{"id":82,"date":"2007-08-02T17:01:06","date_gmt":"2007-08-02T17:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2007\/08\/lutherans-to-open-sexuality-de.php"},"modified":"2007-08-02T17:01:06","modified_gmt":"2007-08-02T17:01:06","slug":"lutherans-to-open-sexuality-de","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/08\/lutherans-to-open-sexuality-de","title":{"rendered":"Lutherans to Open Sexuality Debate — Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

RNS
\nby Daniel Burke
\nThe nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will again face
\nthe divisive issue of sexuality when it considers resolutions on gay
\nclergy and same-sex blessings at its biennial assembly in Chicago next
\nweek (Aug. 8-12).
\nAfter the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted at its
\nlast Churchwide Assembly in 2005 to maintain church rules that ban
\nnoncelibate gay and lesbian ministers, many thought the issue would be
\ntabled until a comprehensive study on sexuality was completed in 2009.
\nBut 22 of the ELCA’s 65 regional synods have asked the church to
\nagain address standards for gay clergy this year, pushing for change
\nwithin the 5 million-member denomination.
\nAbout half of the 125 proposed resolutions to be debated at the
\nassembly address sexuality, standards and discipline for sexual conduct
\nof clergy and same-sex blessings. “The battle lines are being drawn,”
\nsaid one advocate, while ELCA leaders are pleading for comity amid the
\ncontentious debate.
\nPresiding Bishop Mark Hanson, who is expected to be be re-elected
\nfor a second six-year term in Chicago, is among those who say the church
\nshould wait for the 2009 study on sexuality, called a “social
\nstatement,” before taking action.
\n“The statement on human sexuality is intended to bring all of us
\ninto the conversation in the context of Scripture, our tradition and the
\ncontext in which we live our lives to develop a bedrock social statement
\nupon which then we will look at the policies and practices of this
\nchurch and see whether they reflect that,” Hanson said at a conference
\ncall with reporters July 26.
\nHowever, Hanson said he expects some of the 1,071 voting members of
\nthe assembly will to push for immediate change.
\nThe Rev. Bradley Schmeling of Atlanta, who was defrocked in July
\nafter he told his bishop he was in a noncelibate homosexual
\nrelationship, is among those hoping for a change in policy.
\nSchmeling and a group of 20 members from St. John’s Lutheran Church
\nin Atlanta will be in Chicago “to try to put a face on the issue of
\npolicy,” he said, though he is not a voting member of the assembly.
\nThe pro-gay group Lutherans Concerned\/North America will bring more
\nthan 100 volunteers to conduct a service and exhibitions devoted to
\ntelling the stories of lesbian and gay clergy, said spokesman Phil
\nSoucy.
\n“In 2005, the church voted that we would journey together faithfully
\nin the midst of disagreement, and I think we can’t do that if we’re
\nthrowing people out of the conversation,” Schmeling said.
\nConservative Lutherans were somewhat caught off guard by the surge
\nto change church rules this year, said the Rev. Craig Werling, pastor of
\nthe American Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milbank, S.D.
\n“Quite honestly, we didn’t expect to have to fight that in 2007,”
\nsaid Werling, who is a member of Lutheran Churches of the Common
\nConfession, a traditionalist group that opposes gay clergy on scriptural
\ngrounds.
\n“We have a serious and fundamental disagreement with them,” Werling
\nsaid. “We’re trying to do that in a way that’s loving, but we definitely
\nwant to defend what we believe is right.”
\nAt the 2005 ELCA assembly, advocates for changing rules on gay
\nclergy garnered 490 votes, falling well short of the two-thirds majority
\nneeded for a constitutional amendment. But the resolutions this year may
\nnot require a constitutional change and could possibly be passed by a
\nsimple majority, said ELCA spokesman John Brooks.
\nCopyright 2007 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of
\nthis transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written
\npermission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RNS by Daniel Burke The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will again face the divisive issue of sexuality when it considers resolutions on gay clergy and same-sex blessings at its biennial assembly in Chicago next week (Aug. 8-12). 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