Lutherans. In 1993 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed an extensive and detailed statement on human sexuality that called for celibacy in singleness and fidelity in marriage. It also said that homosexuality was like any kind of sexuality; it was an integral part of one's identity. Without endorsing homosexual behavior, the statement avoided referring to it as either choice or sin, and concluded, "We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and unite us in Christ as we continue to deliberate on those questions and issues of homosexuality on which we are presently divided. In 1996 the ELCA Church Council adopted A Message on Sexuality: Some Common Convictions. In order to avoid the controversy that any such discussions inevitably raised, the statement did not address ethical questions related to homosexuality. In August 1999 the ELCA issued a guide for congregations, Talking Together as Christians about Homosexuality . The introduction acknowledged, "When the ELCA attempted to set forth its understanding of human sexuality in a social statement in 1993, it became clear that, on the topic of homosexuality, though the inherited tradition continues to guide the consciences of many people, it does not express for others an adequate understanding of the Christian life in light of the gospel and human experiences." The guide reflected the lack of consensus among Lutherans on the issue without attempting an authoritative statement. Gilbert Meilaender Jr., a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor and Christian ethicist, contended that "By turning against the created meaning of our humanity as male and female, homosexual behavior claims the freedom to give our own meaning to life and thereby symbolically enacts a rejection of God's will for creation." Yet, Paul Thomas Jersild, a theologian and ethicist at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, argued, "As a Christian community we need to move away from the kind of rational, universal thinking about human sexuality that coerces everyone into the same heterosexual mold, often with great human cost. We should be more concerned to address a people's humanity than their sexuality and to understand their sexuality as much more than genital activity."

more evidence of scientific hostility to religion; others reacted with relief, as the new information was seen as a means of offsetting the biblical statements on homosexuality.

Sacraments. In 1998 the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church stated that same-sex marriages were not endorsed by the Church and that pastors who presided over such ceremonies could suffer the loss of their clerical status. American Episcopalians were forced to deal directly with the issue when Bishop John Shelby Spong of Newark , New Jersey, presented "A Statement in Koinonia" to the 1994 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. He argued that, whatever one's sexual orientation, sexuality is itself morally neutral, and nothing in Scripture prevents a homosexual relationship from being any less holy than a heterosexual one. Thus, homosexuals "who choose to live out their sexual orientation in a partnership that is marked by faithfulness and life-giving holiness" should not be excluded from the ordained ministry. Spong's statement revealed the depths of the division over homosexuality in American churches. Though Spong was wid

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