Scotland’s Gay Marriage Discussion Stirs Controversy
The Scottish government has begun a 14 – week public consultation, running from September to December, on the question of legalizing marriage for gay couples, and is encouraging individuals and groups such as religious organizations to take part.
Catholic church leaders have already begun to criticize the idea. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, in a homily given in Edinburgh, said, “the view of the Church is clear. No government can re – write human nature: the family and marriage existed before the state and are built on the union between a man and a woman.”
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, said the government “[tends] towards the view that religious ceremonies for civil partnerships should no longer be prohibited and that same – sex marriage should be introduced so that same – sex couples have the option of getting married if that is how they wish to demonstrate their commitment to one another.”
“What we have here is the start of a serious church – state confrontation,” said Harry Reid, a former editor of Scotland’s The Herald and author of The Reformation: The Dangerous Birth of the Modern World.
“And there are divisions in the Church of Scotland following plans to ordain gay men as ministers. Whole congregations are threatening to break away later this year and form their own groups,” said Reid. ¦ —ENI
PC(USA) Ordains First Gay Minister
The Presbyterian Church (USA) ordained its first openly gay minister in October in Wisconsin, three months after lifting its ban on homosexual clergy.
Scott Anderson, 56, was ordained minister at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in front of a jubilant congregation.
“It was a big day for me and also for the Presbyterian Church,” said Anderson.
Anderson, who years ago had been rejected by members of his congregation at the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, California, left the ministry in 1990. He has been with his partner, Ian MacAllister, for 20 years. Anderson began the process of returning to the ministry five years ago. In July, the Presbyterian Church changed its constitution to allow openly gay and lesbian ministers. ¦ —Reuters
Why Youth Leave Church
A five – year project headed by the Barna Group exploring the opportunities and challenges of faith development among American teens and young adults has determined six significant reasons why nearly three out of every five young Christians (59 per cent) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.
Reason #1: Churches seem over – protective. Young adults today express a desire for their faith to connect to the world they live in. However, one – quarter of 18 – to 29 – year – olds said, “Christians demonize everything outside of the church,” while 22 per cent said “church [is] ignoring the problems of the real world.”
Reason #2: Young peoples’s experience of Christianity is shallow.
One – third of teens and twentysomethings said, “church is boring,” one – quarter said, “faith is not relevant to my career or interests,” and one – fifth said, “God seems missing from my experience of church.”
Reason #3: Churches come across as antagonistic to science. The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35 per cent), while three out of 10 young adults feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in.”
Reason #4: Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic and judgmental. One of the significant tensions for many young believers is how to live up to the church’s expectations of chastity and sexual purity in this culture. Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non – Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality.
Reason #5: They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
Today’s youth and young adults are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other. Three out of 10 young Christians (29 per cent) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths.”
Reason #6: The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.
Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith.”
David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, a research firm that focuses on church and Christianity, explained that “… most churches work best for ‘traditional’ young adults—those whose life journeys and life questions are normal and conventional. But most young adults no longer follow the typical path of leaving home, getting an education, finding a job, getting married and having kids—all before the age of 30.
“Consequently, churches are not prepared to handle the ‘new normal.’ … The world for young adults is changing in significant ways, such as their access to the world and worldviews via technology, their alienation from various institutions, and their skepticism toward external sources of authority, including Christianity and the Bible.” ¦ —Barna Group
