NATIONAL BRIEFING

Leaders of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination agreed to disagree on homosexuality, endorsing an official statement on human sexuality that says there’s room in the church for differing views.

Delegates to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s nationwide assembly in Minneapolis approved a “social statement on human sexuality.” The vote was a prelude to a bigger debate Friday, when delegates will tackle a proposal that would allow individual congregations to hire people in committed same-sex relationships as clergy.