Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Almost as soon as they finished reading the newspaper, Lutherans started getting on the phone.
Parishioners called their pastors, and pastors called the bishop.
They were all expressing dismay over a story saying an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America commission was supporting the approval of homosexual unions and other traditionally discouraged sexual practices.
"We've had a lot of calls," said the Rev. Dwayne Westermann, senior pastor at College Lutheran Church in Salem. The way the report was presented, he said, "is an embarrassment to Lutherans in the Roanoke Valley."
"Unless there are very, very drastic changes," he predicted, the report will become "a joke."
From what he's seen so far, Westermann said, "I don't think it in any way represents the views of clergy or laity" in the denomination. It is a reflection only of the 17-member committee that put it together, he said, with "no validity, no official standing" in the church.
An Associated Press story in Wednesday's paper described the 21-page report from the denomination's Division for Church in Society. The report was said to condone blessing homosexual unions, promote masturbation as healthy and recommend teaching teen-agers how to use condoms to prevent disease.
The report is to be circulated to congregations, which may respond to it before it is revised for submission to the national church assembly 1995.
Church members and clergy "are very, very upset about it" on several levels, Westermann said.
He and others complained that the story did not make clear enough that this was a report and not the official position of the denomination on human sexuality.
Portions of the AP story that were not published because of space considerations pointed out that, "In many places, the report upholds traditional church teachings. Marriage is affirmed as a divine and blessed estate, and teen-agers are encouraged to be chaste until they enter `a permanent commitment.'
"The report attacks adultery, promiscuity, sexual abuse, prostitution, anti-gay violence, pornography and the exploitation of sexuality in advertising and entertainment."
Nevertheless, its more controversial elements have drawn immediate criticism, particularly its argument that "responsible biblical interpretation" supports the acceptance and blessing of homosexual unions or marriages.
Such a contention, Westermann said, "is a real slap in the face" to some "leading Lutheran theologians" who do not accept it.
"It's very aggravating to me," Westermann said, to get information about the report from the newspaper before it was made available to him by the denomination.
Pastors have not received copies of the report yet, though they are reportedly scheduled to get them by week's end.
The Rev. Richard Bansemer, bishop of the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said he had received at least a dozen calls from concerned pastors and lay people.
As a member of the denomination's council of bishops, he saw a draft of the report this month. In response, the bishops adopted a statement expressing "concern about the unity of the church" and urging "all to participate [in discussions about the statement] in a climate of mutual respect."
The statement, which Bansemer released in a synodical newsletter this month, expressed the bishops' "numerous theological and biblical concerns" with the report.
The bishops also adopted a separate statement expressing their disapproval of ceremonies to bless homosexual unions, a practice they said has no basis in Scripture or church tradition.
The Rev. Mark Radecke, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, said he has been reminding upset callers about the bishops' response to the document and that "it's just a draft."
He was writing a letter to his congregation on the issue Wednesday, as was Westermann.
Bansemer said he is telling pastors that "I do not feel we have to defend the [denomination] or the statement." The report "falls or rises on its own merit. We are not obligated to promote it."
Bansemer does, however, "promote the reading of it." Congregations are invited to prepare a response for the commission to consider before writing its next draft - "it it's not withdrawn" before the 1995 assembly.
Westermann remembered that a study series on sexuality prepared by the same commission a year and a half ago received "very negative" response from the church as a whole. It was perceived as "biased" against traditional church positions on sexual behavior, he said.
He and others were reminded of the fight in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) two years ago in which a long report suggesting radical changes in church policy toward sexuality was soundly rejected after causing widespread infighting.
It is "too bad we didn't learn something from them," Bansemer said Wednesday.
by CNB