Headline Of The Day

Via the Independent:

Thousands of people have resigned from the Lutheran church in Finland after its Archbishop said he rejoiced “with my whole heart” following the government vote to legalise same-sex marriage. According to Finland’s YLE, between the time that the vote went through on Friday and midnight on Saturday almost 7,800 people had resigned from the church using an online system that aims to ease people’s resignation. Each person who resigns their membership also resigns their commitment to pay taxes to the church, which is the Lutheran church’s main source of income in Finland, YLE reports. Comments left by people on the website suggest a sizable portion of the resignations were due to the comments made by the Archbishop of Finland, Kari Makinen. Makinen said on Friday that he supported the decision to legalise same sex marriage, which will see gay and lesbian couples in Finland be able to marry, adopt children and share the same surname, though it will take some time to pass into law. The first gay marriages are expected to take place in 2017.

Nearly 80% of Finns are registered with the Lutheran Church.

Mormons, Catholics, & Evangelicals Ask SCOTUS To Uphold Utah Gay Marriage Ban

The above-named religious groups have filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold Utah's ban on same-sex marriage. Via the Associated Press:

The religious groups urged the Supreme Court on the basis of tradition and religious freedom to uphold a state's right to disallow gay and lesbian couples to wed. "Legal uncertainty is especially burdensome for religious organizations and religious believers increasingly confronted with thorny questions," the brief says. "Is their right to refrain from participating in, recognizing or facilitating marriages between persons of the same sex, contrary to their religious convictions, adequately shielded by the First Amendment and other legal protections? Or is further legislation needed to guard religious liberties in these and other sensitive areas?" Last month, attorneys for three Utah gay and lesbian couples formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take Utah's appeal of a favorable gay marriage ruling.

The brief is relatively short. Equality Case Files has the full filing.

Eleven States File Anti-Gay Marriage Brief With Tenth Circuit Court Of Appeals, Major Religious Denominations File Too

Eleven states have filed a brief with the Tenth Circuit Court in support of Utah's defense of its ban on same-sex marriage.

The states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Notably there were 16 states that signed on to the pro-Defense of Marriage Act and pro-Prop 8 briefs before the Supreme Court. Those weighing in on marriage bans before the Supreme Court were also Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin; but Colorado and Nebraska did not.

Also filing a brief yesterday was a coalition of major religious denominations.

Lawyers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote the brief, which was signed by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. “Our respective religious doctrines hold that marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by God as the right and best setting for bearing and raising children,” it says. “We believe that children, families, society, and our nation thrive best when husband-wife marriage is upheld and strengthened as a cherished, primary social institution.”

Yesterday there was a brief from Mark Regernus too.

Boy Scouts To Lutheran Church: You Can Kick Out Gay Scouts If They Talk About It

From an agreement between Boy Scouts USA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod comes a version of Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod will respect the membership standard of the Boy Scouts of America, including the stipulation that membership in Scouting may not be denied to a child on the basis of sexual attraction alone, and the further stipulation that the local pastor of the chartering congregation and the leaders of the local troop have the authority to set boundaries, including the determination of whether a Scout is promoting a particular social or political agenda, advocating for a moral view that is inconsistent with the church, or becoming a distraction to the troop, and take such action to enforce set boundaries up to and including removal from the troop.

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

Coalition Of Christian Groups Sign Joint Letter Urging Scouts To Maintain Gay Ban

Over fifty Christian leaders representing dozens of groups have signed a joint letter urging the Boy Scouts to maintain their ban on gay members.

We strongly support the Boy Scouts of America current prohibition on open homosexuality and retaining it without revision. Nearly 70 percent of BSA troops are hosted by churches and religious institutions. Upholding traditional morality is vital for sustaining this partnership, for protecting Scout members, and for ensuring BSA has a strong future. A proposal from the BSA board to prohibit “discrimination” based on “sexual orientation or preference” for BSA members potentially would open the Scouts to a wide range of open sexual expressions. In our current culture, it is more important than ever for our churches to protect and provide moral nurture for young people and for the Scouts. We implore members of the upcoming BSA Council to affirm the BSA’s present policy, which the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed, and which has served BSA well.

Among those signing the letter are the Southern Baptist Convention, United Pentecostal Church International,  North American Lutheran Church, Anglican Church in North America, United Methodists, and Assemblies of God.

Churches Files Prop 8 Brief

The Mormon Church, the Southern Baptists Convention, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Orthodox Jewish Union, and a sect of the Lutheran Church have filed a joint Supreme Court brief against the overturn of Proposition 8.  Chris Johnson reports at Washington Blade:

The brief offers three major reasons for why the Supreme Court should uphold Prop 8, which the court is currently reviewing as result of pending litigation known as Hollingsworth v. Perry: 1) Prop 8 reflects a rational choice amid conflicting views of marriage, not prejudice; 2) Prop 8 should not be invalid because it expresses the views of religious voters; 3) Prop 8 is in line with the values of California voters and more likely to sustain the institute of marriage.

“Proposition 8 expresses the people’s sense that society should continue preserving marriage as the institutional bond joining together and protecting a husband, a wife, and their children,” the brief states. “That complex judgment was no doubt influenced by traditional marriage’s roots in California’s history, culture, laws, and diverse religions and by the public goods the people understand it provides in erecting an orderly social mechanism to cope with natural reproduction … and in protecting the family setting where children thrive best … and best acquire the ‘moral powers requisite for politically liberal citizenship.’”

The brief concludes: “The people of California violated no one’s civil rights when they adopted Proposition 8. Their twice- expressed preference for the traditional definition of marriage over an untested rival conception was thoroughly rational. It is therefore thoroughly constitutional.”

The coalition has also filed a brief against the overturn of DOMA. So much for the Mormon Church's big PR push about now being gay-friendly. It also bears mentioning that the National Association of Evangelicals was once headed by Ted Haggard.

Lutheran And Anglican Churches To Align In "Holy Battle" Against LGBT Rights

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Anglican Church have agreed to unite in "holy battle" against the civil equality of LGBT Americans. The Christian Post reports:

The cooperation between the two denominations is a reason for joy at a time when "there is a widespread failure to recognize the biblical teaching regarding the creation of man and woman and their biblical roles, life-issues, and other grave challenges that society faces," LCMS President the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison said in a statement Friday as the two bodies released a joint report summarizing the areas of agreement. The joint report recognizes "a pervasive threat to the understanding of marriage as the life-long union of a man and woman as husband and wife and oppose any efforts to redefine marriage in any other terms." The churches affirmed the biblical teaching that God intends sexuality only to be fully enacted within the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. "We oppose efforts within society or by some churches to view other sexual relationships as moral alternatives to heterosexual marriage."

Straight Pastor For Minnesota Marriage

MINNESOTA: Evangelical Lutherans Oppose Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

Maggie Gallagher: Britain's War Against Christians Is Coming To America

"In Great Britain, Christians are now effectively second-class citizens, judged 'unfit' to care for foster children. If they are unfit to foster children, logically they are also unfit to adopt, and possibly as one British lawyer suggested to the press, unfit to parent their own children, too. Could it happen over here? Yes. We see the first steps of the muscular liberalism process at work already in the state of Illinois, in its probe of evangelical, Lutheran and Catholic foster-care agencies for discrimination against gay couples in foster care.

"For the ACLU and the gay rights community, suddenly the right to live as we choose isn't good enough. Any foster-care agency that does not place children with gay couples now must be discriminated against by the government in the name of anti-discrimination. The ACLU claims that legally requiring foster-care agencies to be inclusive would expand resources to help 16,000 kids currently in the Illinois foster-care system. This is just Orwellian doubletalk. The new 'inclusive' policy would exclude three religious foster-care agencies from recruiting parents. This cannot possibly expand resources available to needy kids." - NOM founder Maggie Gallagher, writing for Yahoo! News.

Church Of Sweden To Marry Gays

The Lutheran Church of Sweden voted today to allow gays to marry in the church.

The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members. The decision comes just three days after the 30th anniversary of the date when homosexuality stopped being classified as a disease in Sweden. “The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” Åsa Regnér, head of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) - the country's largest gay rights group, said in a statement.

Local Catholic and Orthodox churches are unhappy:

"This is a step backwards, not only from Christian tradition, but also from all of the major world’s religions views of what marriage is,” writes Vicar Fredrik Emanuelson of the Catholic Church and Father Misha Jaksic, coordinator of the family of Orthodox Churches at the Christian Council of Sweden (CCS), in a joint statement.

West Virginia: Lutheran Church Edits Sign In Anti-Gay Protest

The St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Charleston, West Virginia has blocked out the word "Lutheran" from their sign after the national denomination elected to allow openly gay clergy.

"I asked that be done because I'm ashamed," the church's pastor, Richard Mahan, told the congregation later Sunday morning. "I'm ashamed of what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has done to a church I've loved for 40 years." Last week, leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church voted to remove a ban on gay clergy and also to recognize gay marriage within the church. Mahan, pastor of the local Lutheran church along Corridor G, attended the conference in Minneapolis and spoke out against the change in policy. His message was widely received because he was interviewed by The New York Times and later quoted by The Associated Press in an article that ran worldwide. Mahan's entire Sunday sermon concerned the homosexual issue, and what the church should do. "We welcome the sinner, but we do not welcome the sin," he told the congregation. "All are welcome, but the sin is not.

Mahan was given a standing ovation by his congregation after his anti-gay sermon.

Lutheran Sect To Sanctify Gay Marriages

The Evangelical Lutheran Church voted today to allow individual congregations to bless same-sex marriages.

“I’ve been a life-long member at Redeemer Lutheran Church [in Atlanta], and I was never comfortable asking my church to bless my relationship,” said Bob Gibeling, who is at the assembly. “This offers great hope to me that when I find a future life-long partner, my own beloved congregation will want to bless that union.” The change in the Evangelical Lutheran Church does not require pastors or congregations to bless same-sex unions, but allows those comfortable with it to do so. Gay pastors can serve in Lutheran churches, but only if they are celibate. A vote expected later today will determine whether Lutheran churches can call and install gay pastors who are in relationships.

The Evangelical Lutherans are the largest sect of their denomination with 4.7M members at 10,000 churches. Today's move is opposed by other Lutheran sects and should further splinter the denomination.

Quote Of The Day - Pastor John Piper

"The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction. Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture. Turn back from distorting the grace of God into sensuality. Rejoice in the pardon of the cross of Christ and its power to transform left and right wing sinners." - Pastor John Piper, blogging that Jeebus sent the tornado to Minneapolis because the Lutherans voted to be more accepting of gays.

(Tipped by JMG reader St.Paul Paul)

Sweden Likely To Allow Gays To Marry Civilly And In Lutheran Church

The Swedish parliament has been presented legislation that will allow gays to marry in civil ceremonies or in the Lutheran Church, which until 2000 was the official church of Sweden.

"The main proposal in the motion is that ... a person's gender will no longer have any bearing on whether they can marry. The marriage law and other laws concerning spouses will be rendered gender neutral according to the proposal," a statement from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderates said.

The proposal has wide backing in parliament and is expected to be adopted, though a date has yet to be set for a vote. While heterosexuals in Sweden can choose to marry in either a civil ceremony or a church ceremony, homosexuals are currently only allowed to register their "partnerships" in a civil ceremony. Civil unions granting gays and lesbians the same legal status as married couples have been allowed in Sweden since 1995. If the new legislation is adopted, Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, would become the first country in the world to allow gays to marry within a major Church.

Under the proposal, Lutheran pastors will be able to opt-out of performing gay marriages if they have personal objections.