Congregation Splits on Gay Issue in Baptism

A dispute over the baptism of a lesbian couple’s son has divided a Lutheran congregation.

The conflict erupted last summer after the Rev. Darin Johnson, associate pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, baptized the boy. Johnson made references to the couple as the boy’s parents, which critics said violated the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s teaching against homosexual activity.

Johnson said members who objected to the baptism disagreed more with the congregation’s view that the Bible is not infallible than its policy on homosexuality.

While conservatives left the congregation, gay members were also upset. A former president of the congregation’s council, herself a lesbian, called the dispute “a modern witch hunt.”

Johnson said the church has gained about as many members as it lost and “our identity as a place that welcomes all people, period, is much stronger.”