A contentious season of conventions, debates and votes on the role of gays and lesbians in the churches has left the American religious landscape altered in significant ways. This edition of ReligionLink provides an update on the state of the debate, with resources for covering what will remain a disputed issue.
In some places – most dramatically, the Episcopal Church – the idea of accepting noncelibate gays and lesbians as pastoral leaders has pitted congregations against denominational authorities and frayed their spiritual bonds. Some churches vow not to continue associating with a denomination that would countenance a behavior many conservative Christians consider sinful.
In other cases, denominations are struggling mightily to find common ground on the matter of gay clergy. Still others find themselves continually whipsawed on the subject and, perhaps, a bit weary of the fight.
Why it matters
As in the larger society, some members of the faithful see homosexual activity as sinful and acceptance of it as evil, too. Others hold that biblical injunctions against same-sex relations are cultural artifacts akin to Scriptural proscriptions on women or divorce that have been largely superseded. They say modern concepts of human rights and social justice should allow for equality for gays and lesbians, as long as they are in stable, faithful relationships. The role and rights of homosexuals in American society will be determined in large part by how their roles and rights are viewed in the religious world.
Jump to:
- Episcopal Church
- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
- Reformed Church in America
- United Methodist Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- United Church of Christ
- Roman Catholic Church
- Judaism
What’s new
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: The ELCA took the historic step of approving gay clergy in committed relationships to serve as pastors. The vote by delegates at the ELCA’s biennial General Assembly in Minneapolis in August was 559-451. Read an Aug. 21, 2009, Minneapolis Star-Tribune report here and a Religion News Service story from the same date here.
Episcopal Church: At their General Convention in July, clergy and lay delegates ended a moratorium on electing gay bishops and approved blessings for same-sex couples. A few weeks earlier, a faction of conservatives split from the main body over the growing acceptance of homosexuals by the church. The splinter group hopes to form a new American province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Also in June, regional bodies of the largest Presybterian church rejected a plan to allow the ordination of homosexuals, the third such defeat in 12 years. This one was by a narrower margin than ever, however, signaling that the struggle will continue to roil the PCUSA. A majority of the 173 local regions, or presbyteries, voted “no” on rescinding a requirement that clergy abide by “fidelity in marriage … or chastity in singleness.” Despite the defeat, gay-rights advocates hailed the 69 “yes” votes as a historic shift. A Religion News Service story (posted at Beliefnet.com) gives details. Presbyterian News Service also reported on the vote and posted a letter from three top PCUSA officials, who say that the debate and vote showed that “we as a church have learned better how to talk about difficult issues in a spirit of trust and faith.”
United Methodist Church: A prohibition on ordination of noncelibate homosexuals was reaffirmed after emotional debates at the church’s General Conference in 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas. The 2008 General Conference did approve an amendment that would have opened church membership to any professed Christian regardless of sexual orientation; however, the UMC announced in July 2009 that its regional bodies had failed to approve amendments by the two-thirds margin necessary to pass. The membership proposal grew out of a 2005 case in Virginia in which a pastor rejected a gay man for membership because the man would not agree to change his sexuality.
Where religious groups stand
Reform and Conservative Judaism both ordain gays and lesbians. Only the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and now the ELCA allow the ordination of sexually active homosexuals. Conservative-minded evangelical and fundamentalist churches will not consider the possibility of ordaining homosexuals or allowing gay marriage. That includes the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest U.S. denomination after Roman Catholicism, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. African-American churches and churches in the Pentecostal tradition also tend to be strongly against sanctioning a role for gays in church. Islam and many other religious traditions that are newer to America also tend to disapprove of homosexuality and do not allow gay clergy.
There are a few small denominations that are dedicated to ministering to homosexuals and that specifically endorse gay clergy.
• Most prominent among these are the Metropolitan Community Churches, founded in 1968 to provide “a primary, positive ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons,” as their Web site says.
• The United Church of Canada is the second-largest denomination in Canada after the Catholic Church. In 1988 it affirmed that homosexuality “is not in itself a barrier” to ordination.
Here is a look at where major debates on gay ordination have been unfolding:
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
The Episcopal Church has been in turmoil since 2003, when delegates from the Diocese of New Hampshire elected as bishop Gene Robinson, a gay priest who is in a committed, longtime relationship with his partner. After Robinson’s election, and his confirmation a few weeks later by the General Convention of 2003, conservative Episcopalians threatened to break away, and leaders in other parts of the Anglican Communion demanded that the Episcopal Church be sanctioned or even expelled from the worldwide body.
Later in 2003, the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican Communion, appointed the Lambeth Commission on Communion to try to formulate an acceptable response to the controversy. The commission released its findings in October 2004 in the so-called Windsor Report. Among other things, it called on the Episcopal Church to express regret for approving Robinson’s election and pushed for a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops and blessing same-sex unions. Still, the report did not satisfy some conservatives who wanted penalties against the U.S. church, and it upset many progressive Episcopalians.
The Episcopal Church agreed to delay approving any more bishops until more negotiations could take place. In May 2006, delegates from the Diocese of California elected a new bishop but did not choose one of several openly gay candidates. The convention instead chose a married man from Alabama, Marc Handley Andrus, as the new bishop. Although that averted another crisis, Andrus actually supports gay ordination.
In April 2006 a special commission of the Episcopal Church released a 26-page document titled “One Baptism, One Hope in God’s Call” that responded to the Windsor Report. In September of that year, 21 Episcopal bishops met at the Camp Allen conference center in Texas and signed a letter, sent to the House of Bishops, urging support for the Windsor Report and expressing regret that the 2006 General Conference “did not adequately respond” to the Windsor document.
In the wake of the action by the General Convention of the ECUSA, the Archbishop of Canterbury was reportedly considering a plan to create a special, or second tier, status for the Episcopal Church.
Even before the General Convention met, a group of conservatives formalized their long-simmering split with the wider ECUSA when the former leader of the Pittsburgh diocese, Bishop Robert Duncan, led the formation of the new Anglican Church in North America, which claims some 100,000 members. The ACNA is made up of Episcopalians who, according to this June 21, 2009, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette profile of Duncan, believe the Episcopal Church “failed to uphold biblical authority and classic doctrine about Jesus when they approved the consecration of a partnered gay bishop and failed to discipline another bishop who denied Jesus was God incarnate.”
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS
• Forward in Faith’s North American branch was organized in 1999 largely in response to the debates over sexuality issues. Its Web site includes a listing of member parishes. The group is posting reports about the Lambeth Conference.
• The Anglican Communion Network is a leading conservative organization based in Pittsburgh. It lists member dioceses, churches and clergy. The ACN also lists Common Cause Partners, which includes the leading organizations working against gay ordination, such as the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Mission in the Americas and the Reformed Episcopal Church.
• The Stand Firm Web site advocates for “traditional Anglicanism in America” and tracks discussion and media coverage on the debate. It includes blog entries from the Rev. David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas, a large congregation that decided in September 2006 to withdraw from the Episcopal Church and to enter the temporary pastoral oversight of the Right Rev. William Godfrey, bishop of Peru.
LIBERAL GROUPS
• Integrity USA is the major national network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Episcopalians and supports gay ordination. Integrity maintains a Lambeth Conference LGBT Anglican Portal with news and blogs about the conference.
• The Oasis is a support ministry for gay Episcopalians. It has chapters in the dioceses of California, Michigan, Missouri, Newark and New Jersey. The Newark chapter also maintains a list of “welcoming” congregation across the country.
• “The Consultation” is the title of an umbrella organization that gathers a number of Episcopal groups that support a progressive agenda, including gay ordination.
• Beyond Inclusion and Claiming the Blessing are two other groups working on behalf of gay rights.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)
The Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) currently requires that ministers — including elders and deacons, who must also be ordained — adhere to “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” In effect that means no sexually active gays or lesbians, even those in a committed relationship. Gays and lesbians may be ordained to lay and clergy positions within the 2.3 million-member PCUSA. But according to ordination standards, they must pledge to lead lives of chastity, i.e., no sex outside of a traditional marriage between a man and woman.
At its General Assembly in June 2008, the church’s highest legislative body passed an amendment that essentially would have scrapped that requirement and allowed ordained gays and lesbians to live in relationships with their partners. The amendment was subject to approval by a majority of the presbyteries.
Attempts to strike down this “chastity in singleness” ordination standard have come and gone. In 1997-98 and in 2001-02, the denomination voted on similar constitutional amendments, only to see them fail. The second attempt was defeated 127-46.
The measure that the General Assembly sent to the presbyteries, or geographic regions, for the 2009 vote was defeated by a narrower margin, however.
Still, the disputes have taken a toll. In 2008, some 100 of the 11,000 PCUSA congregations left the denomination, according to this Associated Press story posted by the San Francisco Chronicle. Most were unhappy with a perceived liberal shift. Often, defections can be accompanied by property disputes. But the congregational polity of the Presbyterian Church can sometimes avoid such squabbles, as this Jan. 10, 2009, story in The Modesto Bee explains.
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS
• The Presbyterian Lay Committee is a North Carolina-based action group that publishes a conservative journal, The Layman.
• Other groups include the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, the New Wineskins Association of Churches, the Presbyterian Coalition, Presbyterians for Renewal and the Confessing Church Movement Within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
LIBERAL GROUPS
• The Covenant Network of Presbyterians was founded in 1997 as a leading voice on behalf of a progressive agenda for the PCUSA, including support for gay ordination.
• More Light Presbyterians describes itself as “a network of people seeking the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
• That All May Freely Serve is another PCUSA group lobbying for a church “that honors diversity and welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons as full members.” It says that full membership “includes eligibility for ordination to the offices of elder, deacon, and Minister of Word and Sacrament.”
REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA
The Reformed Church in America has stated since 1978 that homosexuality is a sin, but debates over changing the church’s policies have roiled the denomination. With fewer than 300,000 members, the RCA is small, but its deep roots in American religious history make it a bellwether denomination.
The RCA has repeatedly held that homosexuality is sinful, that gays and lesbians cannot be ordained and that same-sex relationships cannot be blessed. But the denomination has also struggled to balance those strictures with a welcoming stance to homosexuals and the promotion of gay rights in wider society.
The debate has frequently been difficult and divisive. A particularly high-profile furor came in 2005, when it became known that the Rev. Norman Kansfield, president of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary — the denomination’s main seminary — led a 2004 service in which he married his lesbian daughter, Ann Kansfield, and her partner. In January 2005 the seminary board dismissed Norman Kansfield from his post, and at the annual General Synod that June, two-thirds of the delegates voted to suspend his ministerial and teaching credentials. His daughter, who was studying at the seminary and was a few months away from ordination herself, was barred from joining the RCA clergy.
The episode left the RCA “unexpectedly at a crossroads,” as the church’s leader, general secretary Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, put it. As a result, RCA leaders decided to launch a multiyear, denomination-wide “Dialogue on Homosexuality.” A variety of views has been collected by the project’s steering committee, and a survey with more than 3,000 respondents has been completed.
RESOURCES
• The RCA Web site has a backgrounder on the denomination’s history regarding homosexual issues and its current stands. There is also a copy of the RCA’s updated study guide on homosexuality, first issued in 1998.
• See a July 12, 2005, article in Christian Century, “RCA struggles over gay issues and growth,” posted at FindArticles.com.
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
At its 2004 General Conference, United Methodist Church leaders voted to strengthen the denomination’s stance against gay ordination. The denomination’s Book of Discipline now says that “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers the practice incompatible with Christian teachings.” The delegates also defeated a motion to leave the ordination of homosexuals up to each local conference, and they struck down an attempt to add this phrase to the Book of Discipline: “As this difficult judgment is made, it is acknowledged that faithful Christians hold differing opinions in this matter.”
The prohibition against ordination of noncelibate homosexuals was reaffirmed after emotional debates at the church’s General Conference, held April 23-May 2, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. After the vote, several hundred demonstrators decried the decision, while others said they objected to the protest being allowed on the conference floor. The 2008 General Conference did approve an amendment that would have opened church membership to any professed Christian regardless of sexual orientation. But the UMC announced in July 2009 that that its regional bodies had failed to approve amendments by the two-thirds margin necessary to pass.
RESOURCES
• Read a May 9, 2008, United Methodist Reporter story about the demonstration that followed the General Conference’s decision to uphold the position that homosexual activity and Christian teaching are incompatible.
• In a May 19, 2008, column in the conservative journal Good News, publisher James V. Heidinger II criticizes the “regretful decision” to allow that demonstration inside the General Conference, and he takes special exception to the protesters’ placement of a black shroud on the conference altar.
• Read a May 28, 2008, commentary by the Rev. Walter B. Fenton, “UMC is more of one mind than two,” posted by the United Methodist Reporter. Fenton maintains that gay-rights advocates’ continuing call for more dialogue about ordination and related topics amounts to their saying “Let’s keep talking until we have convinced you that you are wrong,” and he says rank-and-file Methodists are satisfied with the church’s position. Retired Bishop Jack M. Tuell wrote a rebuttal.
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS
• The leading group of Methodists opposed to gay ordination (and related issues) is known as the Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church. The Confessing Movement was founded in 1994 and is based in Indianapolis.
• Good News, a magazine launched in 1967, represents the vanguard of Methodism’s conservative counteroffensive. It remains a major player in the efforts to limit expanded roles and rights for homosexuals in the UMC.
LIBERAL GROUPS
• The Reconciling Ministries Network describes itself as “a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.” The RMN posts a list, organized by state, of its member congregations and communities.
• Affirmation is an unofficial Methodist network that advocates for the full inclusion of LGBT Methodists in church life.
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has officially welcomed gay and lesbian members since 1991 but only as of August 2009 allowed the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Faced with sharp disagreements over positions on these issues, the ELCA in 2001 started a formal process to try to reach a consensus on the entire range of sexuality issues. At the 2001 Churchwide Assembly (held every two years) ELCA leaders commissioned a task force to engage in a lengthy process called “Journey Together Faithfully.” The process has two main parts. The first focused on gay ordination and blessing of same-sex couples and was presented at the Churchwide Assembly in August 2005. The second was to lead to a broader statement on ELCA views on human sexuality. That statement was approved at the 2009 General Assembly by the exact two-thirds margin required for passage.
The subject of same-sex relationships was also raised at the June 2008 conference of the Lutheran World Federation, of which the ELCA is a member. The Tanzanian host bishop declared such relationships “not even discussable” and said, “The worst thing is this strong move to make these perverts officials in the church in the guise of human rights.” (See an account in The Christian Century.) The ELCA’s presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, who is also president of the federation, said that views about homosexuality differ within the federation and that the global Lutheran communion is addressing sexuality issues without stifling debate. A federation-wide stance wouldn’t be helpful, he said, noting that “There are some people who would love to see us fall apart on this issue.”
Two smaller and more conservative Lutheran denominations, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, do not ordain practicing homosexuals or bless same-sex couples. Neither one belongs to the Lutheran World Federation.
RESOURCES
• Read the ELCA’s draft social statement on human sexuality, released in March 2008 and approved at the Churchwide Assembly in 2009.
• Read a March 2008 church news release about the draft.
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS
• The Minnesota-based Word Alone Network is a leading group working against gay ordination. Word Alone has a list of its 233 affiliated congregations.
• Lutheran Churches of the Common Confession, or LC3, is a network of conservative Lutherans lobbying for a more orthodox ELCA. It lists affiliated congregations and supporters across the country.
• Seventeen ELCA theologians issued a statement in March 2005 rejecting the proposals advanced by the task force in January 2005. An ELCA news service story about the petition lists the theologians.
LIBERAL GROUPS
• Good Soil is a joint effort by several organizations dedicated to seeing homosexuals ordained as ELCA clergy. Partners include Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, Lutherans Concerned/North America, the Lutheran Network for Inclusive Vision and the Wingspan Ministry of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn.
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
The leadership of the United Church of Christ has been foremost among denominations seeking the full inclusion of homosexuals. In the 1970s the UCC allowed the ordination of the first openly gay man and the first openly lesbian woman, and in 2005 the UCC endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples. Ordination of practicing homosexuals was officially accepted in 1980, and the blessing of same-sex couples is allowed. As part of an effort to reach people who may have felt alienated previously from organized religion, the denomination launched a gay-affirming radio campaign on satellite radio in March 2008.
But the issue still roils the UCC. Because the UCC believes in local autonomy, some regions and congregations bar gay clergy and gay couples. Some congregations have threatened to leave over the denomination’s official tolerance of homosexuality, while some liberal members want the UCC to be more active in promoting gay rights as a denomination-wide standard.
RESOURCES
• ReligiousTolerance.org provides information on the UCC’s stands regarding homosexuality.
• The denomination’s Web site includes a page on LGBT ministries.
• The UCC Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns advocates for full inclusion of LGBT people in church and society. Search a list of “open and affirming” congregations organized by state.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
On Nov. 29, 2005, the Vatican released a long-awaited document that surprised many by declaring that the church “cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.” It was the second condition that seemed to bar even chaste, celibate men who identify as homosexual from becoming priests.
The Vatican’s policy, approved by Pope Benedict XVI, is creating difficulties for bishops and seminaries since many gay men have sought ordination or are studying for the priesthood. Estimates of the number of homosexuals in the priesthood range from 10 percent to more than one-third.
RESOURCES
• This Nov. 22, 2005, ReligionLink edition, “Homosexuals and the Catholic priesthood,” explores the issue and provides resources and experts.
JUDAISM
Reform Judaism, which is the most liberal wing of the Jewish community, has allowed the ordination of homosexual rabbis since 1990. With 1.5 million adherents, Reform Judaism vies with Conservative Judaism as the largest stream of American Judaism, and it is the most visible U.S. religious community to accept gay rabbis. The Shamash.org newsgroup maintains a site with a chronology of Reform Judaism’s record on homosexuality, traced through policy developments by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the rabbinic organization of the Reform movement. The CCAR Web site has a list of relevant resources, including its 1990 statement endorsing nondiscrimination against gays and lesbians who seek ordination.
Orthodox Judaism, which is smaller but influential, rules out any such possibility.
Conservative Judaism, through a Dec. 6, 2006, vote by its highest legal body, decided to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis and to allow rabbis to conduct commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples. That’s a significant shift for the centrist branch of Judaism — and a controversial decision. Since the vote, the nation’s two conservative Jewish seminaries — the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles — have announced that they have begun accepting openly gay and lesbian candidates. (See a March 27, 2007, New York Times story.)
The Committee on Conservative Jewish Law and Standards — a group of 25 scholars that interprets religious law — adopted three statements, somewhat contradictory, involving gay ordination. Four of the committee’s members quit in protest. Individual Conservative congregations now decide whether to hire openly gay rabbis and cantors, and individual seminaries whether to ordain them.
Two of the three answers the committee gave to the question of what Jewish law allows regarding homosexual sex uphold the traditional position: Homosexual relations are not permitted. A third answer permits same-sex unions and the ordination of gays and lesbians, while saying that sodomy is not permitted.
Read a Dec. 6, 2006, account of the action from The Associated Press, published in The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Dec. 7, 2006, stories from The Washington Post and The New York Times.
RESOURCES
• Read “Gay rabbis getting married – and marrying,” which ran in The Jewish Journal on June 17, 2008.
• Read a May 10, 2007, Jewish Exponent article about an openly gay Orthodox rabbi and his journey to acceptance.
• See this May 2, 2006, Religion News Service story, “Conservative Jews Try to Find Patch of Middle Ground on Gay Issues,” posted at the Pew Forum’s Web site.
Background
SURVEYS
• Pollingreport.com posts recent opinion surveys on homosexual rights.
• A 2003 report from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows that religion is a fundamental component of Americans’ opposition to homosexuality. A 2006 Pew report, however, shows some shifting of views, such as on whether homosexuality is innate or can be changed.
• Gallup’s 2008 Values and Beliefs poll found Americans evenly split on the morality of homosexual activity. At the start of the decade, Americans were divided 53-40 on the question (with the majority deeming homosexual relations immoral), according to Gallup.
National sources
Many organizations and individuals address the role of gays, lesbians and the transgendered in society and include considerations of how religion affects the debate. Most of these focus more on same-sex marriage and civil rights than on issues of ordination within religious groups. For national and regional groups involved in these issues and more background, see ReligionLink’s “Guide to covering same-sex marriage debates” (2006) and “Same-sex marriage in limbo” (2004).
LEADING ACTIVISTS
• The Institute on Religion and Democracy is a prominent lobby uniting conservatives across the mainline Protestant denominations to push for more traditional policies in American churches and for more conservative policies in American politics. The IRD is considered a major player in the battles over gay rights in churches. It lists its board members and supporters, who can be found across the country.
• The Institute for Welcoming Resources is a program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force that works to encourage inclusiveness by faith communities. It lists “welcoming churches” and “welcoming seminaries.” Among the institute’s projects is the Shower of Stoles, a traveling exhibition of more than 1,000 liturgical stoles and other items representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clergy and lay leaders from 32 denominations and faith traditions. The Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, a United Church of Christ minister, is program director for the institute, which is based in Minneapolis. Contact 612-821-4397, Rebecca@welcomingresources.org.
• The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing says more than 2,800 religious leaders have endorsed its Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing, which calls for full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the faith community. The Rev. Debra Haffner, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is director of the institute, which is based in Norwalk, Conn. Read her blog. Contact 203-840-1148, haffner@religiousinstitute.org.
• Soulforce is a prominent national activist group working on behalf of GLBT Christians. It was founded by Mel White, a former speechwriter for conservative television evangelist Pat Robertson, and Gary Nixon. The Web site includes a list of local Soulforce chapters.
INDIVIDUALS
• Nancy Ammerman is a professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University and a leading expert on congregational dynamics, especially in mainline Protestantism. Contact 617-353-3066, nta@bu.edu.
• Bishop Steven Charleston is president and dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. He said he believes that sexual orientation should not be a deterrent to ordination. Contact 617-682-1511, scharleston@eds.edu.
• Frederick J. Gaiser teaches Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He wrote a May 2, 2006, article “Open-door policy: Homosexuality and the message of Isaiah,” in Christian Century. Contact 651-641-3210, fgaiser@luthersem.edu.
• James Davison Hunter is a professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and a frequent writer and commentator on the “culture wars” dividing America, especially as regards homosexuality. Contact 434-924-6524, jdhunter@virginia.edu.
• Ian Markham is a professor of theology and ethics and dean of Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn. He is an expert on mainline Christianity and is co-author, with the Rev. Martyn Percy of Oxford, of the book Why Liberal Churches Are Growing (2006). Contact 860-509-9553, markham@hartsem.edu.
• The Rev. Luke Mbefo is a Catholic priest and a native of Nigeria who teaches theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Mbefo wrote an article in the March 8, 2006, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette titled “Why African Anglicans would oppose ordination of homosexuals.” That was in response to an essay, “A Gospel of Intolerance,” on behalf of gay clergy written by Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane of Washington. Contact Mbefo at 412-396-6530, mbefo@duq.edu.
• Honor Moore is the author of a new book, The Bishop’s Daughter, described by Publishers Weekly as “a painfully honest memoir.” It tells the story of the writer’s late father, Paul Moore, who was the Episcopal bishop of the New York Diocese for 17 years and secretly bisexual. Contact Honor Moore through Samantha Choy at publisher W.W. Norton, schoy@wwnorton.com.
• Richard J. Mouw is a well-known writer and commentator on evangelical Christianity and is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. In November 2003 Mouw engaged in a widely followed debate with Barbara G. Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological seminary in New York, about the issue of gay ordination. The exchange, titled “Strangers: A Dialogue About the Church,” took place at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In his address, Mouw spoke against ordaining active homosexuals, but also about the dynamics of the debate and its negative impact on the churches. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.
• The Rev. Canon Richard T. Nolan is a retired Episcopal priest who has taught philosophy and religion at a number of colleges and universities. He and his partner, Robert C. Pingpank, have been together for more than 50 years, and Nolan says they can testify to the “ordinariness” of their lives. They have a Web site that tells their story. They live in West Palm Beach, Fla. Contact 561-642-0015, canon@rtnolan.com.
• Thomas Ogletree is a United Methodist minister and a professor of theological ethics at Yale Divinity School who believes the debate over homosexuality indicates that the church will eventually change its position. Contact 203-432-5337, thomas.ogletree@yale.edu.
• The Rev. Jack B. Rogers is a lifelong evangelical and former leader of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who in March 2006 published a book describing how he has changed his position from opposing gay ordination to supporting it. Rogers makes the case in Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006). Rogers is an emeritus professor of theology at the Southern California campus of the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Contact through Westminster John Knox publicist Gavin Stephens at 502-569-5713, gstephens@wjkbooks.com.
• Bishop James Stanton of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas has been active nationally and internationally in the Anglican debate over the role of gays in the church. He was involved in the founding of the American Anglican Council, which works to oppose the ordination of sexually active homosexuals. The Dallas Diocese is an affiliate of the AAC. Read Stanton’s response to the Windsor Report. Contact 214-826-8310, jmsdallas@episcopal-dallas.org.
• Barbara G. Wheeler is the longtime president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, a leading Presbyterian seminary. In November 2003, Wheeler engaged in a widely followed debate on gay ordination with Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. The exchange, titled “Strangers: A Dialogue About the Church,” took place at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. In her address, Wheeler spoke in favor of ordaining active homosexuals, but also about the dynamics of the debate and its negative impact on the churches. Contact through her assistant, Mercedes Rivera, at 212-662-4315, mvr@auburnsem.org.
State by state
American Public Media through its Public Insight Network reached out to Lutherans across the country to better understand how the August 2009 vote by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, allowing gay pastors to serve as clergy, affected them, their congregations and their communities.
Hundreds of Lutherans across the country responded to their Public Insight Network survey. They represent the full range of perspectives on the vote and the resulting split in the ELCA. American Public Media is making its sources available to journalists across the country via this map.
Simply see if there are sources in your area and click on their name, or the link at the bottom of their survey response. To gain access to their contact information, send Andrew Haeg an e-mail at ahaeg@americanpublicmedia.org, or call him at 651-290-1314. He’ll give you a password to access each source’s contact record.
Regional sources
IN THE NORTHEAST
• Bernadette J. Brooten is a professor of Christian studies in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She is an expert in the history of sexuality in the Bible and is author of Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism. Contact 781-736-2978, brooten@brandeis.edu.
• Wendy Cadge is an assistant professor of sociology at Brandeis University. (She will be on leave in fall 2008.) She has written widely about homosexuality and Christianity, especially as it pertains to mainline Protestantism. Contact 781-736-2641, wcadge@brandeis.edu.
• Margaret A. Farley is a professor of Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn. She is Catholic and has written widely about Christian sexual ethics. Contact 203-432-5355, margaret.farley@yale.edu.
• Catherine Clark Kroeger is an adjunct teacher of classical and ministry studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. She specializes in issues of sexuality and biblical ethics. Contact 978-468-7111.
IN THE EAST
• Robert A.J. Gagnon is an associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa. His expertise is in sexual teachings in the Bible, with a focus on homosexuality. Contact 412-441-3304 ext. 2205, gagnon@pts.edu.
• Horace L. Griffin is an adjunct professor of pastoral theology and interim director of field education at the General Theological Seminary, an Episcopal institution in New York City. He has written several scholarly articles on theology and homosexuality. Contact griffin@gts.edu.
• Dean R. Hoge is a professor emeritus of sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is one of the foremost researchers on Catholic issues and can address Catholic attitudes toward homosexuality, both in terms of gay marriage and gay clergy. Contact Hoge@cua.edu.
• The Rev. David F. McAllister-Wilson is president of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., a Methodist institution. He can be reached through the main office at 202-885-8600, or president@wesleysem.edu.
• The Rev. Paul Zahl is rector of All Saints Church in Chevy Chase, Md., and a former dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, a seminary in Ambridge, Pa. He opposes the ordination of sexually active gay clergy. Contact 301-654-2488, paul.zahl@allsaintschurch.net.
IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Candace Chellew-Hodge is associate pastor at Garden of Grace United Church of Christ in Columbia, South Carolina and she is a lesbian who writes frequently on gay issues in the churches. Chellew-Hodge is the founder of Whosoever.org, an online magazine for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians. She is a contributing blogger at ReligionDispatches.org and is the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians. Contact via email at candace@bulletproofbook.com.
• Lesley Armstrong Northup is an associate professor of religious studies at Florida International University in Miami. She wrote “Homosexuality in the Evolution of American Christianity,” a chapter in the volume Religion and Sexuality: Passionate Debates. Contact 305-348-2956, northupl@fiu.edu.
• Mark D. Jordan is a professor of religion at Emory University in Atlanta. He is a well-known author of several books on homosexuality in Christianity, including Telling Truths in Church: Scandal, Flesh and Christian Speech. Contact 404-727-6002, mjorda2@emory.edu.
• David C. Steinmetz is a professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School and an ordained Methodist minister. He has said that the debate over gay ordination shows there are really two Methodist churches co-existing in the denomination. Contact 919-660-3438, steinmtz@acpub.duke.edu.
IN THE SOUTH
• Charles Eric Mount Jr. is an emeritus professor of the religion department at Centre College in Danville, Ky., and an ordained Presbyterian minister. His expertise is in community ethics and theology. Contact 859-238-5695, mounte@centre.edu.
• Ben Witherington III is a professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and an elder in the Methodist Church. Witherington calls himself an evangelical and has pressed for a clearer stand by the UMC on gay issues. Contact 859-858-2329, or through his personal Web site.
IN THE MIDWEST
• Stanton L. Jones is provost and professor of psychology at Wheaton College and has written on homosexuality and Christianity from an evangelical perspective. Contact 630-752-5503, Stanton.Jones@wheaton.edu.
• The Rev. Roland Martinson is a professor of children, youth and family ministry at the Leadership Program of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He is an expert in issues of human sexuality and church ethics. Contact 651-641-3207, rmartins@luthersem.edu.
IN THE SOUTHWEST
• William B. Lawrence is dean of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, one of 13 theological schools of the United Methodist Church. He is an ordained elder and has expressed concern that the debates over homosexuality could lead to lasting schisms. Contact 214-768-2534, wblawren@smu.edu.
• Mark Lowery is an associate professor of theology at the University of Dallas, an independent Catholic school in Irving, Texas. Lowery has written extensively on the traditional Christian view of sexuality. Contact 972-721-5357, lowery@udallas.edu.
• The Rev. William K. McElvaney is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, a former seminary professor at Perkins School of Theology and former president of St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo. He has been a leading voice on issues of social justice throughout his ministry and supports gay ordination. Read “Why should the church allow ordination of gay men and lesbians?” a chapter he wrote for the book Finishing the Journey: Questions and Answers From United Methodists of Conviction. Contact him in Dallas at 972-233-6146.
IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Daniel T. Spencer is an associate professor of liberal studies at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont. He has written widely about homosexuality and Christianity. Contact 406-243-6111, daniel.spencer@umontana.edu.
• Mary Tolbert is executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, described as “the only Center for LBGTQ issues and religion established by a seminary or school of religion in the world.” Affiliated with the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., it has held conferences for GLBT religious leaders. Contact 510-849-8206, mtolbert@clgs.org.
• James K. Wellman Jr. is an assistant professor of comparative religion at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has written on homosexuality in American churches and the question of gay ordination. Contact 206-543-0339, jwellman@u.washington.edu.
• Melissa M. Wilcox is an assistant professor of religion at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. Her writing and research focus on the interplay of Christianity, homosexuality and identity. Contact 509-527-5247, wilcoxmm@whitman.edu.
