Verfasser:	Gunar
Datum:	Sonntag, den 28. März 2004, um 10:11 Uhr
Betrifft:	Wird RHLT homosexuelle PriesterInnen zulassen oder verbannen?

Auf der derzeitigen Weltkonferenz der Gemeinschaft Christi soll darüber diskutiert werden, ob homosexuelle PriestertumsträgerInnen zugelassen oder verbannt werden sollten. Prophet W. Grant McMurray tritt für einen offenen Dialog ohne Festlegung ein. Obwohl Homosexualität von der RHLT-Kirche 1961 als Perversion eingestuft wurde, hat sie 1982 zwischen Veranlagung und Praktzierung unterschieden. Auf diese Weise wurde auch Homosexuellen die Priesterwürde verliehen. Aus den amerikanischen Südstaaten kam der Antrag, Homosexuelle vom Priesteramt auszuschließen, aus Kalifornien kam der Antrag, die kirchliche Regelung gänzlich neu zu schreiben, also wohl eine Zulassung von Homosexuellen zum Priesteramt zu erwirken.

Salt Lake Tribune
March 27, 2004

Community of Christ may dodge gay debate

By Steve Brisendine
The Associated Press

    INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Say the words "church" and "homosexuality" in the same sentence, and all sorts of other words immediately come to mind.
    "Contentious." "Controversial." Perhaps even "schism."
    If the head of the Community of Christ can avoid those problems by putting the topic on the back burner, he will.
    But first he has to see what 2,800 church delegates from around the world think of an idea to ban from the church’s "priesthood" anyone actively involved in a homosexual relationship. The matter will be discussed when the delegates gather for the church’s biennial World Conference. It begins to day and runs through April 4.
    "The cultural backlash we’re seeing makes it more and more difficult to deal with this question in the manner that I’d like to deal with it, and that is in the spirit of dialogue and learning and withholding decisions until we have a better understanding of the issue as it affects the life of the church," First President W. Grant McMurray said.
    The Community of Christ broke with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1860 and was known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints until 2001. All male and female church members are eligible for the priesthood, but church policy prohibits the ordination of gays and lesbians who are active in same-sex relationships.
    Several have been ordained in violation of that policy, McMurray acknowledged, but he said no such ordinations have happened since late 2002.
    The church listed homosexuality among "sexual perversions" in a 1961 document. But a 1982 statement by the church’s Standing High Council differentiates between homosexual orientation and homosexual practice and leaves the door open for nonpracticing gays and lesbians to be ordained.
    Three pieces of legislation, all filed from districts in the southern United States, have been introduced to make that policy a church law. Another, filed from California, asks for a new policy to be drawn up.
    McMurray won’t say where he stands on the issue of ordaining practicing gays and lesbians, preferring to let the church as a whole work toward any change in -- or affirmation of -- current policy.
    "We have to work that out together," McMurray said. "The only way we can do it, in my opinion, is to sit down across the table from one another, to talk openly about what we feel, what we think, and learn from the life journey of others -- and try to arrive at a point where we can come to a solution that will not split the church apart."
    Enacting the 1982 policy as church law would be largely a moot point anyway, McMurray said. He would rather see the matter tabled in favor of continued dialogue, as was done at the last World Conference in 2002.
    "You’ve got cultural clashes that are driving church discussions," he said Wednesday. "We feel it is important for churches to address this issue, but we’d rather not be driven by what’s happening in the culture."
    But an expert on churches that trace their history to LDS Church founder Joseph Smith Jr. said it’s almost impossible for churches to operate independently of the larger culture.
    "There has always been a clear and definite connection between church and culture, with some rejecting the culture and some embracing it," said Jan Shipps, a retired professor at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis and the president-elect of the John Whitmer Historical Association, which studies the history of the Community of Christ and other groups who didn’t go west with the main body of Mormons in the mid-1800s. "This is just the latest example, but now it’s getting mixed up with what’s happening in the political arena."
    The Episcopal Church, USA, and the worldwide Anglican Communion still are dealing with the fallout from the elevation of V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, to a bishop’s post in New Hampshire.
    Some conservative congregations in the United States have cut contributions to church headquarters, and several national Anglican churches abroad -- particularly in Africa -- have cut ties with the American branch.
    And last week in Washington state, a church jury acquitted a United Methodist pastor, the Rev. Karen Dammann, of a charge that she violated church law by living openly in a lesbian relationship.
    With 250,000 members in 50 countries, the Community of Christ is far smaller than those denominations. Still, Shipps said, McMurray’s cautious approach makes sense in light of recent events and is in line with the Community of Christ’s message of peace and social justice.
    "In its social action, in its way of functioning in the world of American Christianity, the Community of Christ is much closer to the mainline than is the church in Salt Lake City," she said. "And this approach is more or less the standard approach for mainline Protestants. If you don’t act, it leaves you time for serious reflection on an issue."

Quelle

Wird RHLT homosexuelle PriesterInnen zulassen oder verbannen? – Gunar, 28.3.04 um 10:11 Uhr
Fakten oder Verzerrung über RHLT? Mein Leserbrief an SLT. – Gunar, 28.3.04 um 11:15 Uhr

Mormonismus, Glaubensdoktrin, und die moderne Wissenschaft – Mykonos, 17.2.15 um 14:26 Uhr
Religiöse Kosmologien als Sinnverstärker und Apologetik – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 20:04 Uhr
"Psychologie der Religionen" – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 18:03 Uhr
U.a. von Religionspsychologie bis zur Archäogenetik... – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 11:46 Uhr
Du meinst: There’s life in the old dog yet - oder: Totgesagte leben länger – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 1:58 Uhr
Unsicherheit? – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 15:35 Uhr
Agonie...? – Mykonos, 15.2.15 um 14:47 Uhr
Bald ist es soweit: "nächste Tage = 2 Monate" – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 12:14 Uhr
Auch von mir: herzlichen Dank – shana, 3.1.15 um 22:12 Uhr
Facebook und Co – Sappho, 3.1.15 um 20:12 Uhr

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