August 21, 2009
Source: The Detroit News
Wire Service: AP
The nation's largest Lutheran denomination took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday, as leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian people from serving as ministers.
The decision follows a similar action in July by officers of the Episcopal Church, which lifted a de facto ban on the consecration of partnered gay bishops.
Theologians and church historians said both votes could influence other Protestant denominations -- including Presbyterians and United Methodists -- that are struggling to reconcile conflicts over homosexuality and the Bible.