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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1994)
jm t out ▼ febniary 18. 1904 T 9 SPIRITUALITY Lutheran sexuality report still in controversy The controversy that greeted the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s preliminary report on sexuality in late October has led to the resigna tion of the project’s chief staff member, the Rev. Karen L. Bloomquist. The report expresses an openness to recognizing same-sex marriages and calls for the 5.2 million members of ELCA to reassess anti-gay attitudes. Bloomquist had been the target of “unjust and abusive” attacks in the wake of the report’s release, according to the Rev. Charles Miller, executive director of the Division for Church in Society. “Dr. Bloomquist and I agree that deliberating on the subject of sexuality is a great struggle for the church today. In the ELCA, that is evidenced in the fears and anxieties evoked by the release of the first draft of the human sexuality statement and the too-close iden tification of one person with the statement's de velopment,” Miller stated. Bloomquist “reluctantly agreed” to resign from her position on the 17-member task force, which had worked for four years on the first draft of “The Church and Human Sexuality: A Lutheran Per spective." Pastor Dan Schwich, coordinator of L u t h e r a n s |ii| .ill(M* C oncerned/ ™ " Chicago, a ministry for gay and les bian under standing, ex pressed con cern that hav ing Bloom quist resign from the task force would send the mes sage that she was solely re sponsible for its content, a notion that he said is false. “My sense is that the fallout over the church was so great...that some kind of large symbolic action had to take place, and removing Karen was that action,” Schwich said. “Unfortunately that reinforces the notion that this was Karen’s statement. But the process as sured that both the task force and the division approved the draft text.” Because Bloomquist was only a part of the larger process of creating the draft, Schwich said he did not think her absence from the task force would affect the ultimate outcome of the statement. “My assumption is that the 1995 ELCA assembly will adopt some kind of social statement on human sexuality, but whether it will look anything like what this draft proposes is quite debatable,” said Schwich. The purpose of the statement, which the task force will begin revising in August 1994, is to “provide guidance for people as they live out their sexuality.” The controversial issues addressed in the statement have fueled church-wide reaction. The 67-member Conferenceof Bishops responded to the draft by expressing disapproval of blessing same-sex unions. The draft statement said, “It is the binding commitment, not the license or cer emony, that lies at the heart of biblical under standing of marriage. In those circumstances where a legal marriage is not feasible, communities of faith may need to consider other ways of publicly affirming and communally supporting a loving, binding commitment between two people.” The draft also asserted that biblical passages referring to same-sex unions are inappropriate to use “as the basis for opposing all committed, just, loving homosexual relationships today.” The report’s scope extends beyond the issues of lesbians or gay men, of course, although that received the most media attention. The statement addresses premarital sex, divorce, contraception and abstinence, and stresses the value of marriage and of confining sex to long-term, loving relation ships. Pagan Census Project The Pagan Census Project is an attempt to document the size and diversity of the contempo rary Pagan movement. The project is being coor dinated by Andras Corban Arthen, founder and director of the EarthSpirit Community of Massa chusetts; and Helen Berger, Ph.D., a sociology professor at West Chester State University in Pennsylvania, and a member of EarthSpirit. The information gathered will be shared with other Pagan networking organizations and publi cations at their request It will be made available to statistical bureaus, academic researchers, inter faith organizations and others interested in docu menting the growth of contemporary Paganism. The project organizers hope that documenting members will create a stronger position to attain more credibility as a religion and as a community. This would give credence to addressing issues of religious discrimination and social prejudice and would give greater access to influential forums, such as academia and interfaith councils, from which Pagans have mostly been excluded. SisterSpirit Library renovated The SisterSpirit Library has been catalogued and expanded. The library currently consists of books, periodicals and pamphlets with an empha sis on spirituality and feminism. The collection also includes items on environmentalism, minor ity studies, sexual minorities, herbalism and his tory, as well as literary and children’s collections. For more information contact Minerva, the SisterSpirit librarian, at 294-0645 or write PO Box 9246, Portland, OR 97207. Church curriculum on AIDS available At least 12 million adults and one million children worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that is believed to cause AIDS. The epi demic, which threatens to spread to 40 million people by the end of the decade, can be slowed only through education. The 1.6-million-mem- ber United Church of Christ has released “Af firming Persons—Saving Lives,” an ambitious 1,000-page curriculum on AIDS prevention de signed for churches. “This is not only the first comprehensive AIDS prevention curriculum for churches,” says Laura Lee Kent-Smith, executive director of AIDS Interfaith Network of New Jer sey, “it is the best AIDS curriculum I’ve seen, period.” UCC President Paul H. Sherry states, “With this bold step, the United Church of Christ is acting responsibly in the midst of the greatest health emergency in our time. Every family in America is potentially threatened by AIDS. This is a family-oriented and church-centered curricu lum that will help parents, teachers, youth and children become partners in the education we need to protect ourselves and those we love.” “Affirming Persons—Saving Lives” was tested by teenagers, teachers and parents in regional workshops throughout the country. People living with HIV and AIDS also played a critical role in the curriculum’s development. “As a person who has been living with HIV for a number of years, this curriculum gives me confidence that my church is doing everything in its power to save lives,” says William Smith, a UCC member in Palm Springs, Calif. “When I began to hear about HIV, the church was practically invisible. It never occurred to me that churches could be places of healing, learning and support.That can change if this curriculum is widely used.” Compiled by Matthew Nelson, an ordained minister of the United Church o f Christ HELP AT LAST For DegenerativeDiseases • Arthritis • AIDS • Lupus » Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Hollywood Clinic Steven Meeker, D IPLA C, L.AC. Chinese Medicine National Board Certified in Acupuncture Susan Meeker, LMT 2163 NE Broadway • (503) 281-3835 PRIVATE THERAPY flîTîT • MASSAGE THERAPY We believe in giving back . . . 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