Contact: Rev. CJ Conner, 651-373-9137
MEDIA ADVISORY, May 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- It seems like a hoax, but an email sent to the Luther Seminary students who signed on to support the full inclusion of practicing gay pastors and instituting gay marriage shows that there are more unanswered questions as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America moves full steam ahead on their homosexuality votes.
Many Luther Seminary students in Saint Paul, MN joined hundreds of seminarians across the country to support the ELCA's sexuality task force recommendations. The document called, "ELCA Seminarian Response to Ministry Recommendations (http://elcaseminarianresponse.weebly.com/)," was penned by students at Bishop Mark Hanson's alma mater in New York City, Union Theological Seminary. In support of the ordination of practicing homosexual preachers they wrote,
"Because of the current policy, gay and lesbian persons ignore calls to ministry, candidates feel compelled to lie about their sexuality, mentors are forced out of the church, and candidates leave the ELCA for more inclusive denominations. The tragedy of these events is weakening the integrity of the church."
The "author" of the letter to the pro-GLBT students writes,
"I want to thank all of you at Luther Seminary for the courageous stand you have taken on behalf of LGBT people everywhere, and for advancing human rights. I will be starting in the M.Div. program at Luther in the Fall. I am in a committed monogamous and long term relationship with my soul mate- together for a year and a half now, and we hope to be married in Iowa or hopefully Minnesota when he turns 18 in a couple years." – signed Gerald P Thomas
One future ELCA pastor said,
"Welcome to Luther! You will find many wonderful, gracious, supportive, and loving people here among the faculty and friends you will make. Many of the newer staff hired in the last couple of years (Prof. Sharen, Lange, and Lewis are ones I can speak for) are supportive of GLBT issues. There are also many seasoned professors who you can place your confidence in; take Pent. from Dr. Fretheim- he was a major voice in the ELCA sexuality study and his brother is gay. If you didn't know that you would find him to be one of our best prof. anyways. Dr. Ramsey is also great."
And another replied to "Gerald,"
"i am the out, queer, mdiv that made it through candidacy in NW MN synod. i would be happy to meet for coffee or something."
Another student wrote back,
"I was glad to receive your e-mail and I'm glad that you are following through on your call, even though you might face adversity! I have to be honest--there is support for the GLBT movement on campus, but there is also a lot of animosity. People are quite polarized on the issue, but I think if you find your niche of comfort with people who will love and accept you, and have courage, you will make it through...
"Some professors who will be Allies: Dr. Fretheim (you should take Pentateuch with him for sure);
"Dr. Frederickson (Greek and New Testament--he's all about erotic love and other interesting forms of love in his research area);
"Henrich (Greek and New Testament)
"(name redacted)--I secretly wonder sometimes if she might be gay, but in any case she's very smart and a good listener)
"Diane Jacobson (Old Testament--she grew up Jewish and has some really unique interpretations of the Bible, and is quite liberal)
"I would avoid all the Word Alone people: Drs. Paulson, Haemig, Grindal, Koester, Rolf Jacobson, Sundberg, and Keifert. I think any and all of them could attempt to undermine your candidacy approval."
Another wrote,
"One does need to be careful with openness at Luther unfortunately. There are several professors who are protective of the "traditions." But there are several who I think would be helpful and open: Fretheim and Frederickson come to my mind immediately."
Out of a dozen responses, one student wrote,
"It is obvious your email is a hoax. I'm sure you recall the pedophilia case in Texas that was decided against a certain "Gerald P Thomas" in January, 2008 (www.nacba.net/Article/elca_lawsuit.htm)... I am angry and concerned that you have gathered all of our private email addresses... I sincerely hope that you are not a member of the seminary community who has such a distorted view of human relationships that you believe that this is an appropriate approach to Christian dialogue."
These student responses raise many more alarming questions about the state of ELCA seminaries in America and their ability to prevent pedophiles from entering the ministry. It seems that no matter what the outcome of the sexuality vote is, the die is cast in the ultra liberal ELCA for at least the next generation of pastors.
Rev. CJ Conner is author of "Jesus and the Culture Wars: Reclaiming the Lord's Prayer"
