Posted on: Saturday, March 5, 2005

Evangelical Lutherans debating gay policies

By Richard N. Ostling
Associated Press

Seventeen scholars from 12 campuses have released a strong statement against a proposal that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America officially maintain its stance against same-sex ceremonies and gay clergy while tolerating dissent from that policy.

The protesters say that the measure, put forward by a task force in January, threatens the church's unity and its "historical, biblical and confessional teachings and practice."

A churchwide assembly of the 5-million-member ELCA will take up the proposal in August.

The scholars' group complains that though the task force said it recommends "no change in policy," it in fact "advocates a fundamental shift in policy" when it asks the church to refrain from disciplining clergy involved in same-sex relationships.

That approach, they say, would "fatally extend the boundaries of diversity in matters of doctrinal and ethical substance" and harm relations with other Christian bodies. The group also contends that the task force's claimed support from Martin Luther and the Bible misrepresents both.

The Tuesday declaration was sent to the Conference of Bishops, which begins meeting Thursday in Dallas, and the Church Council, an executive body that takes up the issue at the denomination's Chicago headquarters next month.

A spokesman for the protesters, Smith College religion professor Karl Donfried, said colleagues who drafted the document made no attempt to recruit any long list of endorsements but hope their statement will "stand on its own logic, integrity and competence."

The ELCA maintains full fellowship with the Episcopal Church, which has been involved in its own divisive debate over gay issues.