Two big stories from the Lutheran Church:
A task force drafting a statement on sexuality for the nation’s largest Lutheran group said Thursday that the church should continue defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
However, the panel did not condemn same-gender relationships. The committee expressed regret that historic Lutheran teachings have been used to hurt gays and lesbians, and acknowledged that some congregations already accept same-sex couples.
Rachel Zoll of AP has it here.
The Draft Statement is here in pdf.
For background on the statement from ELCA click here.
Meanwhile:
Facing a likely vote on the ordination of gays at the 2009 national convention, which will be held in Minneapolis, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) issued a draft Thursday of its Statement on Human Sexuality. Seven years in the making, the report does not take a specific stand on gay ordination — that will come in a position paper expected to be released about a year from now — but it does lay the groundwork for the impending debate.
Jeff Strickler of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has the story.