May 13, 2003

CHICAGO - 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.

ELCA News Service