CHURCHES TAKE STEPS ON ISSUE OF SSM: From the Washington Post

U.S. Episcopal bishops expressed regret yesterday for having consecrated the group's first openly gay bishop but said they need more time to respond to a call that they halt such ordinations and stop blessing same-sex marriages.

The issue, which threatens the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Church with schism, also swept the largest U.S. Lutheran denomination on the same day.

In that separate development, a divided task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America declined to recommend that the denomination bless same-sex unions or approve the ordination of ministers involved in gay relationships, but the task force called on congregants to work for ways to "live together faithfully in the midst of our disagreements." ...

Meanwhile, the report issued by the Lutheran task force will be weighed by that group's 5 million members in the United States and the Caribbean ahead of consideration by a churchwide assembly in Florida in August.

The task force backed a 1993 statement by its Conference of Bishops, which said pastors and congregations can be trusted to exercise "wisdom and discretion" in ministering to same-sex couples.

The group's policy says no pastor may engage in heterosexual or homosexual relations outside marriage -- and it defines marriage as a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman. The group does allow gay pastors who remain celibate.

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posted by Eve at 6:50 PM VOTE

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