Annotated Bibliography
Robin Lynn Young
Composition III
Professor Rose
South University
Annotated Bibliography
Thesis: Mainstream protestant churches are wrestling with the question of accepting openly gay ministers.
Cooperman, A. (February 9, 2007). Lutheran panel votes to expel gay minister. Washington Post, n.d., n.d., 1.
The article by Alan Cooperman details out the events in 2007 when a Lutheran Church in Atlanta was required to remove an openly gay minister from the pulpit. In spite of the fact that the minister was loved by his congregation and that the congregation was steadily increasing, they elected to remove him from office. However, in 2005 “the ECLA rejected a proposal to maintain a ban on actively gay ministers but allow exceptions for those in loving, lifelong partnerships.” I intend to use this quote within my paper.
Thompson, B. (March 8, 2009). Protestants to wrestle with issue of ordaining gay clergy. Retrieved April 23, 2009, from
The article by Bill Thompson gives an account of the effects of the struggle over gay clergymen within different churches. Some churches retained their ministers and elders and changed their bylaws to protect those who are gay within their churches. Other churches decided to completely remove themselves from the organizations, which they operated under and start entirely fresh as in the case of the Grace Episcopalian Church. This is a recent accounting of the last 13 months surrounding this subject and I intend to use several quotes from it as documentation within my paper.
Dart, J. (2005, November 29). Seminary presidents back PCUS A report. Christian Century, 122(24), 14-14. Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
The article announces the support given by the presidents of all Presbyterian seminaries to the report issued by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. theological task force involving the ordination of gayministers. The report unanimously recommended that ordaining institutions in the church decide whether and when to approve gayministers. This will be helpful in showing both sides of the debate.
Kennedy, S. (2005, November 8). The Reverend Jeffery A. Haskins. Advocate, Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
This article is an interview with gayminister Jeffery A. Haskins regarding his religious message for GLBT people. His message is about the love of God for gaypeople; Creation of GLBT people in the image and likeness of God; Views on homophobia in the African American community. This article backs up the need for tolerance, and furthers the thesis.
Briefly noted. (2008, February 26). Christian Century, Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
The article presents two reports on religion in the U.S. One highlights the congregation-voted restoration of an openly gayminister in a Presbyterian church in St. Paul, Minnesota in regards to Presbyterian law. This article will show the change in attitude after the change in Presbyterian by laws.
Electric power. Economist [serial online]. October 14, 2006;381(8499):59-59. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 11, 2009.
The article reports on the status of the new centre-right government of Sweden. The new government is unique in that it has its first black and openly gayministers and Fredrik Reinfeldt is the youngest primeminister in 80 years. Reinfeldt has appointed some new government outsiders to his cabinet. Cecilia Stego Chilo, Nyamko Sabuni, Maria Borelius, and pony-tailed Anders Borg are new ministers. This article will be drawn upon as an example for needed reform.
Gay Ministers in Protestant Churches
Robin Lynn Young
English Composition III
Professor Rose
South University Online
Gay Ministers in Protestant Churches
When one thinks of the word minister they think of purity, of wisdom, of someone who understands the will of God and of an interpreter of that will. They do not think of the word gay and automatically associate it with the word minister. However there are ministers who are gay. Some churches accept those ministers openly, there are even churches that cater to gays specifically, while others do not and think that being gay is a horrible sin and an act against God. Mainstream protestant churches are wrestling with the question of accepting openly gay ministers due to the conflicting ideologies held between conservatives and liberals. Traditionally, same sex relationships were looked not accepted among the clergy. However, since the gay rights movement, more and more churches have begun to recognize same sex relationships as a legitimate alternative lifestyle. Thus, gay ministers should be allowed within churches because their personal decisions regarding their sexuality should not have an impact on their spirituality or ability to preach to their congregations.
The question of whether or not to accept gay ministers is being handled differently in different churches. Many protestant churches are contemplating amending their fundamental tenets in order to accommodate homosexual ministers: “The 2.3 million members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the 4.7 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are weighing constitutional changes that could sanction the ordination of homosexuals in open same-sex relationships” (Thompson, 2009). Traditionally, the Presbyterian Church recognized marriages between a man and a woman only. Within the Presbyterian Church it is stated in the bylaws, the “Book of Order,” that the “ordained ministers, elders and deacons "lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church,” (Thompson, 2009). This statement encompasses all aspects of the clergy’s life which includes their sexuality and limits it such that only living either within a marriage of a man and woman, or being celibate while single, is an acceptable lifestyle. However, the Presbyterian Church is currently voting to change that specific wording to: “pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church" (Thompson, 2009). This language would allow the elders, deacons, and ministers of the Presbyterian Church to be openly gay because they have declared themselves to the church itself. This alteration will allow ministers to keep their private life private and their public life public. It is important that our spiritual leaders be afforded freedom in their lifestyle choices in order to fully live a life in which they are able to lead their congregation.
However, not all members of the church are in agreement with the change to the bylaws. The aforementioned church is under the Presbytery of St. Augustine, which encompasses roughly 64 churches. Those churches voted on this same issue and the vote was very close, although the bill was approved by a two thirds majority vote (Thompson, 2009). This is how most accounts are expected to be across the country, concerning the subject of allowing gays within the church. It is a close call. Many people are of a sentiment that sexual orientation of the minister does not matter as long as they are good people, are good at their job, and love God. In an article published in Christian Century, titled “Seminary presidents back PCUSA report,”the seminary presidents in charge of reviewing the bylaws of the Presbyterian church stated that while the bylaws have changed to allow the freedom for the individual church to determine whether the minister was living a life that was acceptable or not, they felt most congregational members would accept the change with enthusiasm and “determine that aclergy candidate's sexual orientationand activity is a "nonessential factor"in his or her acceptability” (Dart, 2005). Thus, it is apparent that the church is beginning to recognize mainstream belief in order to accommodate the variety life styles, including homosexuality.
Although, this type of thinking has not always been upheld in more traditional churches and is likely to be a continued debate. In an older debate, “A disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ruled… that a gay pastor in Atlanta must give up his pulpit, saying it was reluctantly enforcing a "bad policy," (Cooperman, 2007). This sparked a resurgence of a debate that has been happening for over 30 years. Many “groups that oppose gay ordination… condemned the [change within the church]. Itcalled the recommendations "unconstitutional"and accused the taskforce of attempting an "end run"around the ban on ordination of sexuallyactive gays and lesbians” (Dart, 2005). Those who oppose the wording to the bylaws of the church which would leave the individual churches the power to determine whether their minister is living life according to the Scripture, feel that the change is a way to skirt around the issue in order to avoid making a decision about homosexuality among clergy. They believe that the church must be firm in continuing to preserve the ban on homosexuality within the church.
However, there is a movement across the country that shuns this type of narrow, judgmental thinking that would condemn clergy due to their sexual preference. More and more churches are beginning to accept the alternative lifestyle. The Unity Fellowship Church in Brooklyn, New York caters mainly to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender parishioners. This church is led by an openly gay minister who preaches a message of love and acceptance. In an interview published in the journal, Advocate, Reverend Jeffery Haskins expounds the aspect of a god who accepts everyone:
“We are made in the image and likeness of God. God is straight and God is gay. God is bisexual and God is white and God is black and God is handicapped and God is poor and God is rich. Everything that is manifested in the universe is of God. And for the longest, people have told us it wasn't. They told the blacks they weren't of God; they told the women they weren't of God; they told the Palestinians they weren't of God. Everybody passes judgment, but God is” (Kenedy, 2005).
Reverend Jeffery Haskins is one of the leading ministers who is trying to preach a message of tolerance through changing people’s traditional view of God and scripture. Instead of telling people what they should be thinking about gay people, his intent is to illuminate people of what and who God is: a being who is all things in creation. As more and more people hear this message, they will start to acknowledge that sexuality is not an issue for debate in the church any longer.
Consequently, it seems that the message that Reverend Haskins is preaching is reaching open ears across the country. More and more people have been receptive to the changes in climate and culture of the country and have taken steps to enforce and ensure a policy of tolerance and acceptance. In Minneapoiis-St. Paul, the Presbyterian Church
“voted to restore the ordination of anopenly gay man who [had] refused to pledgecelibacy… Paul Capetz, a seminaryprofessor, asked to be removed from ministryin 2000 after the PCUSA voted to require that ministers be married to amember of the opposite sex or remaincelibate. But changes made in 2006 to thePresbyterians' “Book of Order” allow candidatesfor ordination to declare conscientiousobjection to church rules. Local presbyteries,or governing bodies, then mustdecide whether the objection constitutes afailure to adhere to "the essentials of
Reformed faith and polity." On January26, 2008, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities votedthat Capctz's objection did not violate theessentials and restored his ordination as aminister of word and sacrament”
(Christian Century, 2008).
This reversal is a bold statement that demonstrates the change of ideology in America- a change that is long overdue.
In conclusion, does it really matter if the minister behind the pulpit is gay? The debate will continue as long as there are those who will judge others for their lifestyle choices. However, it is time for the majority to accept that the decisions of the individual have no impact on their ability to speak the word of God to their congregations. The bottom line is if the person behind the pulpit is gay and that offends someone, they need to find a different place to worship or the minister is forced to move on to a church that will welcome them regardless of their lifestyle choice. This is the country of religious freedom after all.