ELCA Sexuality Report gets a mention in First Things....

I am going to shamelessly copy this article from Pastor Paul McCain's blog because it is commentary regarding the ELCA sexuality study from a well respected journal to which I do not subscribe, although I have in the past, and I cannot find the article online. Here it is:

Father Richard John Neuhaus, Roman Catholic priest and editor of First Things journal, former Lutheran pastor, and to be precise, a former Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor before he became a former ELCA pastor, has this to say about the ELCA's Sexuality Task Force report. Father Neuhaus hits the nail on the head.

From the April issue of FT:

Here I stand. There you stand. But, hey, it's no big deal. Some while back I suggested that the ELCA Lutherans will try to avoid splitting the body over gay issues by avoiding a decision and thereby deciding to allow the ordination of gays, the blessing of same-sex unions, and other demands of the inclusiveness agenda. I take no satisfaction in noting that that is what seems to be happening. After three years of intense wrangling, a task force has concluded that disagreements on sexual morality are "deep and pervasive." The solution being proposed to the ELCA churchwide assembly this summer is that the body keep its formal rules in favor of traditional morality but agree not to discipline those who violate them. Lutherans Concerned, a gay advocacy group, is not entirely happy, since the recommendation falls short of the affirmation they sought, even if it meant splitting the five-million-member body.

Dr. Philip Krey, president of the ELCA seminary in Philadelphia, offers an interesting take on the recommendation: "The task force didn't want legislation. That would have created a win-lose situation. They wanted to legitimize both sides of the issue. This allows each side to be conscientious objectors, allows them to legitimately disagree and act on it and not be disciplined for it." This may be something new in the long history of strategic thinking about Christian unity. The phrase "unity in diversity" has long been a staple in ecumenical discussions. The ELCA would appear to be moving beyond that to unity in disagreement, indeed unity because of disagreement. When everyone gets to be a conscientious objector, one has to wonder what they are objecting to, other than the toleration of opposing objectors, which is the one thing to which they have agreed not to object. It is a fascinating proposal, which if generally accepted could open the way to instant unity, of a sort, among all Christians.

Although woefully wrongheaded, if not idolatrous, there is a refreshing candor in the task force's recommendation that questions of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, orthodoxy and heresy, be set aside in order to serve the Supreme Good that is preserving the institution that is the ELCA

Click on the title to see the original article. Read Pastor McCain's blog. He has truly been kind and supportive towards those of us who remain in the ELCA trying to stem the tide of revisionism.

---Katie