The Star Tribune reports that the Episcopalians voted in favor of a “Resolution against the Constitutional Amendment to Ban Marriage for Same-Sex Couples.”

“The Episcopal Church in Minnesota has always stood with the marginalized,” Brian N. Prior, IX Bishop of Minnesota, said in a statement following the vote. “Regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender orientation or immigrant status, Episcopalians in Minnesota have always embraced both the Gospel mandate of love of neighbor and the Baptismal Covenant imperative to respect the dignity of every human being.”

OutFront Minnesota, a member of the Minnesotans United for All Families coalition which is working to defeat the amendment said in a Facebook message, “We can all be proud of the many communities of faith that have taken a stand with LGBT Minnesotans to make our state a place that values and welcomes all people and families.”

The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations is the only other denomination to formally come out against the amendment. Mayflower United Church in Christ, Open Circle Church, Shir Tikvah Synagogue, Mt. Zion Temple and Jewish Community Action have also come out against the amendment, as have the non-religious communities that make up the Minnesota Atheists.

Some denominations that haven’t yet taken a stand on the issue are facing pressure.

The Minnesota members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is having an annual week-long meeting with Minnesota’s Roman Catholic Bishops as part of a 35-year dialogue on issues of mutual interest, but one group is calling on the ELCA to speak out against the Catholic church’s involvement in opposing LGBT rights.

The Rainbow Sash Movement, a group of Catholic working to change the church’s attitude toward LGBT people, released a statement today calling on the ELCA to distance itself from the Catholic church on the same-sex marriage issue.

“We are calling on the Evangelical Bishops to condemn the public aspirations of the Catholic Bishops to promote homophobia as an acceptable behavior when it comes to the legitimate aspirations of GLBT people seeking equality in the state of Minnesota,” the group said. “Not to do so might be seen as a sign of subliminal agreement and support for the Catholic Bishops opposition to Gay Marriage.”

In August, Quie made an impassioned speech urging restraint among church members who disagreed with the majority on gay and lesbian pastors.

“I was opposed to this [change], too, but that’s my problem,” he said. “You can’t say now that you’re going to leave the church. We have to live with this change for a while and see how it works out.”

But now Quie is saying the opposite. In a column distributed to newspapers across the state, Quie urges congregations to leave the ELCA and withhold member payments — the majority of which are used for ELCA’s charitable causes.

“The leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) turned its back on members of ELCA churches and threatens the very existence of the church by allowing non-celibate pastors in homosexual relationships to be ordained into the ELCA,” Quie wrote in a column with fellow Lutheran Bob Lee. “The ELCA leadership certainly did not want congregational members voting on this controversial and unprecedented proposal because the vast majority of us would have opposed the decision.”

Quie then cites a number of churches who have left the ELCA, and others who are withholding payment.

Quie proposes these action steps: “What should ELCA members do? 1. Think about our youth. The ELCA decision is a travesty upon our youth. 2. Hold a congregational vote on whether the ELCA should permit non-celibate homosexuals to be ordained as pastors. 3. Stop all funding to the ELCA. 4. Contact Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal)”

Obie Holmen, a blogger who has been covering the ELCA controversy extensively, points out that instead of “turning its back” on church members, the vote involved a diversity of ELCA members:

The truth, and Quie knows this, is that the actions of the ELCA assembly were the results of balloting by over a thousand voting members chosen from around the entire ELCA, elected to serve as voting members by ballot at 65 regional synods, comprised of representatives from each and every congregation of the ELCA. You [Quie] know very well that individual members voted in their local congregations for those who became their congregational representatives as voting members at the synod assemblies; in turn, those voting members at the synod assemblies then elected, through the process of nomination and ballot, those who served as the synodical voting members at the churchwide assembly. That was how you were elected to serve as a voting member at the 2009 church wide assembly.

Lutheran CORE is in the process of creating a new denomination within the Lutheran tradition for those churches that oppose homosexuality.

(Natalie Maynor, Flickr)

Thousands of Lutherans will gather in Minneapolis on August 17 to take a historic vote on LGBT issues within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The church-wide ELCA assembly will decide whether openly gay pastors in committed relationships can lead church congregations and whether the church will pass a “social statement” to soften its stance on homosexuality. If the measures pass, the ELCA would become the largest religious denomination in the United States to ordain gay pastors.

The decision will not come easy, as many within the church harbor strong feelings on both sides of the debate. With only weeks before the vote, delegates to the assembly are being wooed by supporters and opponents of a more welcoming church for LGBT Lutherans.

A conservative organization called Lutheran CORE has been working to convince the assembly’s voting members to oppose the softening of church rules related to homosexuality and to require a two-thirds majority to pass the proposals.

“The proposals are in fact no compromise,” CORE wrote in a letter to delegates. “They clearly imply that same-sex blessings and the ordination and rostering of homosexual persons in committed relationships are acceptable within the ELCA. The teaching of the church will be changed.”

CORE says the proposals will affect dealings with other churches.

“If the ELCA were to approve the public recognition of same-sex unions or the rostering of persons in such relationships, it would damage our ecumenical relationships with the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and Evangelical churches.”

The letter was signed by nearly fifty Lutherans, including a dozen Minnesotans, most of whom are professors at Luther Seminary in St. Paul.

Supporters of the pro-LGBT proposals are also making their voices heard, as well.

Minnesota’s Herbert Chilstrom, the first presiding bishop of the ELCA in 1987 when the three largest Lutheran denominations merged that year, wields considerable influence in the church. He sent his own letter to CORE members, countering that the proposals will be good for the church. Chilstrom noted that the Bible is not merely a handful of verses and should be taken in its full context.

“So we have to ask – as we did with the role of women and the place of divorced persons — if a collection of a few verses is the last word. Or is Christ saying something different to us at this moment in the history of the church?” he wrote.

“I don’t believe it is as radical as some would have us believe, that we should change our minds about the ordination of gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ in faithful relationships.”

He continued, “I pray for its passage. I pray it will be a strong message to the world that we are a church that includes rather than excludes those who love our Jesus as intensely as I do — and as you do. Yes, and a church that welcomes as pastors those whose only difference is that they are gay or lesbian and long for a faithful relationship.”

Different groups within the church are making their opinions known as well. More than 260 Lutheran theologians have signed a letter in support of allowing gay and lesbian pastors in life-long relationships to lead congregations. But a group called the Hispanic Pastors of the ELCA has rallied against the proposal.

“Homosexual behavior is not a race or a condition but is portrayed in Scripture as a behavior, a behavior which is not in accord with the will of the Creator,” the group wrote to assembly members. “Those who repent will receive our Lord’s forgiveness and the power of the Holy Spirit to change their behavior and to walk according to His Will and ways.”

No one is certain how the vote will turn out, but both sides will have a strong presence in Minneapolis lobbying for position with assembly members.

Grace Lutheran Church in Ely, Minn. Photo: Matti Mattila

After years of study and debate, thousands of leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will gather in Minneapolis this August for a vote on whether to become more welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Lutherans. LGBT Lutherans are anxiously awaiting the outcome, which could pave the way for gay and lesbian pastors, bring same-sex commitment ceremonies to local congregations and impact policy in a state with a large number of Lutheran elected officials.

Minnesota’s Lutherans have already weighed in on the issue by way of “synod assemblies,” regional meetings around the state. The synods have come to different conclusions, reflecting the intense debate the issue raises. But LGBT advocates are hopeful that a mostly positive response from Minnesota’s synods will translate to success at the church-wide assembly in Minneapolis.

Two important issues will be taken up at the Minneapolis assembly. One is a debate over a document called the Social Statement on Human Sexuality.

“Social statements are terrifyingly important documents within the church,” said Phil Soucy of Lutherans Concerned, which works toward full inclusion of LGBT people within the church. “They describe the church as it is within the current society and forms the basis of policy and action.”

The social statement was years in the making, dating back to 2001, when members directed the ELCA to study the issue of sexuality within the church. Released by the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality in February, the report found that there’s no consensus among Lutheran theologians and laypersons about how to treat homosexuality in the churches, and recommended a social statement allowing congregations to decide to bless same-sex relationships. The statement needs a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

Also on the docket for the August meeting in Minneapolis is a change in ministry policy that could end the ban on non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy. Current church law forbids gay and lesbian pastors from being in committed relationships, but in 2007 the church-wide assembly directed the ELCA to refrain from punishing them for such relationships.

Minneapolis provides a perfect backdrop to move the church forward on the issue of gay and lesbian clergy. It was here in 1970 that the church agreed to allow women to become clergy, an issue that other denominations struggle with today.

Changes in church policy could have broad implications for Minnesota policy as legislators weigh the issue of LGBT equality each year: 36 percent of Minnesota’s Protestant legislators identify themselves as Lutheran. According to U.S. Census data, 24 percent of Minnesota residents say they’re Lutheran. Catholics outnumber Lutherans but only by one percent.

August’s vote won’t be the first time Minnesota’s synods weigh in on these controversial issues. At a May meeting in Moorhead, the Northwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly stopped short of supporting the social statement on human sexuality. By a vote of 256 to 202 the synod “declined to reject” the social statement, but the assembly rejected the ministry policy allowing gay and lesbian clergy by a slim margin: 225 votes to 223 with 13 abstentions.

“That’s about as razor’s edge as you can get,” synod Bishop Larry Wohlrabe told In-Forum. “I’m not surprised that it was close. I’m a little amazed that it was that close.”

The Southwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly met at Gustavus Adolphus in St.Peter in mid-June. Like their Northwestern Minnesota Synod neighbors they declined to reject the social statement by a vote of 338 to 275, but they did vote to reject gay and lesbian clergy by a vote of 303 to 279.

The Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly held at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester in early May. The synod voted to become a “Reconciling in Christ” synod, a welcoming community for LGBT people, and defeated motions to express disapproval of the social statement and gay and lesbian clergy.

But, a motion to approve the social statement and gay and lesbian clergy was tabled and no vote was taken.

“I want to say we have turned the corner, but it’s probably more accurate to say we are turning the corner,” the Rev. Bruce Benson of the St. Olaf Student Congregation in Northfield, Minn., said of the reconciling motion. “Frankly, I think that as a church we are going to have to provide for rituals, rites, ceremonies that acknowledge the commitment of two same-gender people,” he told the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

Northeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly met in Brainerd in April and passed both the social statement and the resolution supporting gay and lesbian clergy.

Bishop Thomas Aitken told Northeastern Minnesota congregations that he hopes the meeting in Minneapolis will have the same outcome. “My hope and prayer is that the same kind of gentleness, clarity, respect and love for the whole body that I witnessed during our Synod Assembly, will prevail in the Churchwide Assembly,” he said. “We can understand and live in diversity and unity, all wrapped up in the same beautiful ‘saint and sinner’ church. We’ve been doing it for years!”

The St. Paul Area Synod met in April and used a communal process to achieve consensus. They not only approved the social statement but also passed resolutions allowing for same-sex commitment ceremonies and agreed to retroactively reinstate gay or lesbian pastors who were removed from the rosters.

The Minneapolis Area Synod met in May and passed the social statement and resolution on gay and lesbian clergy. They also passed resolutions calling for “sexuality education” throughout the church and for the ELCA members to speak out against laws that discriminate against LGBT people.

In all, only two synods in Minnesota fully rejected either of the two measures to be put up for a vote in August.

“The environment has changed since 2007″ the last time the full church met, Soucy said. “These are issues that people feel very strongly about on both sides. It’s important that people read the social statement carefully and that they participate with a full knowledge of what it says. Uninformed dialogue is not very useful.”

While the proposed changes to the church have support, there are some conservative Lutherans who vehemently oppose them.

“The proposals are in fact no compromise,” according to Lutheran CORE, a conservative group that was founded to battle the LGBT-friendly resolutions. “They clearly imply that same-sex blessings and the ordination and rostering of homosexual persons in committed relationships are acceptable within the ELCA. The teaching of the church will be changed. We should not make such an important decision without clear biblical and theological support. The Task Force did not provide such support, nor has it been provided in statements from some of our colleagues in ELCA institutions,” reads an open letter on the group’s website.

And while there is vocal dissent over the issue, the head of the ELCA, Bishop Mark Hanson, said the church will get through the debate.

“Sometimes, when I hear concerns about division in the ELCA, I worry that they express a fear that unity depends on the actions of church leaders or assemblies,” he said in a statement on Friday. “Our unity, however, comes to us because God gives it freely and undeservedly in Jesus Christ.”

The document, called the “Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality,” says the church is willing to be more open about the issues surrounding sexuality, and while the document stops short of blessing same-sex couples and allowing gays and lesbians in committed relationships to lead congregations, the ELCA seems open to a realistic, non-judgmental dialogue.

Even so, the sharp criticism from those more conservative branches of Lutheranism should be seen as a positive for gays and lesbians in the church. If conservative Lutherans are upset that it might open the door for more acceptance of gays and lesbians, then the ELCA must be doing something right. The document will remain open to feedback from any ELCA member church until Nov. 1, 2008, and will be voted on by the ELCA membership in Minneapolis in 2009.

The “Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality” [download the PDF] is important in a number of respects:

Click “read more” to continue…It expresses regret for the treatment of gays and lesbians by the church: “At this particular point in history, this church confesses with regret the way in which Lutheran historical teachings concerning homosexuality sometimes have been used to tear apart families with gay or lesbian members.”

It affirms the fact that gays and lesbians are not solely defined by sexual activity: “It is therefore a misunderstanding to think that sexuality is a matter of sexual or erotic desire alone. Erotic desire, in the narrow sense, is only one component of the relational human bonds that humans crave as sexual creatures. Although not all companionship is sexual, at some level, all sexual relationship is about companionship. We need and delight in companionship and are vulnerable to loneliness.”

It allows clergy working with gays and lesbians to advocate for lifelong, monogamous relationships similar to marriage: “In their pastoral response, some pastors and congregations will advocate repentance and celibacy. Other pastors and congregations will call our same-gender-oriented brothers and sisters in Christ to establish relationships that are chaste, mutual, monogamous, and lifelong. These relationships are to be held to the same rigorous standards and sexual ethics as all others.”

It recognizes the right of the state to set the definition of civil marriage, while recognizing the “historic origin” of the term: “This church recognizes the historic origin of the term “marriage” as a life-long and committed relationship between a woman and man, and does not wish to alter this understanding. It recognizes, however, that some states have enacted or are in the process of enacting legislation in which the term ‘marriage’ is used. This is the prerogative of the state, which is the realm in which civil marriage and the laws governing it exist.”

It recognizes that people often have sex outside of marriage, and encourages healthy decision-making: “While this church does not encourage such relationships, it insists that every sexual relationship entails responsibility. All sexually active people have the responsibility to protect the other person from emotional as well as physical harm. All sexually active people have a particular responsibility to protect themselves and their partners from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV.”

While these statements might seem to create a more inclusive church, the document is merely to serve as a resource for teaching and creating church policy. It doesn’t set the policy. And it still considers homosexuality, in any context, a sin.

The document plainly spells out a lack of agreement on the issues. It reads, “After many years of study and conversation, this church does not have consensus regarding loving and committed same-gender relationships.”

Despite the document’s lack of teeth, its inclusive message has raised the ire of some Lutherans from both inside and outside the ELCA who see a homosexual conspiracy.

“The draft statement would change the definition of marriage by implication. This is a cause of great concern,” the Rev. Paull Spring, a retired ELCA bishop who heads the Lutheran Coalition for Reform, said in a press release last week. “Lutherans have traditionally defined marriage as ‘a lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman.’ The statement calls marriage a relationship of love and trust between two people. From this perspective, the statement opens the door to supporting same-gender committed relationships.”

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), a conservative branch of Lutheranism, didn’t like the document. “The report does not speak clearly and authoritatively regarding homosexual behavior and the ordination of those who are openly involved in such behavior,” a statement from LCMS read. “This goes contrary to the historic and universal understanding of the Christian Church regarding what the Holy Scriptures teach about homosexual behavior as contrary to God’s will and about the biblical qualifications for holding the pastoral office.”

The reaction from gay and lesbian Lutherans was mixed. “This draft merely tolerates rather than celebrates the presence of same-gender families in the church,” Emily Eastwood of the Twin Cities-based Lutherans Concerned/North America told the Star Tribune. “If the church wishes to hold persons in same-gender relationships to the same ethical standards as heterosexuals, then the church must offer the same standards of support and benefit.”