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 | 1974: "Lutherans Concerned" This group was formed to inform ELCA members about homosexuality and to promote understanding and acceptance. It urges individual congregations to welcome lesbians and gay as members. Such congregations are called "Reconciled in Christ" |
| 1989: Sex and marriage; ordination of gays & lesbians: The church went on record as stating: "The Biblical understanding which this church affirms is that the normative settings for sexual intercourse is marriage...Practicing homosexuals are excluded from the ordained ministry." A "practicing" homosexual apparently means a sexually-active gay or lesbian. This policy was challenged by two San Francisco congregations: St. Francis Lutheran Church who had called a gay pastor, and First United Lutheran Church who had called a lesbian couple. In mid-1990, these congregations were tried and suspended from membership in the ELCA. |
| 1990: Member punished: Bill Kunish, a Berkeley seminary student urged Lutherans to prayerfully study the homosexual issue on their own. Because of this sermon, his church council suspended his financial support and the Synod Candidacy Committee withdrew their endorsement for his ordination. He was forced to leave the seminary. |
| 1991: Homosexuals affirmed: 1991 biennial Churchwide Assembly moved to "affirm gay and lesbian people, as individuals created by God," to participate fully in the life of congregations of the ELCA. However, the church does not bless their committed relationships, nor does it allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to be ordained or to remain as clergy. |
| 1993: Civil rights: The ELCA Church Council passed a resolution which: "reaffirmed that the historical position of the ELCA is...support for legislation, referendums, and policies to protect the civil rights of all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, and to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment, and public services and accommodations" However, this policy was not extended to the ELCA itself. |
| 1993: Homosexuality and the Bible: A committee of the ELCA prepared a draft statement which stated that the Bible did not condemn homosexual relationships. It described both masturbation and homosexuality as a healthy part of human life. Unfortunately, the media obtained a copy before it could be sent to the churches for study. The ELCA leaders were met with a firestorm of angry members, including several death threats. They received over 21,000 responses; the vast majority were negative. The Division of Church and Society appointed a new committee to prepare a new social statement. |
| 1993: Blessing same-sex relationships: The church's bishops decided that they do not approve of rituals recognizing same-sex civil unions. There reason is that such unions are not mentioned in the Bible, and are not part of the church's tradition. They said: "We, as the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, recognize that there is basis neither in Scripture nor tradition for the establishment of an official ceremony by this church for the blessing of a homosexual relationship. We, therefore, do not approve such a ceremony as an official action of this church's ministry." 1 |
| 1994: Resolution ban: The church decided to avoid acting on any homosexual motions until its 1999 assembly. A new statement on human sexuality was issued which recommended few changes from its traditional policies on sexuality. |
| 1995: Homosexuals welcomed again: The delegates to the 1995 Churchwide Assembly repeated the welcome expressed at the 1991 Assembly. They also urged Lutherans to "practice and teach biblical and confessional guidance for speaking the truth in love." |
| 1996: Rejection of gays and lesbians: In June, the ELCA's Southwestern Texas Synod held an assembly; they defeated a resolution which would have welcomed lesbian and gay Christians into its churches as both members and clergy. |
| 1999-AUG-21: Ban on homosexual clergy: The Churchwide Assembly had never previously voted on the issue of gay clergy. In a vote of 820 to 159, they decided to ban sexually-active gays and lesbians from ordination. |
| 2001-JUN-12: Two churches blacklisted: Bishop Mark S. Hanson of the St. Paul Area Synod placed St. Paul-Reformation Church and the Hosanna! Lutheran Church under "public censure and admonition for willfully violating the ELCA Constitution." Both congregations had called and installed pastors who were not on the ELCA roster. Hosanna! had apparently called a presumably heterosexual pastor. St. Paul-Reformation called Anita Hill, a lesbian. She had been serving in a lay capacity since 1983, and as an unordained pastoral minister since 1994. The congregation had repeatedly attempted to have the ELCA approve her ordination, without success. The congregation finally called and ordained her in violation of the ELCA governing documents. 7 Bishop Hanson said that he was looking for a response that would be faithful to Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions and the church's governing documents, "while also recognizing the need for creative ministry ... in our growing and increasingly diverse metropolitan community. It distresses me that the congregation's actions threaten the ELCA's unity and sense of common mission." The censure took effect SEP-1. At that time, both congregations' voice within the ELCA was silenced. No member of the congregation was permitted to serve on the synod council, as a conference officer, or on any leadership team, board, committee, or task force of the Saint Paul Area Synod. |
| 2001-AUG: Four year study approved: The ELCA held its week-long Churchwide Assembly
in Indianapolis, starting on AUG-8. The St. Paul, MN, and Chicago, IL,
synods proposed memorials (synod resolutions) which would have
terminated the ban on the ordination of sexually active gays and
lesbians. A memorial by the Washington DC synod would have created "a
rite of blessing for same-gender committed relationships of lifelong
fidelity," which would not be defined as a marriage. There was a
sense within the Assembly that there is a serious division within the denomination over homosexuality. On AUG-13, they decided instead to start their
first official, church-wide study of homosexuality, to be based on
biblical, theological, scientific and practical considerations. The
group was asked to issue an interim report in 2003. Their final report is
expected in early 2005 will recommend to the 2005 Assembly whether to institute
changes. "In approving the study, the 1,040 voting delegates, joined by 1,500 other Lutheran observers, added a call for advocates to 'respect charitably one another' during the four-year process.' " The Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, director of the church's Division for Ministry said: "This is a good, clear request from the church for some in-depth study of what we believe about homosexuality and how the belief is formed." The vote for the study passed 899 to 115. 2 During the debate and vote, two gay-positive groups (Soulforce and Lutherans for Full Participation) protested by standing silently. Later, 50 demonstrators from the two groups were arrested for blocking the walkway outside the convention center. Soulforce founder Mel White accused the ELCA of perpetuating "spiritual violence." He said: "They could have been prophets, they could have led the way...Studies kill us. They just passed four years of study, which is four years of suffering and death." 3 Theologians remain divided over the homosexual issue. The Rev. Ronald Rude of Denver, CO asked "does the Gospel override the Bible." He said that when the church reached decisions over human slavery, the status of women in the church, and divorce, that various Bible passages were indeed overridden. Referring to a a homosexual couple who had asked that she provide a church blessing ritual for their union, the Rev. Kim Lengert of Reading, PA said: "We are about to deny the crumbs from the table. We have a part of our congregations that is starving spiritually." 4 The Assembly elected Bishop Mark Hanson of St.
Paul, MN as its next leader. That synod is a leader within the denomination in promoting
equal rights for gays and lesbians. Hanson said: "We have got to find
a way to live together at a time when we do not agree on this issue."
3 |
| 2002-APR: Congregation blacklist: The Saint Paul Area Synod Assembly passed a resolution requesting that the bishop-elect lift the censure imposed on St. Paul- Reformation Lutheran Church. |
| 2002-DEC: Movie completed about Anita Hill: According to the Aquaries Media Corporation website: "THIS obedience" is a video of "the emotional journey through one of the most contentious justice issues of our time. In an act of 'ecclesiastical disobedience,' a Lutheran congregation in Minnesota ordains the Rev. Anita C. Hill, a lesbian pastor in a committed relationship, who refuses the requirement of celibacy for gay clergy. Over the following months Hill and her congregation find themselves at the center of the public debate over homosexuality and the church. As the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) prepares for a decision, hopes and dreams hang in the balance." 5 |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Blessing of Homosexual Relationship," 1993-OCT-5-8, at: http://www.elca.org/sr/
- Larry Witham, "Lutheran group to study gay rights for clergy, unions," Washington Times, at: http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/
- Kevin Eckstrom, "Lutherans retain ban on gay clergy, ask for more study," Religious News Service, 2001-AUG-14.
- R.N. Ostling, "Lutherans to Study Homosexuality," Associated Press, 2001-AUG-13, at: http://speakout.com/
- Aquaries Media Corporation has produced a film "This Obedience...the story of a woman, a congregation and an issue that has divided the nation." The film covers the events surrounding Anita Hill and her congregation's decision to commit ecclesiastical disobedience by ordaining her. See: http://www.thisobedience.com/
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Copyright © 1998 to 2002 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2005-AUG-20
Author: B.A. Robinson
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