MINISTER CHALLENGES SEXUAL VIEWS AT THE CORE IS A `JUSTICE ISSUE' HE SAYS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992                   TAG: 9202250228
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
MINISTER CHALLENGES SEXUAL VIEWS AT THE CORE IS A `JUSTICE ISSUE' HE SAYS
John J. Carey can give you some idea of how hard it is to talk about sex in church.
Eight months after watching the report of his committee on sexuality get blasted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Carey claims some little victory at least from the fact that it was "not totally repudiated."
The assembly agreed to continue to publish the document, even though it would not approve it or its recommendations even for a two-year study period.
Carey, a Presbyterian minister and head of the religion department at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., was at Virginia Tech on Monday night to talk about "The Sexuality Crisis in American Churches."
There and in an interview before his address, Carey talked about the triumphs and disappointments that accompanied the creation of the report.
Looking back, he acknowledged there are things he and the committee would have done differently in drafting "Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality and Social Justice."
The document drew fire - unfairly, Carey would say - even before its publication.
Though it addresses 10 major areas of sexuality - ranging from issues of people with disabilities to AIDS to reproductive technologies - the portions on homosexuality and sex among unmarried people drew the most attention.
The report recommended changing church policy to allow the ordination of homosexuals and concluded that sex could be "sacramental" between loving, responsible unmarried people.
In addition to challenging church tradition, the 17-member committee presented a view of Scripture widely held in seminaries but uncommonly heard in church pews - that is, that the biblical tradition can be rejected where it "violates God's commandment to do love and justice."
In many ways, Carey said, the rejection of his committee's report reflects a broader division in the Christian church - not just any single denomination - between liberals and conservatives.
The same could be true of other issues - abortion, for instance - which also divides every denomination.
Presbyterians will consider an abortion resolution at their next General Assembly, but Carey predicted there would be an attempt to minimize the impact of the report for the sake of denominational harmony.
Church leaders would prefer to talk about "evangelism and prayer life - all those words that conservative and evangelical Christians love to hear," he said.
Nevertheless, "church leaders know there is a real justice issue" at the heart of the sexuality debate, Carey said. They also know their congregations are not open to substantive change in church policies.
"The question is, how far out in front should they be on this issue?"
In visiting churches, "one of the most striking things is the time warp" between the theology that pastors are taught in seminary and what people in the pews believe.
Pastors have not challenged parishioners with the 20th century modernist theology - which rejects literalism, for instance - that they learned in seminary.
Instead, Carey said, they allow churchgoers to continue to be "light-years away from modern scholarship . . . expecting the word of God to jump right out at you" from the pages of the Bible.
Though he was "deeply disappointed" and embarrassed by the Presbyterian Church's response to his committee's report, Carey said he still is hopeful that now that the "genie is out of the bottle," the issues it raised will continue to receive attention.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB