PROGRESSIVE CHURCHES



 

Progressive Churches are those which are most oriented to a contractual lifestyle
 

Progressive churches include the liberal wings of the

Unitarians

Episcopalians

United Church of Christ

Presbyterians
 

Orientation of Progressive Churches  – limited covenantalism with a contractual context

Myth

Reformulate the Christian myth to accomodate science, therapy, secular education, multiple normative systems

Interpret the Christian myth so as to stabilize the present, limit discontiunity with the transcendent (redefine sin), increase individual autonomy and empowerment

Avoid uniqeness claims that threaten denominational status

Accept state authorization of the public sphere and play the role of civic religion


Social Organization

Organize as voluntary associations with a service orientation

Accept mutiple affiliations and loyalties with secular civic associations

Loosen control over family formation, procreation, and dissolution

Limit spiritual agency

Develop a professionalized clergy with a managerial, therapeutic orientation


Reactions to contractual organization

Charismatic movement

House church movement and small faith communities

Schism over role of women and gays in the church



THE CONFLICT OVER HOMOSEXUALITY

The Church of Sweden (Lutheran) as of 2007 will allow gays to marry in the church but will not designate the ceremony as marriage

In 1996 Congress established a federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Over 30 states have adopted similar provisions

Two states, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, allow same sex marriage. Vermont allows same-sex unions that insure equal legal rights.

Same sex wedding liturgies have been approved by only one major mainline Protestant denomination, the United Church of Christ. Alternatives are called “services of commitment,” “covenant services,” “holy unions”

The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches does perform same sex weddings

Ordination of gays is somewhat less controversial because there are many kinds of ministry

Marriage rites are more controversial

The basis for marriage in the Bible is founded on the complementarity between male and female and procreation as the God ordained ideal

The biblical idea of “two becoming one flesh.”

In Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." Jesus repeated that teaching twice in the Gospels: Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-9.

Biblical marriage rituals go back to the wedding of Isac and Rebecca in Genesis

Biblical prohibitions on same-sex genital relations

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22, an Old Testament law repeated with the death penalty in Leviticus 20:13).

"God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:26-27).

The number of church sponsored same sex unions remains very small

The controversy in mainline Protestant denominations often rises out of local urban congregations where there are concentrations of homosexuals and out of theology schools with liberal faculties



Episcopal Church (2,4000,000 members)

The Episcopal Church is the American wing of the Anglican Communion. There are 25,000,000 Anglicans in England (but only 1,000,000 churchgoers) and 77,000,000 worldwide

In 2006 Katherine Jefferts Schori was elected as the Presiding Bishop

In 2003 New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, who has a same-sex partner was elected Bishop.

Three dozen churches left the Episcopal Church USA since that election.

In 2003 the Russian Orthodox Church severed contacts with the US Episcopal Church calling Robinson’s appointment blasphemous and anti-Christian.

In 2003 the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) with 17,000,000 members severed its relationship with the US Episcopal Church

In 2003 Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh said Robinson's supporters are betraying Christianity's one ``source of truth, the Bible in the holy tradition of the church'' and declared that Orthodoxy's official talks with the Episcopal Church are ``defunct.''

In 2003 At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II told Carey's successor, Archbishop Rowan Williams, that ``new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity.'' The pope said the problems ``extend to essential matters of faith and morals.''

In 2000 the national convention of Bishops and Deputies (clergy and lay people) voted to reject a proposal to develop rites to bless couples living outside of marriage, which would be applied particularly to gay couples

A resolution was approved acknowledging unmarried couples living in long-term relationships, deploring promiscuity and supporting monogamy, and calling for giving those couples “pastoral care” and “prayerful support”

Bishops were allowed to ordain gay priests and local clergy were permitted to bless same-sex unions without fear of reprisal

Reactions to initiatives

Deep divisions between liberal and conservative wings of the church

Within the U.S. church, a group of conservative dioceses, the Pittsburgh-based Anglican Communion Network, has called for church leaders not only to change their policy but to repent.

25 parishes (of 7,384) have left the church and joined the Anglican Mission in America

In 2002 "flying bishops" policy to provide temporary oversight to dissident conservative parishes at odds with the national church on sexual morality and other issues.

In 2007 Kenya's Anglican Archbishop consecrated two conservative American priests as bishops. They are in charge of 30 U.S. congregations

In 2007 Uganda's Archbishop consecrated a conservative American priest in Virginia

In 2007 the Episcopal Church agreed to halt ordination of gay bishops and the blessing of same sex unions

Anglican archbishops of Rawanda and South East Asia consecrated two American priests as “missionary bishops” to conservative Episcopalians in liberal parishes

The total number of Episcopal congregations under the direction of African and Asian primates is now 200-250 (out of 7,000)

In 2008 Bishop Robinson was invited to the Lambeth Conference as an observer but declined

Five primates from Africa and South America have announced they will boycott the Lambeth Conference



Presbyterian Church (USA) (3,600,000 members)

In 1997 a sexual conduct standard was inserted into the church’s constitution. Ministers are required to “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness”

In May, 2000 the highest church court upheld homosexual candidates for ordination and same sex “holy unions” because they were not defined as marriages

In March, 2001 a proposal passed by the national assembly in 2000 to ban same sex ceremonies was not ratified by regional legislatures and was thus defeated. That ruling allows clergy to perform same-sex union services so long as they are not confused with marriage.

Reactions to initiatives

Deep divisions within liberal an conservative wings of the church

250 conservative congregations joined the Confessing Church Movement within two months

In 2006 a half-dozen Presbyterian ministers across the nation face disciplinary action for marrying same-sex couples

In 2007 the church put a minister on trial for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women

Two dozen congregations have left the denomination since 2006



Positions and Events in Other Faiths

In 1972 the United Church of Christ became the first major Christian denomination to ordain an openly gay minister. The United Church of Christ affirmed homosexual ordination in 1983 and local ministers are free to perform rites as they choose.

In 2001, church officials said more than 300 congregations had quietly left the denomination over the previous decade.

In 2005 the United Church of Christ's rule-making body voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so. The vote is not binding on individual churches,

50-75 of the UCC’s 5,725 churches have withdrawn from the denomination.

In 2007 the UCC affirmed equal rights for couples regardless of gender

In 2000 rabbis in Reform Judaism affirmed same sex unions through appropriate Jewish rituals and allowed development of the ceremonies

In 2000 at the church's national meeting a majority of Methodist leaders supported a ban on ordination of gays. Church leaders also retained 1972 language in its doctrine stating that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

In 2001 and 2002 charges against two pastors openly declaring themselves practicing gays were dismissed rather than sent to church trial.

In May, 2000 the United Methodist Church affirmed its 1996 ban on “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions”

In 1999 96 Methodist clergy defied church rules and blessed a homosexual union

In 1999 a Methodist minister was suspended for a year for presiding at a same sex union

The Vatican ruled in 1986 that same sex attraction “must be seen as an objective disorder”

In 2005 Pope Benedict imposed restrictions on homosexuals becoming priests, saying only men who had overcome "transitory" gay tendencies could be ordained.

Within the Catholic Church the Dignity USA movement supports homosexuals

In 1993 Lutheran Church bishops ruled against “an official ceremony by this church for the blessing of a homosexual relationship”

In 2000 the Greater Milwaukee Synod voted to let pastors conduct the blessing of committed same sex relationships

The American Baptist Church policy is that "homosexuality is incompatible with biblical teaching"

In 2006 American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest voted to recommend severing ties with the denomination because it has not disciplined pro-gay congregations

In 1992 the Southern Baptist Convention revised its bylaws so that “affirming, approving, or endorsing in any way the active practice of homosexuality would be deemed not in friendly cooperation with the SBC”

Over the last two decades a number of conservative Christian churches have initiated “change ministries” designed to encourage homosexuals to adopt heterosexual practices. Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell refers to homosexuality as "the last frontier for evangelical ministry."

Other Implications of Liberalizing Marriage Rites

Bisexual couples

Transgender couples

Multiple partner couples