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News & ArtsThursday, April 26, 2012
Religion / LGBTQITSLFA Lutheran Bishop in Minnesota Comes Out Against Anti-Gay Amendment
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 8:45 AM
This November the people of Minnesota will be voting on a proposed amendment to their state constitution that would ban recognition of same-sex marriage. Lutheran Bishop Peter Rogness has written a pastoral letter urging Lutherans in Minnesota to vote against the proposed amendment:
Healthy, stable, life-long relationships, whether heterosexual alone or homosexual as well, serve the well-being of society.... Allowing for the possibility of life-long, committed same-gender relationships poses no threat to faithful heterosexual marriage or healthy settings for our children. But regardless of one's position on the amendment, our whole society would be well-served if the energy and money spent on this political fight were to be spent instead on support for marriage and the well-being of the children of this state.
The bishop emphasizes that Lutheran church believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. But he recognizes that "healthy and faithful [Lutheran] congregations are coming to different conclusions," and that "neither our church nor our society is of one mind" about marriage equality. Go read the whole thing.
2
It is pretty sad that I am now shocked when I see a Christian religious leader publicly advocating reason, inclusion, and basic decency.
You know, being a good Christian. Also a good American for that matter, keeping the church and state well seperated.
You know, being a good Christian. Also a good American for that matter, keeping the church and state well seperated.
3
@2: Not only being a good Christian, but a good and thoughtful PERSON. He took a look at an issue in the framework of his beliefs, worked through it, and wrote a response that was rational and sincere without false passion or outrage. What I wouldn't give for more people on both sides of any number of issues to discuss things the same way.
4
I have a question on how this relates to efforts for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Supposing 3/4ths of the states each pass an anti-same-sex marriage constitution in their state houses. Can then the Congress pass, by a 3/4 majority, such an amendment thereby making it the law of the land - OR does an amendment to the U.S. Constitution have to originate in the Congress instead of a state?
7
@4 the amendment must originate in Congress. An amendment to a state constitution has no bearing on a federal constitutional amendment.
8
Actually, the ELCA, the denomination of this bishops allows for clergy in publically accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same sex relationships to be ordained, but leaves it up to individual congregations about whether they want to call such a pastor. And in states where same sex marriage is legal, ELCA pastors can perform such ceremonies. Basically, the official ELCA position it to not take a position. They see moral issues as separate from theological ones, and very much a matter of conscience. But in situations like this one, where morality and theology are all tied up together, most ELCA pastors and bishops will err on the side of grace.
9
Leave aside decency. It's nice to see a religious figure admit that there is a difference between civil marriage and religious marriage. Much of the rage against gay marriage is driven by a deliberate conflation of the two different statuses.
12
As @8 said, the ELCA flavor of Lutheranism is far more liberal than other flavors, but it varies by congregation. As somebody raised in the ELCA (after the merger of the ALC and the LCA when I was going through confirmation in 88), this makes me pretty happy. I did leave the church at 18 (this was late 1992), when the new pastor of our church decided he wanted our congregation to stake a stand against inclusion of gay and lesbian members--my whole family and others walked out of that Thanksgiving service. I was already questioning if I really had faith in a god at that point, but I feel culturally Lutheran and the It is really nice to hear goodness coming from that quarter.
14
How perfectly logical and compassionate of this guy. I hope other religious folk learn from his example.
15
That is a well-thought, well-spoken argument, and I thank Bishop Rogness for saying it.
I wish more religious leaders would acknowledge that if even a fraction of the money, time and energy currently being spent on opposing gay marriage was being spent on actually supporting real-world families, the world would be a much better place.
I wish more religious leaders would acknowledge that if even a fraction of the money, time and energy currently being spent on opposing gay marriage was being spent on actually supporting real-world families, the world would be a much better place.
16
The churches have a right to believe whatever they want about marriage. The RC church believes that my aunt isn't really married to her husband because he was divorced from someone else first. However, the laws of man require the Church to have non-discriminatory hiring practices and include legal spouses in employee benefits. Gay marriage should be considered no different from any other civil marriage.
This Lutheran pastor has it exactly right: long-term, settled relationships are good for society, same-sex relationships are no different in this respect, and all this time and energy would be better spent on non-imaginary problems.
This Lutheran pastor has it exactly right: long-term, settled relationships are good for society, same-sex relationships are no different in this respect, and all this time and energy would be better spent on non-imaginary problems.
18
This guy is going to get a lot of flak for his article, but you can send him an encouraging email here:
peter.rogness@spas-elca.org
I am Christian, I am straight, and I am continually amazed at the number of people who don't understand I can be both of those things and also believe that gay people should be treated like actual people. My own relationship with God in no way impacts anyone else's, and I'm baffled at how so many so-called Christians seem convinced they can read God's mind and interpret who he would and would not love.
peter.rogness@spas-elca.org
I am Christian, I am straight, and I am continually amazed at the number of people who don't understand I can be both of those things and also believe that gay people should be treated like actual people. My own relationship with God in no way impacts anyone else's, and I'm baffled at how so many so-called Christians seem convinced they can read God's mind and interpret who he would and would not love.
19
Wow. I had given up thinking that reason and religion could exist at the same time. Too bad this doesn't happen in Utah.
20
Doesn't surprise me, Lutheran congregations seem oddly variable. One church may be leftist-hippies and another can be anti-science creationists. I guess that's what happens when you don't have a gay man in red shoes handing down the orders.
21
It is a godly thing to remain open to what God may be teaching us about human relationships in this time.This was the final sentence in the Bishop's third observation. Would that all people could be as willing to be open to a blossoming of new understanding based on the marriage between science/reason (as well as pure curiosity) and compassion rather than rigid prejudice based on fear (paranoia).
22
Even more surprising, the bishop of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made a similar statement. It's not surprising when the Lutheran bishops in St. Paul or Minneapolis make this kind of statement, but when it comes from outside the Twin Cities, it's a pretty big deal. http://www.lcgsduluth.com/Home/BishopAit…
23
Actually, he didn't urge anyone to vote against it -- he said, at the end of his thoughtful, nuanced, charitable piece, that "I do not support this amendment," which isn't the same. It's part of why it's compelling -- it is a call to reason rather than a command to obedience.
24
@20: Honestly, Catholic churches used to be more variable, too. The hippie-liberal style priests and bishops that came into their own circa Vatican II were mostly left alone to do what they pleased in liberal enclaves where that was the style of Catholicism people liked until the current Pope. The current regime seems a lot more interested in having uniform dogma and beliefs in all its churches than in keeping liberal parishioners- rather similar to what the Republican Party seems to have been doing recently with its moderates. I still consider myself Catholic, but I don't go to church nearly as often as I did when I had overtly liberal priests at my church, you know?
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