wfn.org | WCC: Sexual Orientation

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Briefing
For Immediate Use
29 September 1998

BRIEFING PAPER

THE WCC, THE HARARE ASSEMBLY AND THE ISSUE OF SEXUAL
ORIENTATION

1. What it means for the WCC to "take a stance" or "have a position" on
an issue

The WCC is not itself a church, but a fellowship of independently
organized Christian churches. Thus it neither has nor seeks to exercise
legislative, canonical, juridical or teaching authority over its member
churches and their members. Constitutionally, its role is to "offer counsel
and provide opportunity for united action in matters of common interest"
to the churches.

Such "united action" sometimes takes the form of public statements on
important issues by WCC governing bodies (its assembly, Central
Committee, or, under some circumstances, its Executive Committee or
officers, including the general secretary). The diversity and
representativeness of the WCC may give such statements significance
and influence, but the WCC Rules make it clear that their authority
consists "only in the weight which they carry by their own truth and
wisdom".

The overwhelming majority of printed texts produced by the WCC in the
course of its work do not fall into this category of "public statements" by
governing bodies. They include reports and recommendations from
consultations and conferences organized by the Council and from visits
made by WCC delegations; periodicals and publications on issues of
ecumenical concern; pastoral and other open letters; and texts of
various length which are prepared for or emerge from ecumenical study
processes. Again, the "authority" of these texts depends solely on their
own persuasiveness; and until they have been received and acted on by
the assembly or the Central Committee they cannot be considered as
setting forth an "official WCC position". In many cases, a governing body
will commend such materials to the member churches for study, action or
response.

2. What the WCC has said on issues related to human sexuality

(For a fuller account, see Birgitta Larsson, "A Quest for Clarity: The
World Council of Churches and Human Sexuality", The Ecumenical
Review, Vol. 50, no. 1, January 1998, pp.30-40.)

Since the WCC's third assembly in New Delhi in 1961, issues related to
human sexuality have been raised at several meetings of WCC governing
bodies. In response, these WCC bodies have not made detailed ethical
declarations, recognizing that the great diversity of positions on these
issues among member churches from different theological traditions and
cultural contexts would make a consensus statement impossible. Rather,
there has been a consistent emphasis on the fundamental need for
dialogue which takes account of these various contexts and of the
biblical and theological tradition, accompanied by an appeal for churches
to undertake their own study of these issues. (Responses to several
attempts by the WCC to survey stances taken by its member churches
on issues of human sexuality have come overwhelmingly from churches
in Northern and Western countries.)

Especially in earlier years, much of the discussion of human sexuality in
the context of the WCC was linked to questions related to the family
(including the issue of polygamy) and to global population growth.
Attention has focused on the "social-ethical" (rather than the
"personal-ethical") dimensions of these issues. In addition, there has
been a strong emphasis on churches' pastoral responsibility towards
their members in this area.

The link between social and personal ethics was highlighted by the
grave consequences of the AIDS pandemic for individuals and
communities around the world. In 1994 the WCC Central Committee
formed an international consultative group to undertake an intensive
study of AIDS and the churches' response. Its work culminated in a
100-page study document commended by the Central Committee to the
member churches ("Facing AIDS: The Challenge, The Churches'
Response", Geneva, WCC, 1997). An accompanying statement adopted
by the Committee said "the AIDS pandemic requires the analysis of a
cluster of inter-related factors. These include the theological and ethical
perspectives that inform or arise from our understanding of AIDS; the
effects of poverty on individuals and communities; issues of justice and
human rights; the understanding of human relationships; and the
understanding of human sexuality. Of these the factor of sexuality has
received the least attention within the ecumenical community. We
recognize that further study in this area is essential for a deeper
understanding of the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS."

The specific issue of homosexuality was raised by one of the section
reports commended to the churches by the Uppsala assembly (1968),
which urged that materials elaborating this and other issues of human
sexuality "be made available for responsible study and action". An "issue
group report" commended to the churches by the Vancouver assembly
(1983) encouraged them "to examine and study for themselves and with
one another the question of homosexuality, with special stress on the
pastoral responsibility of the churches everywhere for those who are
homosexual". While some reports and study materials on human
sexuality were produced and distributed during the period following the
Vancouver assembly (e.g. Jeanne Becher, ed., "Women, Religion and
Sexuality: Studies on the Impact of Religious Teachings on Women",
Geneva, WCC, 1990; "Living in Covenant with God and One Another",
Geneva, WCC Education Office, 1990), none was submitted to WCC
governing bodies for adoption.

Recognition has grown in recent years that ethical issues, including
those related to human sexuality, often create deeper tensions, both
within and between churches, than traditionally divisive questions of
doctrine and church order. This led to the drafting of a text on "The
Ecumenical Dialogue on Moral Issues: Potential Sources of Common
Witness or of Divisions" (The Ecumenical Review, Vol. 48, no. 2, 1996,
pp.143-54) by the Joint Working Group (JWG) between the WCC and the
Roman Catholic Church. While this text does not itself address specific
ethical issues, it offers a series of guidelines for constructive discussion
of ethical differences in an ecumenical setting. Where churches hold
different opinions on highly controversial issues, the WCC seeks to
provide an open space for the churches to speak to and hear each other
in mutual respect and the common search for divine guidance. On some
issues, dialogue can be difficult, but as the JWG guidelines say, "When
the dialogue continues to reveal sincere but apparently irreconcilable
moral positions, we affirm in faith that the fact of our belonging together
in Christ is more fundamental than the fact of our moral differences." 

3. Homosexuality and the WCC's eighth assembly

a. The context in Zimbabwe:  Shortly after the WCC Central Committee
decided in January 1994 to accept the invitation from the churches of
Zimbabwe to hold the eighth assembly in Harare, concerns arose in
response to media reports about attitudes towards and treatment of
homosexual persons by Zimbabwean authorities. Subsequently, the
WCC, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the government of
Zimbabwe signed a memorandum of understanding guaranteeing that all
persons accredited by the WCC would be admitted to the country for the
assembly, acknowledging the assembly's complete freedom to set its
own agenda and discuss any subject, and ensuring the right of
journalists to report on the assembly fully and freely.

 b. The assembly agenda:  Besides electing a new Central Committee, the
chief task of a WCC assembly is to review the WCC's work over the
previous seven-year period and to set general policy guidelines for its
activities over the next seven years on the basis of the delegates'
perceptions of the key issues facing the churches around the world.
Since the WCC has done no programmatic work on human sexuality
since its 1991 assembly, the subject is not on the agenda of that part of
the assembly devoted to reviewing and assessing earlier work.

Policies and programme emphases for the seven-year period to come
will be proposed to the assembly by its Programme Guidelines Committee
on the basis of intensive discussions in a series of six hearings during
the middle part of the assembly. Delegates will be invited to suggest
priorities for WCC work arising from their own church context and on the
basis of discussions and presentations in the assembly's "Padare" * an
open space in which churches and ecumenical groups and
organizations from all around the world will share their work,
experiences and concerns with assembly participants. More than 400
such offerings will be presented during this five-day period, including
workshops and seminars, displays and exhibitions, music, mime and
drama. Several of the Padare offerings will focus on how churches and
Christians are dealing with issues of sexual orientation in their context.

The Padare is not a forum to mobilize people in favour of influencing the
assembly on any issue. It is not part of the decision-making agenda of
the assembly, and no reports are to be written or recommendations
formulated in the Padare. The link between the Padare and the official
assembly programme is provided by the assembly delegates themselves.
Any proposal at the assembly for future WCC work on any given issue
will thus be channelled through the hearings and the Programme
Guidelines Committee. Similarly, WCC rules specify that any proposal by
a delegate or group of delegates that the assembly make a statement on
a particular subject will be processed through the Business Committee;
new items of business cannot be introduced directly in a plenary
session.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 332, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Press and Information Office
Tel:  (41.22) 791.61.52/51
Fax:  (41.22) 798 13 46
E-Mail: jwn@wcc-coe.org
http://www.wcc-coe.org

P.O. Box 2100
CH-1211 Geneva 2