wfn.org | ELCA Task Force Focuses on Science, Theology

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 13, 2003

ELCA TASK FORCE FOCUSES ON SCIENCE, THEOLOGY
03-99-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Studies on Sexuality Task Force of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) called together
theologians and behavioral and social scientists to gather
information, opinion and theological perspective on research
regarding sexual orientation when it met here April 25-27.  The task
force also reviewed study materials to guide the church's 5.1 million
members talking about blessing same-gender relationships and whether
or not to accept ministers in such relationships.
     At the direction of the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the
church is conducting a comprehensive four-year study on homosexuality
and a six-year study on human sexuality.  Current ELCA policy expects
ministers to refrain from all sexual relations outside of marriage;
there is no official policy on blessing same-gender relationships,
precluding ministers in such relationships from ordained ministry.
     The 2001 assembly called for a progress report to the 2003
assembly and for a final report with recommendations at the 2005
Churchwide Assembly.  It also asked the Division for Church in
Society to prepare a social statement on human sexuality.
     The task force, assembled by the ELCA Division for Ministry and
Division for Church in Society in May 2002, assists the divisions in
developing study materials and recommendations regarding the assembly
mandates. The first of the study materials was distributed that
summer.  It was based on "A Message on Sexuality: Some Common
Convictions," which the ELCA Church Council adopted in 1996.
     The second part of the church's study will focus on
homosexuality.	The study guide, to be available for ELCA
congregations by the end of this summer, will deal with baptismal
identity, vocation of the "priesthood of all believers," moral
deliberation, reflections on options for mission, interpretation of
Scripture and more.  The overall theme for the church's study is
"Journey Together Faithfully."

FIRST SCIENCE PANEL
     The task force met with Drs. Marshall and Pamela Tessnear,
clinical psychologists and members of Luther Memorial Lutheran
Church, Blacksburg, Va., and Dr. William R. Stayton, professor of
education and coordinator of the Human Sexuality Program, Widener
University, Chester, Pa.
     On the "possibility of choice" -- do people choose sexual
orientation -- the "American Psychological Association has taken the
position that orientation is not a choice, it cannot be changed,
efforts to attempt to modify it may even be harmful, and that
psychologists doing such therapy may be violating professional
ethics.  Our clinical experience leads us to the same conclusion,"
the Tessnears stated in a paper prepared for the task force.
     "Invitations to worship, blessings of unions and the ordination
of ministers are of course not addressed by empirical and clinical
evidence, and are rightfully the responsibility of the church," they
said.
     According to Stayton, there is a "broad spectrum" of sexual
orientation.  He cited	the "Kinsey Scale" to illustrate the notion
that sexual orientation is not "bipolar" -- not just heterosexual or
homosexual.
     The Kinsey Scale illustrates a seven-point continuum based on
the degree of sexual responsiveness people have to members of the
same or opposite gender -- zero represents exclusively heterosexual
and six represents exclusively homosexual.
     "God or nature's intention is to produce a zero on the Kinsey
Scale, zero being completely heterosexual," Stayton said, although
"through years of study no research has yielded that nature's
intention is to produce zero.  We are born neutral.  Dynamics vary on
the degree to which culture is repressed."
     Stayton said no more than 10 percent of the population is at
either end of the continuum in the United States.  Eighty percent of
the population are between one and five. Many heterosexuals would
fall somewhere between zero and three because they occasionally think
about sexual activities with the same gender, he said.
     "If we assume that orientation across the spectrum is a given,
then questions regarding ethics would turn on whether or not we
regard certain actions as wrong.  If, on the one hand, we say that
there's nothing inherently wrong in living one's homosexual
orientation, then the ethical question is whether or not the
relationships involved are characterized by mutual love and fidelity.
On the other hand, if we determine that certain relationships are
inherently unhealthy and morally unacceptable, then the ethical
question is one of choosing abstinence," asked the Rev. James M.
Childs, Jr., director, ELCA Studies on Sexuality.  "The question is
whether or not certain relationships are inherently unhealthy and
what determines that on what grounds."

SECOND SCIENCE PANEL
     The task force met with the Rev. Merton P. Strommen, research
psychologist and founder of the Search Institute, Minneapolis; Dr.
Thomas J. Kiresuk, research methodologist, Minneapolis; and Dr.
Alcuin Johnson, clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology and Oncology,
Children's Healthcare, Atlanta.
     "I have two concerns" regarding scientific research, said
Strommen.  They are "the use and abuse of research, and the use of
research as a church."	He said the church has a "capability to carry
out a level of study that is not available" on the topic of
sexuality.
     "I don't think I've ever seen a perfect study," said Kiresuk.
"It's not like Lutherans keep looking for a rock on which to base
beliefs on certain topics.  You are not going to find it in science.
Science is a process with a method of rules.  It is a constant
evolution and challenge."
     Task force members asked the panel to comment on whether or not
sexual orientation is a social learned construction or is sexual
identity "a fixed thing?"
     "My guess is that there are quantitative genetic
predispositions to orientation,"  said Kiresuk.  "They will have a
chance to express themselves or not, depending on environment."
     Johnson said there are some adolescents who are ambivalent
about their sexual identity, while others "are very clear about their
sexual identity.  That is not an issue for them, but how do we get
family to acknowledge or accept how they see themselves."  Johnson
said he meets with adolescents because some parents "suggest that
their kids need to see someone."
     Studies designed to illustrate that people are created with a
particular sexual orientation have failed, Strommen said.  "The whole
statement of the genetic connection must be thrown out.  I keep
hearing that assumption because it's a convenient way of thinking."
     "Although science is not presently certain as to the origins of
homosexuality, it is nonetheless true that a certain percentage of
the population experiences itself as gay or lesbian not as a choice
but as a given and a positive," said Childs.

THEOLOGIANS PANEL
     The task force met with Dr. Robert D. Benne, Roanoke College,
Salem, Va.; the Rev. Ralph W. Klein, Lutheran School of Theology at
Chicago; the Rev. Craig R. Koester, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.;
and Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary,
Berkeley, Calif.
     "We're facing a subject on which the Bible says very little,
and whatever is said must be read with conditioning factors," said
Klein.	"I am impressed that we are asking questions that were not
asked in the same way by our biblical forebears.  Society has come a
long way on questions about sexuality," he said.
     "Theologically and practically the current [ELCA] policy
recognizes that we say 'yes' to certain forms of sexual relationships
and 'no' to others," said Koester.
     "None of us, I think, would be willing to say that every form
of sexual relationship is acceptable and all of us, I assume, would
agree that we should say 'yes' to some relationships and 'no' to
others.  Therefore, the issue before us is not whether we are going
to be inclusive or exclusive, affirming or judgmental.	The issue
before us concerns which relationships we affirm, which we do not,
and our reasons for making these decisions," Koester said.
     "The Bible is overwhelmingly heterosexual in its basic
structure.  Nowhere in the Bible does it affirm homosexuality.
Anytime it's mentioned, it's negative," Benne said. "Text is not
really important to me as structure.  All of this has to do more with
forms intended in God's creation," he said.
     "There are many resources in the Bible to overcome patriarchy"
  namely, women's role in the church, Benne said.  "The fundamental
[belief] before God is that we are all equal.  There is not that kind
of response in the Bible about homosexuality.  The Bible and
tradition are clear on these matters, in spite of efforts to
relativize their witness by historical-critical efforts."
     Stortz contended that "our primary orientation is not whether
we are gay or lesbian, rather it's whether or not we are oriented
toward Christ.	Our primary sexual behavior should be normed by
positive values of fidelity, service and generosity.  That gives us a
place to start."
     "We ought to have a single sexual ethic that comes from Baptism
that applies to all," Stortz said.  "A Christian sexual ethic should
be equally binding on both homosexuals and heterosexuals.  The most
important part of Christian identity is not sexual orientation but
Baptism."
     According to Klein, "There's not a great deal of information
positive on homosexuality in Scripture, but there's very little that
is negative.  What is there is under severe restrictions as we're
asking questions," such questions as "what might it mean today."
     "The Bible never says, when it does talk about it, why it talks
negatively about homosexuality," Klein said.  "It's not what is said,
but what it might mean and imply.  There are a number of reasons why
I find selected passages not directly applicable," he said.  "Part of
what tradition has taught us is that genital sexuality should be
life-long, not exploitive, faithful and monogamous. If Lutherans are
to acknowledge same-gender unions, the same values apply," said
Klein.

REFLECTIONS FROM STUDIES DIRECTOR, TASK FORCE CHAIR
     The panels of consultants were "beneficial because we learn
from people with expertise.  It is important to sharpen our thinking
and understanding, so we can prepare the best possible study for the
church," said Childs in an interview.
     "We're experiencing a range of opinions of people within the
Lutheran church who are very faithful, committed people. There's
never any one insight that comes out where we come together and say,
'Aha, that's it. That's the final answer.'  We're increasingly coming
into the complexity of it more and more, which makes it difficult in
one way, but I think it's very true to the nature of the issue," said
the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, bishop of the ELCA New England Synod and
chair of the task force.
     "Science cannot answer the question for us. If people think the
task force is going to listen to the scientific community to base our
answer, that's just wrong.  One of the things we learned from the
consultations was there's a wide range with the kinds of studies that
have been done and the kinds of samples, and the way people interpret
the studies," said Payne.
     A primary question the task force is asking is if "there is
such a thing as a homosexual orientation and, if so, is that
something that one could call natural or how would one categorize it.
I think we're coming to a point where most people seem to acknowledge
that such a condition exists.  Then the question arises, what does
the church do and how does the church see it and interpret it?
Theological and biblical interpretation comes right on the heel of
the scientific information. It can't give us the whole answer," said
Payne.
_ _ _
     Information on the ELCA Studies on Sexuality is located at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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