Do Lutherans believe homosexuality is a sin?

Answer 1

Answer 1: First, you must realize that there are several flavors of Lutherans in the US. The three main ones are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is the largest of the US Lutheran groups. Then there's the second-largest, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LC-MS) (known as "the German Lutherans"). And, finally, there's the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)... which, despite its name, has churches all over the place, not just in Wisconsin.

Do not be misled, though: There are many other -- albeit smaller -- Lutheran groups or bodies out there. The three I've mentioned, here, are just the biggest which, combined, represent the vast majority of US Lutherans.

It's fair to say, also, that I've listed the bodies, here, not only by size, largest to smallest, but also by most liberal to most conservative. The ELCA is, by far, the most liberal of the three; with the LC-MS somewhat more conservative, and WELS extraordinarily more conservative.

Of the three groups I've listed, here, only the most liberal ELCA is -- now, finally -- open to the LGBT community not only in the pews, but also, now, in the pupit. No other Lutheran body -- not the other two I listed, nor any of the many much smaller ones that I didn't, but to which I referred -- is friendly toward homosexuality on pretty much any level. Some actually make members of the LGBT community feel downright unwelcome; I've even heard stories of them being turned away at the door. Others take the "love the sinner, hate the sin" position, and allow members of the LGBT community to become members, and sit in the pews, all the while saying it's in the name of being open and welcoming; but if you ask said LGBT members, they'll, to the last of them, say it certainly doesn't feel very welcoming.

The ELCA is made-up of three smaller bodies which joined together in 1987. The most liberal of them was the old Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and the most conservative of them was the American Lutheran Church (ALC). The AELC was the third body, and fell, socio-politically and theologically, somewhere in between the LCA and the ALC (though, on some subjects, the AELC was actually more liberal than even the LCA... so, go figure).

Some people are surprised to learn that the LCA -- the largest of the three bodies which joined together in 1987 to make-up the ELCA -- actually had a policy of accepting members of the LGBT community in the pulpit as long ago as the early 1960s. The only thing is, though, that LGBT clergy were required to be celibate; they could not be in a same-sex relationship; and same-sex marriage, of course, wasn't even an option back then. Though it was an unspoken policy, they were also expected to not talk about they sexual orientation, if possible.

And even that didn't work-out well, because each of the ELCA's 65 Bishops had pretty much full control of their respective synods, and so could simply refuse to make LGBT clergy -- even ones who followed the rules -- available for a Call. That's how it works in the ELCA: The Bishop gets to decide who even gets to present himself/herself to churches in the synod who are looking for a new pastor. It's very tightly controlled. So a conservative, anti-gay ELCA Bishop who came-up through the more conservative ALC could, if he wanted to, sideline an LGBT pastor, indefinitely. In fact, such is the system that the Bishop could even keep the LGBT pastor in search of a Call from reaching-out to other bishops in other synods.

So, for years, the only way that LGBT clergy in same-sex relationships -- and even some celibate and rule-following LGBT clergy -- could be ordained to Word and Sacrament was via what was called the "Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries" (ELM) group, which validly ordained LGBT Lutheran clergy for placement in ELCA congregations; however, said congregations were often going against the will of their synod Bishops; and even if they weren't (in other words, even if the Bishop supported the ELM-ordained clergy placement), the ELCA's policies back then prohibited ELM-ordained clergy from being on the official ELCA roster (or what the ELCA called "being rostered."

In August of 2009, though, that all changed when the ELCA, at its big churchwide meeting in Minneapolis, voted to allow LGBT clergy, even if they are in a same-sex either relationship or, in states where it's legal, marriages. The move, though, was very contentious and devisive; and a subsequent resolution was passed to make a provision in the ELCA's policies to recognize the conviction of members who believe that this church cannot call or roster people who are in a publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationship.

About 9 months later, though, in April of 2010, the ELCA put an end to all such nonsense and, with little fanfare, finally removed all barriers to LGBT clergy, no matter what. About it, the Rev. Dr. Cindi Love wrote, on the Huffington Post:

"After twenty-five years of deliberation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church Council has abolished its anti-gay policies, effective immediately. Following from discussions at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly last summer, the ELCA will now allow people in same-sex relationships to serve as rostered leaders. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) human beings are no longer considered abominations but blessed church members with full standing. Same-sex partners and families can now fully participate in the ELCA Pension Plan."

At that same April 2012 meeting, the ELCA's churchwide council also authorized a rite to recognize the ministries of LGBT pastors who had been ordained by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM). So they, too, could finally be "rostered."

At that meeting, the new, official ELCA policy on same-sex relationships went from the old 1960s, LCA-style policy, described above, to this:

"An ordained minister who is in a publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationship is expected to live in fidelity to his or her partner, giving expression to sexual intimacy within a publicly accountable relationship that is mutual, chaste, and faithful."

And the policy on sexual matters associated with clergy was also changed to recognize same-sex relationships, to wit:

"...chastity and abstinence are required outside of marriage or outside publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships, and chastity and fidelity are required within marriage or within such same-gender relationships."

Many of those in the ELCA who came-up through the old ALC -- the most conservative of the three bodies which combined in 1987 to form the ELCA -- could not accept any of this. In fact, for years leading-up to the big 2009 meeting, groups within the ELCA such as the now-defunct "Solid Rock Lutherans," or "WordAlone," or "Lutheran Coalition for Renewal" (aka, Lutheran CORE), and others, all lobbied within the Church for socio-political and theological rejection, entirely, of LGBT both members and clergy. They obviously lost that battle. However, many of them have now left the ELCA over it. Lutheran CORE spearheaded the creation of a whole new national church body called "The North American Lutheran Church" (NALC). Though the WordAlone folks never formed a national church like the Lutheran CORE folks did, their national association, the "Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ" (LCMC), comes close to being one.

So, then, the bottom line answer to the question is, generally, yes, most Lutheran bodies believe homosexuality is sinful; however the largest and most liberal of the US Lutheran bodies -- the ELCA -- has now fully embraced it.

Answer 2

well if you mean the luthers yes because they had and beleived the 95 theses.