3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex

Faced with rising public acceptance of same-sex relationships, three U.S. Christian denominations are taking strong measures this week to condemn homosexual acts as sinful.
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, meeting in Baltimore, declared Tuesday that Catholics who minister to gays must firmly adhere to the church's teaching that same-sex attractions are "disordered." Catholics with "a homosexual inclination" should be encouraged to live in chastity and discouraged from making "general public announcements" about their sexual orientation, the bishops said.
The largest Baptist group in North Carolina, meanwhile, moved to expel any congregation that condones homosexuality, adopting a policy that allows the Baptist State Convention to investigate complaints that member churches are too "gay-friendly."
And on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a mainline Protestant denomination with about 3 million members, will put a minister on trial for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women.
The decisions are part of a mounting backlash in many U.S. denominations against church groups whose stated goal is not only to welcome but also to "affirm" gay congregants. For many religious groups, the biblical injunction to hate the sin but love the sinner is no longer sufficient, because many believers do not view homosexuality as a sin.
The impulse to restate traditional teachings against same-sex activity is complicated by the simultaneous desire to minister to gays. Thus, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on doctrine, stressed that the tone of the bishops' statement was intended to be "positive, pastoral and welcoming," even as it compared same-sex attractions to the temptations of "envy, malice or greed."
Asked how he could square those two messages, Serratelli told reporters that "the truth is always welcoming."
The bishops' statement came in the form of new guidelines for Catholic ministries aimed at gay men and lesbians. Bishops must take care, it says, "to ensure that those carrying out the ministry of the Church not use their position of leadership to advocate positions or behaviors not in keeping with the teachings of the Church."
It is not sufficient, the document adds, for those ministering to gays to take a position of "distant neutrality" toward the church's teachings.
Donald W. Wuerl, Washington's new archbishop, said the document should not be seen as a crackdown on pro-gay ministries. Rather, he said, "the starting point is the church living in a culture in which these things are being promoted, and our task is to keep saying: 'Remember, here are the true teachings of the church.' "
Serratelli, summarizing the document, said the church considers same-sex attractions to be "objectively disordered" because "they do not accord with the natural purpose of sexuality." Although "simply experiencing a homosexual inclination is not in itself a sin," he said, homosexual acts are "sinful," "never morally acceptable" and "do not lead to true human happiness."
A coalition of 15 Catholic groups that support the full inclusion of gays in the church, including Call to Action and DignityUSA, denounced the document as "not at all pastoral, but rather harmful."
"These guidelines try to make gay and lesbian people invisible in the church. The plan here is not to minister but to make a 'problem' disappear," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic outreach group for gays.
In North Carolina, the state Baptist Convention voted to broaden its fight against homosexuality by moving to expel churches that "affirm," "approve," or "bless" same-sex relationships.
The measure targets as many as a dozen Baptist churches in the state that position themselves as actively welcoming gays, but it could exclude any church that enrolls openly gay members.
The growing acceptance of gays in popular culture and the fact that homosexuality has powerful advocacy groups made the stance necessary, Baptist leaders said.
"In our day and time, no other sin marches so defiantly across our national landscape," Mark Harris, the head of the committee that introduced the measure, told the 2,600 delegates, or "messengers," assembled at a convention hall in Greensboro, N.C.
But while the proposal was approved by the required two-thirds majority, hundreds held up their hands to object. Some worried that churches would spy and report on one another. Others said the measure impinged on local church autonomy and reflected an unfounded obsession with homosexuality.
"It seems so contrary, at least to me, to the picture and posture of Jesus in the gospels," Nathan Parrish, from a church in Winston-Salem, N.C., told the assembly. "Jesus's life and ministry were marked by radical hospitality, openness, vulnerability, humility. By contrast, the Baptist State Convention is recommending that we . . . magnify the message that certain types of people, as well as their friends and perhaps their fellow believers and family members, are neither welcome nor worthy of a place at the table of this community."
What made the measure extraordinary, church members on both sides said, is that for what may be the first time in the convention's 176-year history, membership in the group would be contingent upon a specific policy -- that is, treatment of gays.
"This issue has emerged as a litmus test," said Andrew Wakefield, professor of biblical studies at Campbell University, in Buies Creek, N.C., which is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention.
On Wednesday in Pittsburgh, the Rev. Janet Edwards will go on trial before a Presbyterian Church tribunal for officiating at a same-sex marriage ceremony. Earlier this year, the Redwoods Presbytery in Northern California acquitted a minister in a similar trial, ruling that ceremonies for same-sex couples are not "contrary to the essentials of the Reformed faith."
Jimmy Creech, who was defrocked as a United Methodist minister in 1999 for performing a marriage ceremony for two men, said the number of U.S. churches that welcome openly gay members has been rising steadily, including many congregations in the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ.
"But it's a social change that, for many, has theological implications they just are not willing to accept," he said.
from The Washihngton Post / Alan Copperman & Peter Whorisky

Bishops May Alter Language On Gays

While continuing to stress that same-sex relationships are immoral, America's Roman Catholic bishops may approve new guidelines this week that absolve gay Catholics of any obligation to try to alter their sexual orientation.
The guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, to be reviewed when bishops convene Monday in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting, also will urge clergy to baptize the adopted children of gay couples who agree to raise them Catholic.
"We are trying to find a language that does not betray the teaching of the church, but will perhaps express it in ways that are not so offensive," Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview last week.
"The conclusions are the same," George said. "The language will be less painful than sometimes the language has been in the past."
The bishops also plan to remind parishioners how to prepare themselves for Communion, laying a foundation that would make it easier for clergy to deny the sacrament to Catholics at odds with the church, including politicians.
The issue surfaced during the 2004 presidential campaign when some bishops threatened to deny Communion to Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights.
"That started a conversation that wasn't resolved, but brought up this other thing--worthiness to receive Communion on everybody's part," George said. "It shouldn't be automatic. There's personal scrutiny and examination of conscience that should take place."
Missing from the meeting's agenda is any mention of the war in Iraq, an absence that irks parishioners who believe the bishops should focus on that issue rather than homosexuality.
"We hate to see our moral teachers squandering their moral teaching authority when there are important issues they should be dealing with--poverty and social justice and the war," said Sam Sinnett, president of Dignity USA, the nation's largest gay Catholic organization.
"They're much more concerned with whether two homosexuals are going to get married or not," he said. "They've lost focus on the needs of the human race."
Opposition expected
The documents on ministering to gay people, drafted by conference committees, could encounter opposition from some conservative bishops. Recent Vatican directives bar most gay men from pursuing ordination and prohibit priests with "homosexual tendencies" from teaching or running seminaries.
Since issuing those injunctions, Pope Benedict XVI has implied a connection between homosexuality and the clergy sex abuse scandal, declaring a need to "purify" the church.
This won't be the first time bishops have addressed the issue of gay Catholics. A pastoral letter drafted in 1997 counseled parents to love their gay sons and daughters and encourage them to live a chaste life.
Though the letter did not stray from church teaching, its advice stirred too much controversy and did not pass. The current guidelines try to balance doctrinal language that condemns homosexual relationships with inclusive pastoral language.
"You can't have pastoral care without it being founded on theological moral principles," said Rev. Thomas Weinandy, executive director for the conference's doctrinal committee. "You have to have principles on which you base pastoral care."
Sinnett said the document certainly does not sit well with gay Catholics who find its tone unwelcoming. He also said he was dismayed to learn that bishops had been working on it for four years without consulting the nation's largest gay Catholic group.
On Sunday, Dignity USA issued its own update of pastoral guidelines the group had issued in 1987 in response to a condemnation of homosexual relationships issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now pope.
Weinandy said bishops steered clear of input from advocacy groups to "avoid the appearance of taking sides."
Guidelines praised
Rev. Tom Reese, a Jesuit scholar who wrote a book on America's bishops, praised the new document for carefully distinguishing between homosexual activity and orientation, leaving the debates about origins to science and not insisting that gay Catholics take part in therapy.
"No scientific consensus has been reached regarding the effectiveness of various therapies," the document says. "Thus, the church does not endorse one particular theory of the genesis of homosexuality or one particular therapy over another. ... Some have found therapy helpful. There is, however, no moral obligation to attempt it."
The document on Communion does not directly address Catholic politicians or instruct bishops, but it does define what makes a person unworthy for communion. "Inevitably," George said, "that will be translated into a political framework."
If someone "publicly known to have committed serious sin or to have rejected definitive Church teaching" takes Communion without reconciling, the document says, it would encourage others to follow their lead and engage in sinful behavior. That means a politician who violates church teaching by voting in support of abortion rights would lead to further violations, Weinandy said.
Stephen Colecchi, director of the conference's office of international justice and peace, said bishops might take up the issue of withdrawal from Iraq even if it is not on the schedule. In January, bishops called for a responsible transition in Iraq and last month implored Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to protect Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities.
"Although the bishops had raised grave moral questions about the decision to go to war, the U.S. has a new set of responsibilities ... to help Iraqis stabilize their country," Colecchi said. "The human and moral consequences of what is happening certainly mean the bishops will take that into account."
Other business at the meeting includes the creation of a uniform hymnal for the American church. The bishops also are expected to channel funds toward a landmark study on the causes and context of the clergy sex-abuse crisis. The first phase of the study will explore whether clergy sex abuse corresponds with overall social patterns of deviant behavior during the last half-century. If the patterns differ, investigators will look into "ministry-specific factors."
George said bishops expect to generate the most comprehensive data in the nation on the issue and hope to garner additional financial support from outside sources for the multimillion-dollar study.
from The Chicago Tribune