German church ponders ordaining homosexuals - Evangelical Church

Christian Century, May 15, 1996

Practicing homosexuals could be admitted to the ordained ministry in certain circumstances, according to a report published March 14 by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), whose 24 member branches represent the overwhelming majority of Protestants in Germany. But the report, called "Living with Tensions," says that this should happen only in "individual cases" in which there is an ethically responsible" homosexual lifestyle, and if a number of conditions are fulfilled. The report emphasizes that no blanket decision should be made by the EKD to allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

The report, which was two years in the making, acknowledges that a decision to admit noncelibate homosexuals to the ordained ministry would mean a "break" with "official practice in Christian churches for hundreds of years." Many other churches continue to refuse to ordain practicing homosexuals, the report points out. "If such a step is necessary for the sake of truth and love, then we must dare to take it," declare the report's authors. The EKD council has accepted the report as a "contribution to the present debate."

Touching on another controversial issue--the blessing of homosexual partnerships--the report argues that homosexuals who request a blessing should not be "turned away." But it adds that such blessings should not take place within services of worship "because of the risk of misunderstandings." According to the report, "It is not the homosexual partnership as a form of living together that is being blessed, but rather' people--in this case persons with a homosexual orientation--who either live alone or in an ethically responsible homosexual partnership."

The 55-page study repeatedly stresses that the institutions of "marriage and family" are the models for Christian partnership. But since these institutions pertain only to people with a heterosexual orientation, "they cannot and should not be models for people with a homosexual orientation." Those who have not been given the power of sexual abstinence--and the report maintains that "abstinence cannot be made an ethical. demand"--should practice an "ethically responsible" homosexual partnership based on the same criteria as marriage.

The EKD says the report has been given the title "Living with Tensions" to indicate that there are no "simple answers" to the issue. On the one hand, the report notes, there are no biblical passages that refer to homosexuality in a positive light. But on the other, according to the witness of the Bible as a whole, the decisive issue for a homosexual relationship, as for any other relationship, is whether it is lived in love toward God and toward other people.

In a foreword to the report, Klaus Engelhardt, the EKD's presiding bishop, states: As homosexual people have increasingly acknowledged in public their orientation and lifestyle, it has become unavoidable for society in general, and for the church in particular, to take a position on the issue of homosexuality. The issue of how the church relates to its homosexual members--which has always existed, but has often been concealed--has thus become an inevitable issue in internal church debate." A press release issued by the EKD said that "although we must guard against the danger that the agenda of the church becomes dominated by issues of this and, it cannot be denied that this issue raises fundamental questions about Christian faith and Christian lifestyle, and about the interpretation of the Bible and the beliefs of the church."