to-new-rules.html","title":{"rendered":"ELCA Starts Reinstating Gay Clergy, Thanks to New Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has become the latest denomination to lift a ban on gay clergy<\/a>, announced this week that it is reinstating two gay pastors — a same-sex couple — to its clergy roster.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reports<\/a> that the Rev. Bradley Schmeling was removed from the group’s roster in 2007 for being in a same-sex relationship — a violation of ELCA policy until the Church Council adopted revisions last month to allow “eligible Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships” to serve as clergy.<\/p>\n

His partner, the Rev. Darin Easler, whom he met at a church conference in 2004, had been removed from the clergy roster in 2006, and has worked in hospice care under the United Church of Christ.<\/p>\n

According to the ELCA press release issued Tuesday<\/a>, Schmeling plans to continue serving as pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church<\/a>, the Atlanta congregation that had chosen to violate the ELCA ban for the past three years; Easler willl continue his hospice work, under the auspices of the ELCA.<\/p>\n

No word on whether other reinstatements are in the pipeline, but Julia Duin of The Washington Times says more are expected <\/a>as local churches adopt the revised policy. Check back for updates, and share your thoughts in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

*Click here to <\/span>subscribe to Belief Beat <\/span><\/strong><\/a>and <\/span>click here to <\/span>follow Belief Beat on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has become the latest denomination to lift a ban on gay clergy, announced this week that it is reinstating two gay pastors — a same-sex couple — to its clergy roster. The Associated Press reports that the Rev. Bradley Schmeling was removed from the group’s roster in 2007…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nELCA Starts Reinstating Gay Clergy, Thanks to New Rules - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/05\/elca-starts-reinstating-gay-clergy-thanks-to-new-rules.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ELCA Starts Reinstating Gay Clergy, Thanks to New Rules - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has become the latest denomination to lift a ban on gay clergy, announced this week that it is reinstating two gay pastors — a same-sex couple — to its clergy roster. 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