Lutheran Church gives green light to gay weddings

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*False Churches, False Brethren, False Gospels

Lutheran Church gives green light to gay weddings*

From correspondents in Stockholm

December 13, 2007 04:59am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

SWEDEN'S Lutheran Church said it is in favour of allowing same-sex
couples to wed in church but has recommended that the term "marriage" be
reserved for heterosexual unions.

The position of the Church, which has 7.2 million members out of a
population of 9.1 million, had been solicited by the government as it
prepares a bill on a new "gender neutral" marriage law that it hopes to
present to parliament early next year.

"Marriage and (same-sex) partnerships are equivalent forms of unions.
Therefore the Church of Sweden's central board says yes to the proposal
to join the legislation for marriages and partnerships into a single
law," the Church said.

"According to the Church of Sweden's board the word 'marriage' should
however only be used for the relationship between a woman and a man," it
said.

Sweden has since 1995 allowed gays and lesbians the right to civil
unions, granting them the same legal status as married couples.

But gay and lesbian organisations have long been pushing for the last
distinction between heterosexual marriages and homosexual unions to be
eliminated.

Sweden's current law from 1987 defines marriage as being between a man
and a woman. The government has proposed that the new law strike any
reference to gender.

Archbishop Anders Wejryd said that "there were different opinions on the
board, but there was a large majority who felt that the word marriage
should only be used for man/woman relationships".

The Church's position in effect rejects the idea of a gender neutral
law, since it wants the term "marriage" to apply only to heterosexual
unions. But it opens the door for same-sex couples to wed in church.

While heterosexuals can currently marry in either a civil ceremony or a
church ceremony in Sweden, homosexuals are only allowed to register
their partnerships in a civil ceremony.

If the new legislation is adopted, Sweden, already a pioneer in giving
same-sex couples the right to adopt children, would become the first
country in the world to allow gays to marry within a major Church.

The Lutheran Church, which was separated from the state in 2000, has
since January 2007 offered gays a religious blessing of their union.