The Perplexing Question

"Neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor homosexuals ... will inherit the Kingdom of God," wrote St. Paul. That attitude has survived the centuries. Christians have been grudging in their acceptance of homosexuals in their congregations, if indeed they acknowledge them at all. This tepid welcome has not deterred gay activists from pressing for recognition and even for ordination, issues that sparked long debates at two recent national Protestant Church assemblies.

Last week the gays received a setback, when the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in Baltimore voted that it would be "injudicious if not improper" to ordain homosexuals. After a two-hour session the church reaffirmed its position that "the practice of homosexuality is a sin." However, the delegates also voted to undertake a study of the "perplexing" question of homosexuality, leaving the door open a crack for gays in the future. Said the final report: "We do not believe that a position taken in any period sets forth the final understanding of His Word to the Church."

A firmer stance was adopted by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church meeting in Portland, Ore., last month. Strong support for a conservative position resulted in a refusal to fund a broad study on sexuality and a toughening of an official 1972 Methodist position on homosexuality. The statement that the church did "not recommend" marriage between people of the same sex was changed to "not recognize."

A New Climate. Among the major denominations only the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church have demonstrated some degree of acceptance for the ordination of homosexuals. In 1972 the Northern California Conference of the United Church of Christ ordained the first avowed gay to the ministry of an established denomination. The Episcopal Church has one outspokenly lesbian deacon, Ellen Barrett. 30, ordained last December. Said Paul Moore Jr., the Bishop of New York, after Barrett's ordination: "Historically many of the finest clergy in our church have had this personality structure, but only recently has the social climate made it possible for some to be open about it."

Barrett, who hopes to become an Episcopal priest, believes that St. Paul's condemnation of "dishonorable passions," referred to homosexual acts rather than to a whole way of life. She says, "Paul wouldn't understand that a person could grow up gay." Neither, it seems, can most U.S. Protestants, who seem unlikely to accept homosexual leadership in their churches soon.

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