Menu

Policies of 47 Christian faith
groups towards homosexuality

Sponsored link.

Notice:

With the legalization of gay marriage in mid-2015, the response of many Christian denominations has been so rapid that we have been unable to keep the essays linked to this essay up to date.

Overview:

Most Christian denominations, sects, and new religious movement have stated policies towards gays and lesbians:

	Whether to allow known, sexually active homosexuals to: become and remain church members with full privileges. be considered for ordination hold other positions of power.
	Whether to allow known celibate homosexuals to: become and remain church members with full privileges. be considered for ordination hold other positions of power.
	Whether to provide a formal religious ceremony for committed gay and lesbian couples. These are variously called union, civil union, commitment, or -- in a growing number of states -- marriage ceremonies, depending upon the laws of the individual state.
	Whether to have an active study program to reduce homophobia within the denomination.

There is no consensus within Christianity about:

	The nature of homosexuality,
	What Bible passages that discuss same-sex sexual behavior actually mean, or
	What policies to enforce about gay and lesbian members, candidates for ordination. commitment rituals or study programs.

The core reason for this lack of consensus is related to how an individual faith group defines truth. The main criteria are:

1. What the six or so "clobber passages" about same-sex sexual behavior mean, according to historical interpretations.
   
   
2. The policy that the faith group has taken towards homosexuality and homosexuals in the past.
   
   
3. The individual members' personal experience.
   
   
4. The findings of scientific research into homosexuality.

Conservative faith groups like the Roman Catholic Church, and Southern Baptist Convention tend to give criteria 1 & 2 much more weight than 3 & 4.

Religious liberals and progressive Christians tend to stress 3 & 4 in comparison to 1 & 2.

The response of Christian faith groups to homosexuality thus cover a wide range. An individual faith group's stance, can be predicted, based on upon their position in the liberal - fundamentalist continuum:

• More liberal denominations and Christians tend to view homosexuality as a civil rights matter; they generally believe it is fixed, unchosen, normal, natural, and morally neutral sexual orientation for a minority of adults.
  
  
• More conservative denominations and Christians tend to view homosexuality as a profound evil; they generally believe it is changeable, chosen, abnormal, unnatural and immoral behavior, regardless of the nature of the relationship.

Thus:

• The more liberal denominations, like the United Church of Christ, have changing their positions on homosexuality, in recent years, to adopt a more inclusive stance.
  
  
• Mainline denominations such as the Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians are actively debating the question. Denominational schisms may result., particularly in the case of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Episcopal Church. USA. Similar splits have occurred in the past over human slavery, whether women should be ordained, and certain theological debates.
  
  
• More conservative denominations are taking no significant action to change their beliefs and policies at this time.
  
  
• Fundamentalist denominations commit significant effort to prevent equal rights for homosexuals. For example, they:
  • Opposed hate-crime laws that protect persons of all sexual orientation,
    
    
  • Opposed laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation,
    
    
  • Opposed the elimination of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
    
    
  • Occasionally expel congregations from their denominations over "the issue." In the case of the Southern Baptist Convention three of their congregations were expelled. The latter had conducted a study of homosexuality, had concluded that the denomination's beliefs were invalid, and had welcomed gays and lesbians as members.

All movement appears to be towards greater inclusiveness towards homosexuality and homosexuals. This is reinforced by the more accepting stance of today's youth. We are unaware of any religious groups becoming less inclusive.

Partial list of churches and their position on homosexuality:

As we uncover statements about homosexuality by various Christian denominations, we include them in a new essay and link it to the following list. Over time, we hope to add to this list so that it represents all of the large Christian denominations, and some smaller ones. We encourage our visitors to help us add to this list by supplying us with information from their own denominations.

We currently have essays available about homosexual policies and beliefs by the following denominations. :

	Alliance of Baptists
	Anglican Church of Canada
	Anglican Communion, worldwide
	American Baptist Association
	American Baptist Churches in the USA
	Assemblies of God
	Children of God (COG)
	Christian Reformed Church in North America
	The Church of Christ
	Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
	Christian Science
	Church of England
	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
	Church of Scotland
	Community of Christ: (Formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS):
	Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
	Coptic Orthodox Church (centered in Egypt)
	Disciples of Christ (Christian Church)
	Episcopal Church, USA
	Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples)
	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada
	Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark
	The Family
	Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuality; Witnesses and same-sex marriages
	Lutheran Church of Australia
	Methodist Church in Britain
	Metropolitan Community Church
	Mennonites
	Presbyterian Church (USA): (3.4 million membership; mainline denomination)
	Presbyterian Church in America (0.3 million membership; conservative denomination)
	Presbyterian Church in Canada
	The Quakers
	Reformed Church in America
	Roman Catholic Church
	Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN)
	Russian Orthodox Church
	Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS): See Community of Christ
	Seventh Day Adventists:
	Part 1: Background. Events from 1977 to 1999 Part 2: Events year 2000 to now. SDA manual. Other gay-positive groups. Conclusions.
	Society of Friends (Quakers)
	Southern Baptist Convention Baptist State Convention of North Carolina An exchange of viewpoints on a Southern Baptist web site
	Unification Church
	Unitarian Universalist Association *
	United Church of Christ
	United Church of Canada
	United Methodist Church
	United Pentecostal Church International
	Uniting Church in Australia
	Unity Church
	The Way, International
	World Council of Churches
	Worldwide Church of God
	Other Christian groups

* The Unitarian Universalist Association is not generally considered a Christian denomination. We have included it here because about 10% of its members consider themselves to be Christian.

Related essay on this web site:

	Recommended books covering a broad range of Christian beliefs about the LGBT community
	Homosexuality and religion: Policies of non-Christian religions

Copyright © 1996 to 2014 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2014-JUN-23
Author: B.A. Robinson

Sponsored link

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Page Translator: This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.