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US Evangelical Lutherans accept 'committed' gay clergy
AFP - Sunday, August 23
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - A US Evangelical Lutheran church has opted to allow gays and lesbians in "committed" relationships to serve in its clergy, in a controversial decision that could divide its 4.6 million US members.
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has 10,000 congregations throughout the United States, voted Friday evening on a contentious text authorizing homosexuals in committed relationships to join the clergy.
After passionate debate, church delegates voted 559 to 451 "to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships," said church information director John Brook.
"The actions here change the church's policy, which previously allowed gays and lesbians into the ordained ministry only if they remained celibate," he told AFP.
The church is not the first in the United States to admit homosexuals to the clergy -- the US Episcopalian Church had already done so -- but the measure provoked heated debate among some 2,000 ELCA delegates who met in Minneapolis for three days.
"There are different understandings of scripture on this issue," Brook told AFP. "People made their decision on how they understand the scriptures. It was a passionate but very civil debate."
Among those opposing the decision was Pastor Richard Mahan of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod.
"I cannot see how the church that I have known for 40 years can condone what God has condemned," he said. "Nowhere does it say in scripture that homosexuality and same-sex marriage is acceptable for God."
The text approved by the church does not make specific mention of same-sex marriage, but it provides that congregations who choose to may "recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships."
Some congregations opposed to the decision have threatened to leave the church altogether.
"This remains to be seen," said Brook. "We are concerned because there have been such statements, but we are hopeful that the church will remain unified."
For supporters of the decision, including Bishop Gary Wollersheim of the ECLA Northern Illinois Synod, it is simply a case of doing the right thing.
"It's a matter of justice, a matter of hospitality. It's what Jesus would have us do."
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Lesbian couple hold hands during a gay rights protest rally in Hollywood in May 2009. A US Evangelical Lutheran church has opted to allow gays and lesbians in "committed" relationships to serve in its clergy, in a controversial decision that could divide its 4.6 million US members.
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