Defending the Truth

AP - 19.11.2007 03:06
US: Chicago Lutheran congregation ordains lesbian who declined celibacy vow

A Lutheran church in Chicago has ordained a lesbian who refuses to take a vow of celibacy, becoming the first in the denomination to test a new resolution that gives bishops leeway in disciplining such violations. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America requires vows of celibacy for gay but not for heterosexual clergy _ a policy the Rev. Jen Rude, 27, calls discriminatory. Chicago's bishop, Wayne Miller, did not try to block Rude's ordination at Resurrection Lutheran Church on Saturday, but he also did not attend the ceremony. While he has said he believes the celibacy rule should be reversed, he also has urged bishops to follow rules set by the church. Rude, whose father and grandfather are both Lutheran ministers, expressed gratitude to the congregation.

Celibacy, within any sexual orientation, ain't all it's cracked up to be...

Celibacy of the body can bring the mind to be frenzied with thoughts. Better to express one's self. It is proven that sex is actually healthy for a person's wholeness.

Thanks for sharing this news, Flower. I will watch to see if the Lutherans remember the vision of their Father. Martin Luther. Who was in awe of the goodness of God. Do you know he sat transfixed, immoveable upon the revealed idea that the love of God is so amazing that God himself would die for us?

That doesn't sound like a God who would divide humanity up as some being better than others based on how He created them in the first place.

OhDear

Ah - good news. And yet another mainstream Christian religion on the threshold of realizing that bigotry and divisive mean-spiritedness is not the way to follow the word of Jesus.

Celibacy is good news for those in the pocket pussy market. Somebody usually benefits from other peoples' woes.

Actually Pen, you unwittingly made a good point. When people feel forced by social or religious expectations to refrain from that which they are created to need, to experience, they will push that need under the table and their acting on it becomes a consuming practice and that usually dirty as well.

That is why priests ought to be able to marry. There would be more heterosexual priests then. And if Gay men were accepted, less would run to the church to try to escape their sexual desires at all, only to grievously find them frenzied by denying them.

OhDear

Yep, and some wonder why so many priests engage in sexual misconduct. Catholic priests weren't always celibate. I wonder what started that requirement?

Naaa, just as the few leading the many everywhere else this comes up, it ain't "The Church", doing this. Obviously "The Church" has a rule and "This Church" wants to defy it.

Typical.

If you followed the church's rules more closely you wouldnt be so judgemental.

BTW, what are your plans for turkey day?

Going out to eat with the family followed by a movie, probably I'm Not There the one about Bob Dylan.

How about you?