Another victory for human equality:
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become "the largest religious denomination in the nation to allow actively gay and lesbian clergy to serve as pastors."
The Inquirer points out that the Lutheran Church "is following a theological trail blazed in recent years by the Episcopal Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Church, all of which ordain homosexuals in committed relationships."
The Roman Catholic Church, of course, will not budge in its homophobia. This, of course, is the same Roman Catholic Church that has for so long tolerated and covered up the abuse of minors by Catholic priests. Pedophilia = OK; sex between two consenting adults of the same sex = not OK.
But new and more realistic and gay-friendly flavors of Catholicism have formed recently as spin-off Catholic sects, which have welcomed LGBT individuals into their congregations and even into the clergy.
And I expect this trend to continue into the future, given that the younger generations are generally much more accepting of their LGBT peers than their parents and grandparents ever were.
It's slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless. And I applaud it.
No comments:
Post a Comment