Gays and Lesbians as Priests and Pastors
It seems that the world is changing and gays and lesbians are also being accepted religiously. The most recent move to this direction is the decision of the United States' largest Lutheran denomination to took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday. The leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as ministers.The new ruling was supported by 68% of around 1,000 delegates at the ELCA's national assembly. The group has about 4.7 million members in the United States and is one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations to make a gay-friendly ruling.
However, there are expected setbacks to the decision. Some congregation leaders are already talking about moving out of the ELCA because they feel that it is moving out for the context of the Bible.
"We can learn not to define ourselves by negation," said Foster, who is a lesbian. "By not only saying what we are against, which always seems to be the same — against gay people. We should be against poverty. I wish we were as zealous about that."
The Rev. Katrina Foster, pastor at Fordham Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx, said Lutherans heard similar warnings about flouting Scripture when they made past changes that are now seen as successful — chiefly, the ordination of women.
So what will happen? Will this make a domino effect on the eventual recognition of same sex marriage? Only they can tell it and time will soon reveal.
Source: Yahoo News
The change passed with the support of 68 percent of about 1,000 delegates at the ELCA's national assembly. It makes the group, with about 4.7 million members in the U.S., one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance.
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