wfn.org | WCC Cannot Close its Eyes to Homosexuality

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11-November-1998 
98315 
 
    WCC Cannot Close its Eyes to Homosexuality, 
    Says Leading Official 
 
    by Edmund Doogue 
 
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -The World Council of Churches (WCC) cannot 
"close its eyes" to the issue of homosexuality - one of the most 
controversial issues facing many of the world's churches - according to the 
organization's general secretary, Dr Konrad Raiser. 
 
    In answer to questions at a symposium - Faith in the City - Fifty Years 
of the World Council of Churches in a Secularised Western Context - held in 
Amsterdam on 19 September to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment 
of the WCC in the Dutch city in 1948, Dr Raiser described the issue as a 
challenge to the ecumenical movement. The WCC is the world's principal 
ecumenical organisation, grouping more than 330 Protestant, Anglican and 
Orthodox churches. Homosexuality is one of the most sensitive issues facing 
the churches, and at the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in 
Canterbury in August this year the issue dominated media coverage and 
caused division among the participating bishops. 
 
    Dr Raiser told more than 600 people at the Amsterdam gathering that he 
hoped the WCC's next assembly, to be held in December in Harare, the 
capital of Zimbabwe, would "open the way" to explore issues of personal and 
interpersonal morality, areas which up to the present had hardly been 
tackled in ecumenical dialogue. His remarks indicate a growing willingness 
by the WCC's leadership to face up to an issue which the organisation has 
generally regarded as too divisive for its member churches to allow a 
robust debate, and which is not on the official agenda for discussion at 
the Harare assembly. 
 
    Sexual orientation is a particularly controversial matter for the 
Harare assembly because the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has 
condemned homosexuality as un-African. Most African churches also reject 
homosexual practices, pointing out that they are forbidden by scripture. 
Many churches in other regions, particularly the Orthodox churches, believe 
the issue should not be discussed by ecumenical bodies such as the WCC. 
 
    Dr Ineke Bakker, general secretary of the Council of Churches in The 
Netherlands, told the symposium that while the ecumenical movement had 
resolved many issues of "social ethics", there was "still a lot of work for 
the WCC and the churches to do" on the issues of personal ethics, including 
homosexuality. (Several Protestant churches which are members of the 
Council of Churches in The Netherlands will hold a workshop on 
homosexuality at the informal Padare [meeting-place] of the WCC Harare 
assembly to explain how the Dutch churches - which in general hold liberal 
views on homosexuality - have dealt with division on the issue.) 
 
    A German ecumenist and member of the WCC's executive committee, Dr 
Margot Kaessmann, who took part in the symposium, said she believed that 
the Harare assembly would commission a study of the churches' views on 
homosexuality. 
 
    During a presentation to the symposium, Dr Anton Wessels, Professor of 
the History of Religion and Missiology at the Free University, Amsterdam, 
called for the three scripture-based faiths - Islam, Judaism and 
Christianity -  to reread their holy books and to question their 
condemnations of homosexuality. "I might cause embarrassment by having 
brought up the subject," he said. "We are facing a common problem of 
reference to holy books. These holy books are quite difficult because of 
the discrimination of women and the discrimination of homosexuals. It might 
be necessary to delete some sections because they are the products of their 
times." 
 
    However, according to  Dr Raiser, recent analysis had shown that in 
most cases churches which had changed their views on homosexuality had not 
done so because of a new reading of scripture, but because "change occurred 
in society, and that obliged the churches to take another look at the 
issue". 
 
    Churches and their members should, he said, be aware that their moral 
stance was "cultural" and not rooted in scripture as they believed. He 
urged all to be aware of the underlying assumptions on which their 
assertions were based and of which people were generally "not even 
conscious". 
 
    At a press conference after the symposium Dr Raiser told journalists 
that any further action on the homosexuality issue would depend on 
decisions by the delegates at the assembly. There was, he said, "no firm 
proposal" for any action.  "At least we are opening up the possibility. We 
now await the advice of the assembly itself." 
 
    Asked about a decision by the Evangelical  Lutheran Church in the 
Kingdom of The Netherlands not to send delegates to the Harare assembly 
because of the anti-homosexual remarks by President Mugabe, Dr Raiser said 
he regretted the decision by the church "which seems to have strong 
convictions on this issue" and would have provided an important 
contribution to the discussion. He suggested that it might not be "too 
late" for the church to "review" its decision. 

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