Homosexuality and the Churches

Homosexuality and the Churches

Entering the Mainstream

Although gays and lesbians increasingly entered the mainstream of American society in the 1990s, their welcome was distinctly muted among broad sectors of the culture, particularly within religious institutions. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish communities struggled to respond to the insistent demands from their homosexual members for recognition of their needs and contributions. When these demands included the recognition of same-sex marriages and the ordination of homosexual women and men, however, most mainstream churches retreated. New scientific theories further countered traditional definitions of homosexuality. Studies by the UCLA School of Medicine indicated that the brain structure of homosexual males differs from those of heterosexuals. The National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Biochemistry found evidence that male homosexuality may be inherited, and scientists at the National Institute of Health believed they found evidence that homosexuality is carried in DNA. This evidence, while not conclusive and dealing entirely with males, suggested that sexual orientation is inborn rather than chosen. These arguments were greeted by some Jews and Christians as yet more evidence of scientific hostility to religion; others reacted with relief, as the new information was seen as a means of offsetting the biblical statements on homosexuality.

Sacraments

In 1998 the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church stated that same-sex marriages were not endorsed by the Church and that pastors who presided over such ceremonies could suffer the loss of their clerical status. American Episcopalians were forced to deal directly with the issue when Bishop John Shelby Spong of Newark, New Jersey, presented "A Statement in Koinonia" to the 1994 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. He argued that, whatever one's sexual orientation, sexuality is itself morally neutral, and nothing in Scripture prevents a homosexual relationship from being any less holy than a hetero-sexual one. Thus, homosexuals "who choose to live out their sexual orientation in a partnership that is marked by faithfulness and life-giving holiness" should not be excluded from the ordained ministry. Spong's statement revealed the depths of the division over homosexuality in American churches. Though Spong was widely criticized, others would be threatened with formal charges of heresy. When in 1994 Bishop Walter C. Righter ordained a homosexual man to the priesthood, he faced charges that in doing so he broke his ordination vows and was guilty of false teaching. In 1996 the church court formed to try the case dismissed the charges, finding that Righter's actions had violated "no clear doctrine."

The United Methodist Church

As the second largest, and perhaps most diverse, Protestant denomination in the United States, the United Methodists could scarcely avoid being caught up in what came to be seen as a fundamental question of morality. In 1996 the General Conference of the 8.5-million-member denomination, after a contentious debate, inserted a clause in the United Methodist Social Principles saying "ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches." When Jimmy Creech, senior pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Omaha, Nebraska, challenged the new rule by performing a marriage ceremony for a lesbian couple on 14 September 1997, he was tried by a church court for a violation of church law. Creech argued, "There was no way I was going to say 'no' to the two women. I will not treat them with disrespect. I will not question their dignity and their right to love and commit themselves to the persons they love and are committed to." The jury found that, though his actions violated the Social Principles, they were not punishable in church court since it was not clear whether they were binding or simply advisory. In 1998 the United Methodist Judicial Council, the highest legislative body of the denomination, clarified the situation by stating that the prohibition against clergy's performing same-sex unions was not simply advisory but had the force of church law. When Creech performed a same-sex union ceremony for Larry Ellis and James Raymer on 24 April 1998 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he was charged, convicted, and unfrocked in November 1999. Creech was not alone in his opposition to the rejection of homosexuals by his church. After the Judicial Council ruling, the California-Nevada Annual Conference spent several days in "spiritual discernment" during which the 1600 delegates tried to understand God's will in the matter. They resolved to encourage local congregations within their jurisdiction to become "welcoming" of everyone without regard to sexual orientation. In response, the Kingburg United Methodist Church in California resolved that "in Christian conscience" it could no longer remain identified with the United Methodist Church. On 28 July 1998 the congregation voted to transfer its membership to the newly created Kingburg Community Church. In March 1999 the ban on clergy performing same-sex marriages was again put to the test when Gregory R. Dell, a United Methodist minister from Chicago, was found guilty of violating church law for performing several such ceremonies. He was suspended from the ministry for a year. By 1999 the issue threatened to create schism in the United Methodist Church. In January 1999, in Sacramento, California, ninety-two Methodist ministers, along with clergy from other denominations, took part in blessing the "holy union" of a lesbian couple in a service at St. Mark's United Methodist Church; complaints were filed against many of the participants. The United Methodist Board of Church and Society and Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-religious Concerns called on the Judicial Council to moderate its position against homosexuality. At the same time, leaders of Good News—a conservative caucus within the denomination—urged Methodists who favored church approval of same-sex unions "to formally withdraw from (Methodism's) covenant and seek another avenue in which they can faithfully express their heartfelt beliefs."

Presbyterians

In 1978 the Presbyterian Church USA stated that "homosexual persons are encompassed by the searching love of Christ. The church must turn away from its fear and hatred to move toward the homosexual community in love and to welcome homosexual inquirers to its congregations." The welcome was not without limits, however. In 1991 the General Assembly clarified its position regarding homosexual marriage, forbidding "the use of church facilities for a same sex union ceremony." Furthermore, it stated that "since a Christian marriage performed in accordance with the Directory for Worship can only involve a covenant between a woman and a man, it would not be proper for a minister of the Word and Sacrament to perform a same sex union ceremony that the minister determines to be the same as a marriage ceremony." This pronouncement did not prohibit ministers from blessing same-sex unions as long as the ceremony was not a wedding. In 1993 the General Assembly adopted a statement that "self-affirming, practicing homosexual persons may not be ordained as ministers of the Word and Sacrament, elders, or deacons." In 1997 the Book of Order was changed to read "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament." Thus, homosexuals could be ordained, but had to commit themselves to lives of celibacy or, as critics pointed out, lie about their behavior. In an effort not to limit its ministry to homosexuals, the Hudson River Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA voted overwhelmingly to allow ministers to perform same-sex holy unions, provided that they were not called marriages, and a church tribunal upheld the right of the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Connecticut, to elect an openly gay elder to its governing board. On the matter of gay ordination, in 1999 the General Assembly opted for a measure calling for two years of study on the issue. That "decision not to decide" was called into question, however, when a church tribunal ruled in November that a group of Presbyterian congregations in New Jersey did not violate church laws by accepting a gay man as a candidate for ordination.

Lutherans

In 1993 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed an extensive and detailed statement on human sexuality that called for celibacy in singleness and fidelity in marriage. It also said that homosexuality was like any kind of sexuality; it was an integral part of one's identity. Without endorsing homosexual behavior, the statement avoided referring to it as either choice or sin, and concluded, "We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and unite us in Christ as we continue to deliberate on those questions and issues of homosexuality on which we are presently divided. In 1996 the ELCA Church Council adopted A Message on Sexuality: Some Common Convictions. In order to avoid the controversy that any such discussions inevitably raised, the statement did not address ethical questions related to homosexuality. In August 1999 the ELCA issued a guide for congregations, Talking Together as Christians about Homosexuality. The introduction acknowledged, "When the ELCA attempted to set forth its understanding of human sexuality' in a social statement in 1993, it became clear that, on the topic of homosexuality, though the inherited tradition continues to guide the consciences of many people, it does not express for others an adequate understanding of the Christian life in light of the gospel and human experiences." The guide reflected the lack of consensus among Lutherans on the issue without attempting an authoritative statement. Gilbert Meilaender Jr., a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor and Christian ethicist, contended that "By turning against the created meaning of our humanity as male and female, homosexual behavior claims the freedom to give our own meaning to life and thereby symbolically enacts a rejection of God's will for creation." Yet, Paul Thomas Jersild, a theologian and ethicist at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, argued, "As a Christian community we need to move away from the kind of rational, universal thinking about human sexuality that coerces everyone into the same heterosexual mold, often with great human cost. We should be more concerned to address a people's humanity than their sexuality and to understand their sexuality as much more than genital activity."

Conservatives and Evangelicals

Conservative and evangelical churches had fewer qualms about dealing with homosexuality. Outraged first at President Bill Clinton's unpopular policy of "don't ask; don't tell" regarding gays serving in the military, and then by the increasing presence of homosexual characters and situations on television, many saw the increased visibility of homosexual lifestyles as a sign of moral decay and depravity. Dwayne Hastings, communications director for the Ethics 8¢ Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, described the problem homosexuality presented for conservative Southern Baptists. "We want to be compassionate people. While the Bible speaks very strongly against homosexuality, we're not saying we don't like people. It's a hate the sin, love the sinner sort of thing. We don't want it to come out in a homophobic way." In 1996 the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant body in the nation, voted to urge the Walt Disney Company to reverse its "gay friendly" policies, which included allowing the same-sex partners of gay employees to enjoy the same benefits as opposite-sex spouses. Disney, which owned, among other things, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network, virtually ignored the SBC and broadcast a controversial episode of the television series Ellen in which the title character, played by Ellen DeGeneris, acknowledged and started to come to terms with her homosexuality. In 1997 the denomination voted to urge Christians to stay away from Disney World and Disneyland, and to boycott the vast array of entertainment enterprises owned by Disney, until it returned to its more "family friendly" beginnings. Though the boycott was widely ignored, even by Baptists, and appeared to have had a negligible impact on corporate profits, the SBC continued to urge Disney and other corporations to promote a more traditional, family-centered American culture. Less publicly, but with perhaps greater ramifications for the congregational polity, two Southern Baptist churches were expelled from the Georgia Baptist Convention in 1999 for violating the 1998 amendment to the constitution stating that "a cooperating church does not include (one) which knowingly takes, or has taken, any action to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior." This was the first time in the 177-year history of the Georgia convention that a church had been banned for theological nonconformity.

Sources:

"ELCA Prepares Sex Statement," Christian Century, 110 (3 November 1993): 1080-1081.

Jeff Flock and John Hoiliman, "Methodist Church Weighs Homosexual Marriage," CNN Interactive, 12 March 1998, Internet website.

William A. Henry, "Born Gay?" Time, 142 (26 July 1993): 36-39.

Brian Hicks, "Baptists Address Sexuality: Commission Pushes Abstinence, Compassion for Gays," Charleston Post and Courier, 3 March 1998.

"Homosexuality," PresbyTel, The Reference Desk for the Presbyterian Church USA, Internet website.

Bill Lancaster, "Assembly Opts for Unity/Diversity Dialogue, Not Another Amendment on Homosexual Issue," General Assembly News (Fort Worth, Texas), 25 June 1999, Internet website.

"Lutherans Issue Guide on Homosexuality," ELCA News Service, 13 September 1999.

"Methodist Jury Finds Minister Innocent in Case Challenging Homosexual Policy," Athens (Georgia) Daily News, 14 March 1998, Online Athens, Internet website.

John D. Pierce, "Georgia Church Could Face Ouster From State Over Homosexual Stance;" Baptist Press, 20 September 1999.

"Prohibition against Performing Homosexual Unions Ruled Enforceable," United Methodist News Service, 11 August 1998, Internet website.

Paul Recer, "Brain Structure Different in Gay Men, Study Finds," The Louisville Courier-Journal, 1 August 1992.

James Solheim, "Court for Trial of a Bishop Responds to Pretrial Motions," Episcopal News Service Note, 1345 (12 February 1996).

Larry Thompson, "A Search for a Gay Gene," Time, 145 (12 June 1995): 60-61.