“Presbyterians join a growing Protestant movement of Lutherans, Episcopalians and United Church of Christ members who have eliminated official barriers to leadership by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons,” a coalition of pro-gay Presbyterians said in a statement.
The momentum of the gay clergy movement, however, may soon grind to a halt.
“There is not another denomination I see on the horizon right now that is on the cusp of this,” said Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research and consulting firm.
Not a lot surprising here, except one thing: the RNS (Religious News Service), who reported the story, clearly identified Mormons as just one of several branches of Christianity — no more or less Christian than the Roman Catholics, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, etc.
That I did find fascinating.
Them saying it, doesn’t make it true. I was surprised recently when i suggested to a Mormon friend (very involved in the Church for generations) that Mormonism was the 4th Abrahamic Faith along with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, that she agreed with me and expressed her desire it would be viewed that way. Is that a generally how Mormons view this issue?
I look for an effort to be made to get the United Methodists on the bandwagon but expect it to fail because the UM has integrated its African members and they are strong enough to defeat it. I’m not sure where the full communion dialogue between the Episcopal and UMC churches is, but the last I heard it was making some progress.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tonQS0W27c&feature=related]They should have listened.[/url]
I forgot to add a hat tip to Fr. John Whiteford to my previous comment.
Wow, the Ad Orientem clip was something. He really stood up for the Orthodox church and did something courageous and decidedly un-American – and I mean that in the best possible way.
The clip that shows Archpriest Siarhei Hardun gently advising the Methodists by actually quoting scripture needs to be seen. Thank You Mr ‘to the east’ for finding this gem.
I watched and listened was was as impressed as the rest of you are. That took some…. well, that was clear, correct, courageous, honest and incontrovertible. Larry
This reportage is pathetic. I think the UMC is closer to falling than is reported here. And, there was no Vatican investigation specifically to erradicate gays from the seminaries.
There was a policy clarification which stated that no one who has participated publicly in the gay lifestyle or who has intractable attractions to other men may be admitted. There was also a nationwide visitation which happens about 10 years or so on average. Those visitations are like accreditations and look at everything from liturgy to curriculum.
The CC gets it from every side. We are not conservative enough for the evangelicals nor liberal enough for the mainlines. We must be doing something right!
Ad Orientem. It was good to hear from the Orthodox adviser.
If a Catholic adviser had spoken so bluntly there would have been outrage and perhaps a burning at the stake.
I suspect the Orthodox can get away with such remonstrances because they are still regarded as quaint, exotic and not entirely relevant.
It seems that the Orthodox advisers always have more gall, regardless of how relevant or irrelevant they may seem. Bravo on speaking up.
Cheers from
[url=http://mladengrujic.com]Mladen Grujic[/url]
THis is refreshing as it takes any kind of worry about presidential politics out of the religious sphere. There are people who think that a Mormon would have trouble being elected, but it seems they have much higher ethical standards than the usual protestant Christian. certainly the usual “civil religion” of most presidents has been no more profoundly Christian than Mr. Romney. THe current president no exception at all.