LUTHERANS AND EPISCOPALIANS CLASH OVER CONSCIENCE

 COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

May 2, 2025

Lutherans and Anglicans are on opposite sides of the fence over conscience protection for gay marriage.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced this week that they would preserve and protect the consciences of Lutherans who cited scripture and history opposing gay marriage.

Concerns had arisen after the denomination voted in 2022 to revise its 2009 social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, which recognizes a diversity of theological views on sexuality and marriage.

Critics feared the revision process might threaten existing safeguards for those holding traditional beliefs.

However, Ryan P Cumming, program director for Theological Ethics at the ELCA, assured The Christian Post that the "reconsideration is editorial only" and the proposed changes "do not alter the substantive meaning of the 2009 social statement".

He added: "Discussions of human sexuality and marriage naturally raise significant concerns among many throughout the church."

According to the Rev. Roger A Willer, director for ELCA Theological Ethics, phrases such as "husband and wife" have been updated to "both spouses" or "the couple", while references now speak of "sex, gender, and sexuality" rather than "sexual orientation and gender identity". Willer stressed that the original meaning of the sentences remains unchanged from 2009.

The 2009 statement recognized four "conscience-bound" positions on homosexuality, ranging from full opposition to same-sex relationships to full affirmation of same-sex marriage.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND CONSCIENCE

The Episcopal Church has little regard for conscience on gay marriage. The church has incrementally pushed homosexual marriage in the name of being inclusive and diverse. Being inclusive of all people became a core tenet of the Episcopal Church which began allowing same-sex marriage in 2015, days after the United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

The small minority of Episcopal priests who wouldn’t officiate at same-sex weddings were told that they could refer the couple to another priest who would. This often angered a small minority of pansexual laity who complained to the bishop, with the priest being “invited” to move on. Bishops, who in conscience said they would not allow same-sex weddings were at first tolerated and then the wall came down with cries of exclusion and homophobia.

When Resolution B012 on homosexual marriage became canon law, the jig was up.

With bishops Spong, Robinson, aided by Browning, Lee, and Griswold, the die was cast. The consciences of the orthodox be damned. Resolution B012 doomed the consciences of the faithful forever. Former Albany Bishop Bill Love learned the lesson the hard way and was summarily shown the door. His conscience be damned.

Bishop Love rejected B012 and forbade same-sex marriages, arguing that God’s law trumped the General Convention. He was convicted by a church court of breaking his vow of obedience for defying the resolution. He resigned as diocesan bishop before a penalty hearing, and now serves as a bishop in the Anglican Church in North America.

For former Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida, John W. Howe, the issue to leave TEC over the church’s promotion and acceptance of gay marriage was all about conscience. In the end he left.

“I always said I would continue in TEC until or unless it requires of me something that God forbids, or forbids something God requires. Even though I had retired from episcopal responsibilities, when they came after +Bill Love they made it impossible for any bishop to continue upholding/enforcing Biblical standards (God's standards) regarding sexuality and marriage.  I could stay no longer.”

For Howe it was “100% a matter of theology, 100% a matter of conscience.”

But the issue refused to go away. When Charlie Holt, an orthodox priest, was nominated to be the next Bishop of Florida it was a combination of compromise and conscience, but his compromises did not get him over the finish line. The diocese claimed procedural issues and accused him of racism. These issues were smokescreen for the real issue, he would not personally accept homosexual marriage even if he allowed other bishops to perform same. He was dumped not once but twice. It doesn’t pay to cross the pansexualists. At the end of the day, they didn’t give a damn about his conscience. Winning is all that matters. And if it takes a sexual steam roller to do it, so be it.

Lesbian priestess Susan Russell a shrill advocate for the church’s pansexuality put it like this; “We fear that the Reverend Holt’s election is the intended result of a system designed in the exclusion of LGBTQ+ voices and votes. Furthermore, we are forced to wonder whether this culture would continue under Bishop Holt due to his previous offensive comments on gender and sexuality.” It was a lie, but the accommodationist Holt was history.

The Lutherans found a way forward, they preserved the consciences of those who disagreed with the church’s direction.

They understood Martin Luther’s religion is a “religion of conscience” in the most pronounced sense of the word, with all the urgency and the personal character belonging to it. Perhaps Luther’s ringing words, “Here I stand, I can do no other,” a ringing endorsement of personal conscience got their attention. It is hard to say. To sin is to act against conscience.

Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it, said Albert Einstein. We could modify that and say, we should never do anything against conscience even if the church demands it.

The Lutherans understood that, The Episcopal Church does not. Both churches will eventually die. You cannot go against God’s word and survive. What singles out TEC is the destruction and inviolability of conscience. And that in the end is unconscionable.

END