ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 2, 1997 TAG: 9702030119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
HOMOSEXUALITY and how it relates to the ordination of clergy is being debated throughout American churches.
It is the issue that will not go away, that has eluded consensus in numerous American churches despite a quarter-century of resolutions, study, debate and prayer:
Homosexuality.
At least four denominations - Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist - continue to wrestle with official statements and church law dealing with the subject, particularly as it relates to the ordination of clergy.
This spring, regional units - called presbyteries - of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will finish voting on a proposed amendment to the denomination's Book of Order that, if passed, would clarify a churchwide ban on the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals.
The Presbytery of the Peaks, which includes 145 congregations in central and Western Virginia, was among the first to consider the amendment, voting last fall to affirm its conditions.
So far, about a dozen presbyteries have voted to affirm the amendment, but a few more than that have opposed it. A simple majority of the denomination's 171 presbyteries must approve the amendment for it to take effect.
"It was a very mature, adult" debate in the Presbytery of the Peaks, said the Rev. Tupper Garden, pastor of Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church. "We came out with people seeing both sides of the issue."
Though the amendment doesn't specifically mention homosexuality, it effectively covers it by saying that among the standards church leaders are to adhere to is "the requirement to live in fidelity in the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament."
The framers of the proposal issued a report with the amendment saying that it calls on the church to act "like Jesus, who loves all persons, who did not come to condemn anyone, but calls all to repentance, turning from sin."
It specifically asserts that homosexual orientation - as distinct from homosexual practice - is not a sin. It also concludes that what it describes as the sin of homosexual practice - "not a greater sin than any other" - does not exclude one from membership in the church.
Garden, who voted in favor of the amendment, said he believes it restates a historical principle of the church in a "call to faithfulness and repentance for leaders of the church, sexuality aside" without being "self-righteous."
This amendment is distinctly different from proposals made earlier this decade by Presbyterian study groups, one of which called for liberalized attitudes toward homosexuality, including the ordination of homosexuals. Those earlier proposals were roundly criticized and soundly defeated by the denomination.
The debate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is being mirrored in several other denominations. Even some that have clear-cut doctrine or policies opposing all homosexual practice have felt compelled in recent years to reiterate those positions in public pronouncements.
A few denominations, notably the United Church of Christ, have changed their policies to allow both the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual unions.
Most of the so-called mainline denominations, however, are divided.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been unable to reach consensus on a policy statement , but is addressing the subject again this year with a document called "Sexuality: Some Common Ground."
The "message" would not carry the weight of a "social statement" and is intended only "to provide guidance for members of our church, and as a public witness in the wider society," according to the Church Council, an administrative body.
The message does not specifically address homosexuality, but some of its provisions connect to related issues. For instance, it asserts that there is broad agreement in the church that marriage "is a lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman."
It says that Christians "are called to avoid behaviors that harm or devalue ourselves and others, such as immoral sexual behavior."
The document specifies adultery, abuse, sexual promiscuity, prostitution, pornography and practices that spread sexually transmitted diseases as sinful. It also says the media sin by distributing "explicit sexual references and [portraying] behavior emphasizing sexual gratification apart from marriage."
Episcopalians likely will be compelled to address the issue of homosexuality more directly this summer in their triennial General Convention.
Last year, a heresy trial against retired Bishop Walter Righter divided the church over the issue of ordaining practicing homosexuals. A church court eventually decided the case on narrow technical grounds. It determined that Righter, by ordaining a noncelibate homosexual, had not violated any "core doctrine" of the Episcopal Church that would make him liable to discipline.
The court ruled that a 1979 resolution adopted by the General Convention calling such ordinations "not appropriate" was a recommendation only, not doctrine.
It recommended that the issue be dealt with by this summer's General Convention in Philadelphia, saying the issue was better not decided through trials, "the unilateral acts of bishops and their dioceses," or by "proclamations."
The court also declared that it was not ruling on the morality or appropriateness of same-sex relationships.
Attempts to write new church law prohibiting the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals have been defeated in recent Episcopal General Conventions.
Finally, the United Methodist Church also continues its debate over the issue.
Last year's quadrennial General Conference upheld 25 years of church law declaring that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and prohibiting the ordination of "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" to any ordained office.
The conference also adopted a "social principle" - which, unlike church law, is "instructive but not binding" - prohibiting clergy from performing "holy unions," "covenants" or any other marriagelike ceremonies for gay men or lesbian couples.
Those actions led a group of 15 United Methodist clergy this month to begin circulating a statement called "In All Things Charity." The ministers are seeking hundreds of signatures from clergy saying they cannot in good conscience support those acts of the last General Conference.
The statement stops short of saying the clerics will defy the conference actions, but says they support some sort of "covenantal commitments" between same-sex couples and will "pray and work for ordination of gay men and lesbians who are otherwise called to and qualified for ordained ministry."
The signers said that "public dissent from a teaching of the church must be done only prayerfully and with humility," but goes on to say "we believe that when we are confronted with an injustice, we must not remain silent."
Methodist clergy contacted in the Roanoke Valley last week said they had not yet seen copies of the statement.
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