Homosexuality Is a Divisive Issue Within Churches, Report Says

Often when news reports cast religious groups in a negative light, their leaders cry foul.

But a major ecumenical agency argues in a report issued Thursday that when it comes to homosexuality, the controversy is every bit as serious in reality as it appears in the news.

According to a report from the National Council of Churches, issues of homosexuality “run across the face of American Christianity as a great seismic fault” and may erupt “with little or no warning.”

With the AIDS epidemic sweeping the country and homosexual rights groups demonstrating in streets, homosexuality is an issue of “pressing urgency” for churches, as well as a source of confusion and conflict for members, the report says.

“There are indications within and among our member communions and within the council itself that these issues hold unusual potential for division among us and therefore warrant immediate, careful and prayerful consideration,” the study concludes.

The report was issued during a meeting of the council’s general board in Indianapolis. The committee was charged with exploring the council’s relations with the predominantly homosexual Metropolitan Community Churches.

Citing information supplied by the churches themselves, the report says that intense publicity surrounding internal church debates on homosexuality in recent months is almost certainly not a case of media “overkill.”

The document comes in the wake of intense media coverage this summer and fall on rancor over Christian views on homosexuality. The controversy has divided a number of churches--including some of the country’s most prominent denominations--squarely down the middle.

Major debates mushroomed in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church this year, and all received intense media scrutiny. The debates pitted conservatives who condemn homosexuality in all forms against liberals who say homosexual activity should not be condemned because sexual orientation is influenced by genes.

More than eight major denominational gatherings held during the summer debated issues of sexuality and homosexuality.

This summer’s gatherings underscored an “undercurrent of continuing unrest” about the issues, demonstrated by frequent authorizations for further study, the report notes.

“The AIDS epidemic is of particular note, since it has brought to awareness the large numbers of church persons who are in the homosexual community,” it says.

Discrimination against homosexuals seeking housing, employment or rights to adopt children are other areas of potential concern for churches, the report says.

The committee, which includes two representatives of the Metropolitan Community Churches, did not make specific recommendations on relations with the largely homosexual church.