Lutherans vote today on actively gay clergy

Following the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians into one of the thorniest social debates of contemporary Protestantism, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to decide today whether to allow sexually active gays and lesbians to serve as pastors.

Meeting this week in Minneapolis for its biennial convention, the nation's seventh-largest denomination is considering a policy that would allow its 10,000 congregations to hire as pastor any properly ordained person "in a lifelong, committed, monogamous, same-gender relationship."

The 4.8 million-member denomination already permits gay clergy but requires they remain celibate.

Earlier this year, the Presbyterian Church USA voted narrowly to continue its ban on openly gay clergy, as did the United Methodist Church last year.

Last month, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA formally expanded its ordination policy to permit lesbian and gay bishops. The denomination has been ordaining homosexual priests and deacons since the 1990s.

Lutheran supporters of a policy change said yesterday they were optimistic, encouraged by the Churchwide Assembly's adoption Wednesday of a broadly liberal policy statement on sexuality.

Titled "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," the 34-page document upholds marriage as the proper structure for sexual activity but asserts that committed same-sex partnerships can be nurturing and worthy of support.

The traditionalist Lutheran Coalition for Reform (CORE) yesterday denounced the document's position on same-sex partnerships, saying it "overturn[s] the clear teaching of the Bible as believed and confessed by Christians for nearly 2,000 years."

Some conservatives even saw signs of divine anger when a tornado touched down on the Minneapolis Convention Center just hours before the vote.

The document's supporters, however, saw grace in the tally: The Assembly approved the document by a vote of 676-338 - precisely the two-thirds ratio required for passage.

"I am proud and pleased," Bishop Claire Burkhat, head of the 92,000-member Southeast Pennsylvania Synod, wrote in an e-mail. "We have discovered that our unity in the gospel of Jesus Christ does not require uniformity."

The New Jersey Synod counts 68,000 baptized members; the Delaware-Maryland Synod, 87,000. There are 65 regional synods in the United States.

Passage of today's gay-friendly ordination policy requires only a simple majority.

Some opponents have argued that allowing openly gay clergy would strain relations between the American branch of Lutheranism and the more conservative Lutheran churches of Asia and Africa.

The Episcopal Church has been deeply split over the issue since 2003, when the Diocese of New Hampshire ordained a gay priest, the Rev. Gene Robinson, as its bishop. Several whole dioceses, including Pittsburgh, have since defected, and Asian and African bishops within the worldwide Anglican communion - of which the Episcopal Church is part - are threatening schism.

The Rev. Mark Chavez, director of CORE, predicted no such outcome among the Lutherans. "We don't plan a walkout" if the Assembly approves the new ordination policy, he said. "We want to continue work with as many [church] leaders as we can and help them keep faithful."

The proposed policy does not obligate congregations that object to homosexual relationships to hire gays or lesbians, said Phil Soucy, spokesman for Goodsoil, a Lutheran coalition advocating for "full inclusion" of gays and lesbians.

The Rev. Jeff Ziegler, 42, interim pastor at Christ Ascension Lutheran Church in Chestnut Hill and openly gay, said he was optimistic the new policy would be adopted.

"It might be easier for me to enter into a congregation" as a permanent pastor, said Ziegler, who with his life partner is raising two adopted sons. "Right now I would have to say [to a hiring congregation], 'Would you accept me as your pastor if I'm in violation of church policy?' "