April 19, 2005

A conservative minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) is denouncing a proposal that would allow homosexuals to become pastors in the denomination if they prove they are in a so-called "lifelong, committed, and faithful same-sex relationship."

The ELCA currently has a ban on non-celibate homosexual pastors, but its Church Council recently voted that exceptions to the policy be made to permit the ordination of active homosexuals. The resolution now goes before the ELCA's governing church body, or Churchwide Assembly, which meets this August in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Roy Harrisville III, executive director of the conservative group called Solid Rock Lutherans, says the Church Council's pro-homosexual resolution is not only unbiblical but also "creates unlimited exceptions to the policy and in effect repudiates marriage." The resolution does this, he maintains, "by allowing exceptions across the board."

Harrisville says this means that "such things will be granted on an unlimited basis, I expect." And that lack of defined limitations, he argues, sets up a double standard, since the Church Council failed to consider whether the exceptions would also be extended to heterosexuals in common law marriages.

In any case, the Solid Rock Lutherans spokesman feels these pro-homosexual leaders in his denomination want to follow the example of the Episcopal Church USA in ordaining practicing homosexuals; but he insists, "the people in the pews do not." While the Church Council may consider its proposal progressive, the conservative minister says what is unfortunate "is that they have misunderstood that the gospel cannot be equated with popular American ideology."

The conservative minister asserts that the Church Council's apparent equation of contemporary thinking with eternal biblical truth is "the fundamental mistake that they've made, and we're hoping to point that out to them." Unfortunately, he notes, the individuals who want to change standards within the church tend to be more politically active than those who want to preserve things as they are.

Nevertheless, Harrisville says the homosexual ordination proposal defies the will of the majority of ELCA lay members and essentially says that marriage does not matter. He contends that the denominational leaders have demonstrated they are out of touch with the people in the pews by taking their minority view and elevating it to the status of policy.

Solid Rock Lutherans (http://www.sldrck.org )

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