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JUNE
5, 2006 HOMOSEXUALITY Bitter disputes over ordaining gays and lesbians have roiled American denominations in recent years, and they are revving up again as a number of faith groups try to resolve what has seemed an intractable issue. As in the parallel arguments over same-sex unions, one camp sees homosexuality as incompatible with the Bible's strictures on sex, and thus considers it impossible to allow for homosexual clergy. The other view holds that biblical injunctions against homosexuality are cultural artifacts akin to scriptural proscriptions on women or divorce that have long been superseded. They say modern concepts of human rights and social justice should allow for equality for homosexuals, as long as they are in stable, faithful relationships. Centrists are seeking compromises but are finding that the terrain has little middle ground. As a result, many observers believe developments in the coming weeks and months could show a way forward, or lead to de facto schisms. Why it matters The role and rights of gays and lesbians in American society will be determined in large part by how their roles and rights are viewed in the religious world. Experts say faith groups that deny gay rights as against biblical morality will also tend to advocate restrictions against homosexuals in society. And faith groups that promote gay rights within their communities will have a platform to promote gay rights in a wider forum. Also, faith communities that advocate for gay rights in society but continue to deny ordination to homosexuals will be seen as undermining their public policy stands, experts say. Jump to: The annual General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (June 8-13) will convene at Central College in Pella, Iowa. The RCA has stated since 1978 that homosexuality is a sin, but debates over changing the church's policies have roiled the denomination. After the 2005 General Synod, RCA leaders launched a three-year-long dialogue on homosexuality. But the process itself is expected to come under fire at this year's meeting from those who see it as a means to loosen the church's strictures. With fewer than 300,000 members, the RCA is small, but its deep roots in American religious history make it a bellwether denomination. The General Convention of the Episcopal Church (June 13-21) will meet in Columbus, Ohio, for the triennial national gathering of its two legislative bodies - the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, which includes priests and lay people. Intense debate and media coverage are expected for a series of resolutions on issues related to gay clergy. The votes on those resolutions may determine whether the 2.3 million-member church continues to suffer internal divisions and whether it will effectively break with the rest of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (June 15-22) will meet in Birmingham, Ala. The biennial conference of the 2.4 million-member church's legislative body will take up a new proposal on gay ordination that was five years in development. The so-called "third way" strategy would retain the PCUSA's current rules against ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians, but under its provisions local churches could ordain gays and lesbians under some circumstances. The proposal has drawn fire from both sides, and its prospects are uncertain. Under Presbyterian governance, regional presbyteries ordain ministers while local churches ordain deacons and elders. Conservative Judaism is actively debating whether and how to allow gay clergy. In March 2006 the movement's Committee on Law and Standards, made up of 25 rabbis who vote on issues of Jewish law, met in closed session to try to forge an agreement on whether Conservative Judaism could interpret Jewish law to allow for homosexual rabbis. A vote on their discussions was tabled until December. In the meantime, a layman, Arnold Eisen, was named head of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in April 2006, making him the de facto leader of the movement. Eisen has said he favors ordaining gays and lesbians as rabbis but will let the rabbinate make the final decision. Roman Catholic clergy would seem to be exempt from much of this debate since priests must be celibate males. But an apparent rise in the number of gay men being ordained, combined with revelations in recent years that a number of gay priests were not abiding by their vow of celibacy or were engaged in unhealthy or abusive sexual behaviors, led the Vatican this year to try to halt the ordination of any homosexual, regardless of whether he said he would remain celibate. The new policy caused consternation and confusion, especially in the United States, and observers say it is unclear whether the bishops can or will enforce it. While many denominations are debating gay ordination, no major U.S. church has fully endorsed ordaining sexually active homosexuals, even if they are in a committed relationship. At most, some denominations, such as the United Church of Christ, allow but do not enforce a policy of gay ordination because they do not have a central authority or ecclesial polity that requires uniformity. Conservative-minded evangelical and fundamentalist churches will not consider the possibility of ordaining homosexuals or allowing gay marriage. That includes the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest U.S. denomination after Roman Catholicism, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. African-American churches and churches in the Pentecostal tradition are also overwhelmingly against sanctioning a role for gays in church. Islam and many other religious traditions that are newer to America also tend to disapprove of homosexuality and do not allow gay clergy. There are a few
small denominations dedicated to ministering to homosexuals and that specifically
endorse gay clergy. Here is a look at where the other major debates on gay ordination are unfolding: The Episcopal Church has been in turmoil since 2003, when delegates from the Diocese of New Hampshire elected as bishop V. Gene Robinson, a gay priest who is in a committed, longtime relationship with his partner. After Robinson's election, and his confirmation a few weeks later by the General Convention of 2003, conservative Episcopalians threatened to break away, and leaders in other parts of the Anglican Communion demanded that the Episcopal Church be sanctioned or even expelled from the worldwide body. (About the same time, the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada gave official approval to blessing same-sex unions, contributing to the furor.) Even before that, in 1996, a bishop, Walter Righter, was accused of heresy for ordaining an openly gay man in 1990. The charges were dismissed, but the church continued to struggle with issues of gay ordination and same-sex blessings. While such rites are not officially approved, they are widely practiced at the local level. Later in 2003, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican Communion, appointed the Lambeth Commission on Communion to try to formulate an acceptable response to the controversy. Led by Archbishop Robin Eames, the Anglican Primate of All Ireland, the commission in October 2004 released its findings in the so-called Windsor Report. Among other things, the report called on the Episcopal Church to express regret for approving Robinson's election and called for a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions. Still, the report did not satisfy some conservatives who wanted penalties against the U.S. church, and it upset many progressive Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church agreed to delay approving any more bishops until more negotiations could take place. In May 2006, delegates from the Diocese of California elected a new bishop but did not choose one of several openly gay candidates. Several of the candidates were openly gay, but the convention chose a married man from Alabama, Marc Handley Andrus, as their new bishop. While that averted another crisis, Andrus actually supports gay ordination. In April 2006 a special commission of the Episcopal Church released a 26-page report titled "One Baptism, One Hope in God's Call" that responds to the Windsor Report and presents the resolutions and issues that the General Convention will debate in June in Columbus. This Episcopal News Service report from April 7, 2006, presents the "One Baptism" report and has links to the full text and the resolutions. On June 18 the General Convention will also elect a new leader, or presiding bishop, to succeed the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III, whose nine-year term ends Nov. 1. The new presiding bishop's approach to issues involving homosexuality is expected to be key to the church's future. An April 18, 2006, ENS story lists the candidates and explains the process. RESOURCES CONSERVATIVE
GROUPS LIBERAL
GROUPS The Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) currently requires that ministers — including elders and deacons, who must also be ordained — adhere to "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness." In effect that means no sexually active gays or lesbians, even those in a committed relationship. The General Assembly that will meet in June in Birmingham will attempt to find a "third way" between those who want to liberalize that statute and those who want to maintain a ban. The delegates will vote on a proposal that was unanimously approved, after a five-year process, by a 20-member Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, or PUP. The PUP proposal distinguishes between "standards" and "essentials" in seeking a way to allow for the possibility that local churches could ordain some homosexuals without changing the current ban and alienating Presbyterians who are against gay ministers. The PCUSA has tackled this issue numerous times. In 1978 the General Assembly passed a "definitive guidance" that "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals" are not eligible for ordination, as this Presbyterian News Service story explains. After the 1996 General Assembly proposed an amendment (called G-6.0106b) to codify that ban in the church's constitution, 57 percent of the presbyteries, or regional bodies, voted to ratify it. Two later efforts to remove the amendment, in 1998 and 2002, were voted down by margins of 67 percent and 73 percent. The 2006 PUP proposal is different in that it requires only the approval of the General Assembly delegates to pass and take effect. However, observers expect a sharp debate over the PUP resolution and many counter-resolutions that have been introduced. One proposal advanced by pro-gay ordination forces would again try to delete G-6.0106b. RESOURCES CONSERVATIVE
GROUPS LIBERAL
GROUPS The RCA has repeatedly held that homosexuality is sinful, that gays and lesbians cannot be ordained and that same-sex relationships cannot be blessed. But the denomination has also struggled to balance those strictures with a welcoming stance to homosexuals and the promotion of gay rights in wider society. The debate has frequently been difficult and divisive. The most recent and high-profile furor came in 2005, when it became known that the Rev. Norman Kansfield, president of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary - the denomination's main seminary - led a 2004 service in which he married his lesbian daughter, Ann Kansfield, and her partner. In January 2005 the seminary board dismissed Norman Kansfield from his post, and at the June 2005 annual general Synod, two-thirds of the delegates voted to suspend his ministerial credentials and bar him from teaching at RCA institutions. His daughter, who was studying at the seminary and was a few months away from ordination herself, was barred from joining the RCA clergy. The episode left the RCA "unexpectedly at a crossroads," as the church's leader, general secretary Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, put it. As a result, RCA leaders decided to launch a three-year "Dialogue on Homosexuality" that would "immediately begin an honest and intentional denomination-wide dialogue on homosexuality." A six-member team came up with a proposal, which was approved. But the process itself is being challenged through resolutions on the agenda for the 2006 General Synod. The RCA's proscriptions against gays and lesbians are also presenting obstacles in its ecumenical dialogue with denominations such as the more liberal UCC. The RCA web site has a backgrounder on the denomination's history regarding homosexual issues and its current stands. There is also a copy of the RCA's updated study guide on homosexuality, first issued in 1998. RESOURCES At its last quadrennial General Conference, held in Pittsburgh in 2004, leaders of the 8.3 million-member United Methodist Church voted to strengthen the denomination's stance against gay ordination. The denomination's Book of Discipline now says that "The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers the practice incompatible with Christian teachings." The delegates also defeated a motion to leave the ordination of homosexuals up to each local conference, and they struck down an attempt to add this phrase to the Book of Discipline: "As this difficult judgment is made, it is acknowledged that faithful Christians hold differing opinions in this matter." Yet those decisions did not close the door on the debate. A significant minority of the conference delegates voted for the more inclusive proposals, and several developments since then have kept the issue on the boil. Among them: • In a decision
handed down in October 2005, the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church
reinstated a Virginia pastor who had refused to allow a gay man to become a
member of his congregation. The Rev. Ed Johnson, pastor of South Hill United
Methodist Church in South Hill, Va., had been suspended from the pulpit for
a year by his fellow ministers until the church's highest court reinstated Johnson. RESOURCES CONSERVATIVE
GROUPS LIBERAL
GROUPS EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has officially welcomed gay and lesbian members since 1991 but does not ordain practicing homosexuals or bless same-sex partnerships. Faced with sharp disagreements over positions on these issues, the ELCA in 2001 started a formal process to try to reach a consensus on the entire range of sexuality issues. At the 2001 Churchwide Assembly (held every two years) ELCA leaders commissioned a task force to engage in a lengthy process called "Journey Together Faithfully." The process has two main parts. The first focused on gay ordination and blessing of same-sex couples and was presented at the Churchwide Assembly in August 2005. The second was to lead to a broader statement on ELCA views on human sexuality. That statement is scheduled to be presented at the Churchwide Assembly in summer 2009. The 2005 votes on homosexuality did not resolve the disputes, and observers expect the arguments to dominate the deliberations of the 2007 assembly. Here's what happened: In January 2005 the 13-member task force recommended affirming a statement by the ELCA bishops that disapproved of same-sex unions but allowed local pastors discretion in dealing with individual cases. The recommendations would also have allowed the ordination of gays and lesbians in "lifelong, committed and faithful" relationships, with the approval of their bishop, local elected church leaders and the ELCA's Conference of Bishops. A two-thirds majority was required for the proposals to pass the Churchwide Assembly. The delegates voted 670-323 to maintain the prohibition on same-sex blessings and voted 503-490 against allowing gay clergy. Comments afterward showed that both sides were dissatisfied with the votes. Two smaller and more conservative Lutheran denominations, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, do not ordain practicing homosexuals or bless same-sex couples. RESOURCES CONSERVATIVE
GROUPS LIBERAL
GROUPS The leadership of the 1.3 million-member United Church of Christ has been foremost among denominations seeking the full inclusion of homosexuals. In the 1970s the UCC allowed the ordination of the first openly gay man and the first openly lesbian woman, and in 2005 the UCC endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples. Ordination of practicing homosexuals was officially accepted in 1980, and the blessing of same-sex couples is allowed. But the issue still roils the UCC. Because the UCC believes in local autonomy, some regions and congregations bar gay clergy and gay couples. Some congregations are threatening to leave over the denomination's official tolerance of homosexuality, while some liberal members want the UCC to be more active in promoting gay rights as a denomination-wide standard. The UCC will begin celebrating its 50th anniversary in November 2006, and its next General Synod meeting will be in June 2007. RESOURCES ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH Reform Judaism, which is the most liberal wing of the Jewish community, has allowed the ordination of homosexual rabbis since 1990. With 1.5 million adherents, Reform Judaism vies with Conservative Judaism as the largest stream of American Judaism, and it is the most visible U.S. religious community to accept gay rabbis. The Shamash.org newsgroup maintains a site with a chronology of Reform Judaism's record on homosexuality, traced through policy developments by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the rabbinic organization of the Reform movement. The CCAR web site has a list of relevant resources, including its 1990 statement endorsing nondiscrimination against gays and lesbians who seek ordination. Orthodox Judaism, which is smaller but influential, rules out any such possibility. Conservative Judaism has always been seen as occupying a middle ground, preserving tradition but opening to modernity. As a result, the outcome of the Conservative debate on allowing openly gay clergy will be crucial for America Judaism. Observers say it could also have important ramifications for relations between American Jews and Israel. In Israel, Reform and Conservative Judaism represent tiny minorities of the Jewish population. Religious life is governed by Orthodox Jewry, and liberal policies by the two main wings of American Judaism could create tensions. RESOURCES
Many organizations and individuals address the role of gays, lesbians and the transgendered in society and include considerations of how religion affects the debate. Most of these focus more on same-sex marriage and civil rights than on issues of ordination within religious groups. For national and regional groups involved in these issues and more background, see ReligionLink’s "Guide to Covering Same-sex Marriage Debates" (2006) and "Same-sex Marriage in Limbo" (2004). LEADING
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