Last week, the Episcopal Church lifted a de facto moratorium on ordaining gay and lesbian bishops, and voted to give bishops wide discretion regarding local clergy blessing same-sex unions, especially in states where same-sex marriage or union is legal, giving them permission to provide an important pastoral duty to gay and lesbian couples.
Because of these measures many conservatives in the States but also around the world in the Anglican Communion have accused the Episcopalians of deviating from the rest of Anglicanism on this issue. However, Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox in a Religion Dispatches article suggest that the statistics don't agree with the conservative position. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of Episcopal clergy say that gays and lesbians should be eligible for ordination without special requir
ements. Also, the views of Episcopalian clergy are fairly approximate to the views of clergy from most mainline Protestant denominations. Among clergy in the seven largest mainline denominations, all except two show majority support for ordaining gay and lesbian clergy with no special requirements. Episcopal clergy express stronger support than every other denomination except the United Church of Christ (UCC).In my denomination, Unity, which is part of the New Thought movement, has always supported the ordination of ministers based on their character and spiritual evolution, not on sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, etc. Indeed, Unity has never had any rules or regulations in place that have limited one's eligibility for the ministry based on their sexual orientation, an issue of being not choice. It's simply not in line with the conviction that God is omnipresent in all creation and that we all are created children of God. I must say, I'm quite proud to be a part of such a legacy of equality, justice, and love in ministerial leadership training.
Check out Jones and Cox's intriguing and informative essay at Religion Dispatches.
(Above image from Religion Dispatches.)
No comments:
Post a Comment