Sunday, April 23, 2006

Lutheran Ministers Speak Out for GLBT issues

Greetings from the very rainy Northeast. Our backyard is flooded and our basement is wet, but I just received an email from a minister in Tuscon, Arizona that has brightened my day.

Nine ELCA ministers (that's the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America if you're not up on your Protestant denominations) have joined together to develop a campaign to protest the ELCA policy on gays and lesbians. They write that they are committed to :

Truth-telling: we will do our best to make clearer to all (including ELCA members, ecumenical partners, interfaith groups, social service agencies, community leaders, and general humanity) our view that current ELCA policy towards lgbt (lesbian, gay, bi, transgendered) persons does not reflect Lutheran Christian theology at its best, nor does this policy reflect the diversity of faithful Biblical interpretations held by Biblical scholars of integrity as taught in our ELCA colleges and seminaries.

They have developed a statement and are seeking signatures of ELCA clergy and other religious leaders. Their web site has many good resources on full inclusion. Please pass on the word to any Lutherans you know.

At the Religious Institute, we applaud those brave religious leaders who speak out against sexual oppression and work for sexual justice within their own denominations.

(I'm off to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with progressive religious leaders to encourage greater involvement in sexual justice issues. Check back here Wednesday to see how it goes.)

1 comment:

Questing Parson said...

I just discovered your blog. I'll be back -- often.

You might also be interested that a significant number of United Methodist Clergy have decided to come out en masse as a way to force the facing of the issue by their denomination.