I have a friend who is an ELCA pastor whose son was definitely influenced into the homosexual life style by a homosexual pastor in Iowa when he was a youth. Rather than help young people overcome their tempatations toward this particularly evil [STANDARD DISCLAIMER: yes, I know, there is evil of all kinds, we are all sinners, etc.].
When the pastor and a couple of his colleagues attempted to speak out openly against homosexuality in their Synod they were, quite literally, booed, hissed and shouted down at Synod gatherings.
The ELCA has made its choice to throw its hat into the ring of the homosexual agenda in this country and in liberal protestantism.
The consequences will continue to unfold in the next several years.
Already there have been devastating financial consequences. My sources have informed me that at the ELCA headquarters there is generally a sense of shock and surprise at just how drastically the finances are headed in a downward spiral.
And the numbers of congregations leaving are increasing.
Many congregations may choose simply to think they can isolate/insulate themselves from the ELCA's directions, and thus, they will just quietly stop supporting the national church body's efforts and initiatives and put their money where they believe it will be used more responsibly.
***
GJ - McCain has a good post above.
When I challenged the Lavender Mafia with a resolution, just before leaving the LCA in 1987, one pastor's wife looked at me as if I were the hunter who shot Bambi's mother, but there was no hissing or booing. My resolution at the Michigan Synod (Lower Peninsula) got very few votes, even fewer than than my pro-life resolution. In those days, one person could bring a resolution to the floor and have it voted upon.
I heard a couple of comments. One pastor said that people like me "put a woman in Hell" with such comments. I said, "I think God is directly involved in that decision, not me." One pastor-friend called me a "moral crusader" in talking to some others. I said, walking by, "That's better than being a crusader for sodomy."
All the indications were clear that the Lutherans Concerned group would dominate the future ELCA, including the provision for gay quotas in all the decision-making committees, commissions, and staffing.
ELCA got away with so much for 20+ years that they thought one more step would be accepted. After all, as The Lutheran editor, Ed Trexler, wrote a long time ago, "We have been ordaining homosexuals for years."
WELS and Missouri think they take the high road by looking down on ELCA while working with ELCA. About half of SP Harrison's supporters voted to continue working with ELCA. WELS does it on the sly. The ELS remains in the shadows, saying nothing.
I cannot figure out how WELS can condemn ELCA while their own "College of Ministry" produces and promotes a homosexual parody video, the gay equivalent of blackface. Not long after Party in the MLC appeared on YouTube, another group of MLC boys were filming a transvestite video on the campus.
With straight faces, the Party in the MLC stars told the Wisconsin Lutheran College student paper that they had no idea they were copying a homosexual video. They must still be in a state of shock and surprise that they are being offered free trips to Fire Island.
