A baby step

In an important procedural vote last night, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America defeated efforts to require a two-thirds majority for passage of upcoming resolutions that would open the door for gay, partnered clergy. A church council had recommended that the resolution remain up for majority vote, but other Lutherans sought the super-majority hurdle. According […]

In an important procedural vote last night, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America defeated efforts to require a two-thirds majority for passage of upcoming resolutions that would open the door for gay, partnered clergy.

A church council had recommended that the resolution remain up for majority vote, but other Lutherans sought the super-majority hurdle.

According to the ELCA: 57 percent of the more than 1,000 delegates opposed overturning the council’s recommendation. The actual vote to allow people living in committed same-gender relationships to be on the professional rosters of the ELCA is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 21.


ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson addressed the media yesterday, saying that his church has “an opportunity this week to bear witness in a culture that often wants to polarize and see all questions in their polar opposites.” Hanson also disagreed with the idea that his church is in for the kind of divisive debate that has torn apart the Episcopal Church in recent years.

“Division not a foregone conclusion,” Hanson said. “I do not believe that human sexuality for us as Lutherans defines the church, and therefore human sexuality should not be the occasion to divide the church.”

Hanson says he understands the frustration of those who think he should take a position on the gay issues, which he has thus far steadfastly refused to do. His role, though, is to allow the church to make its own decisions (through the General Assembly) and represent those decisions to ecumenical partners, Hanson said.

You can find our curtain-raiser on the ELCA General Assembly here.

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