Former Republican Gov. Al Quie says that the decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to serve in the church “threatens the very existence of the church.” Quie, who was Minnesota’s governor from 1979 to 1983, has become outspoken against the inclusion of gay and lesbian pastors and is urging churches to withhold charity payments to the ELCA. Others say the church doesn’t force any congregation to have a gay or lesbian pastor; in fact the ELCA specifically says churches have the freedom to make that choice.

In the Star Tribune on Thursday, Quie wrote:

The ELCA leadership certainly did not want congregational members voting on this controversial and unprecedented proposal because the vast majority of us would have opposed the decision. Last September, 91 percent of the members surveyed at a congregational meeting of Hosanna! Lutheran Church of Lakeville, one of Minnesota’s largest ELCA congregations, supported separation from the ELCA. Also, the two largest ELCA congregations in North Dakota voted to stop funding the ELCA.

Not only were the members of the ELCA denied a vote on this controversial proposal, those members do not have the opportunity to directly elect either the presiding bishop or the national church council that theoretically runs the ELCA. No one represents all the laity.

Obie Holmen of the Spirit of a Liberal spells out how the laity actually did have representation.

The truth, and Quie knows this, is that the actions of the ELCA assembly were the results of balloting by over a thousand voting members chosen from around the entire ELCA, elected to serve as voting members by ballot at 65 regional synods, comprised of representatives from each and every congregation of the ELCA.

Ronald A. Nelson also corrected the record for Quie:

What Bob Lee and Al Quie fail to mention in their Jan. 7 letter about the recent decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America about gay and lesbian pastors is that the majority will still rule. That is, no congregation will be forced to call a pastor it deems unfit.

So if Lee’s and Quie’s reading of majority opinions is correct, nothing will change — except that now we whose Bible study dictates another opinion (as in “Love is the fulfilling of the law” — Romans 13:10; and “Do not judge, and you will not be judged” — Luke 6:37) will have an option we have never had in the ELCA on this issue — to follow the Bible as we understand it.

Here’s Quie’s full letter to the Star Tribune:

ELCA AND GAYS
The rank-and-file need to be heard

The leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) turned its back on members of its churches and threatens the very existence of the church by allowing noncelibate pastors in homosexual relationships to be ordained into the ELCA. The ELCA has acted contrary to “the inspired Word of God — the authoritative source and norm of — proclamation, faith and life.”

Most members were caught off-guard when just a few hundred people at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis made this decision last August. There were 4.6 million members of ELCA congregations, and those members did not have a voice in this critical decision. In fact, the ELCA Articles of Incorporation prevent us from voting. Congregations fund the ELCA from members offerings, but members have no voice.

The ELCA leadership certainly did not want congregational members voting on this controversial and unprecedented proposal because the vast majority of us would have opposed the decision. Last September, 91 percent of the members surveyed at a congregational meeting of Hosanna! Lutheran Church of Lakeville, one of Minnesota’s largest ELCA congregations, supported separation from the ELCA. Also, the two largest ELCA congregations in North Dakota voted to stop funding the ELCA.

Not only were the members of the ELCA denied a vote on this controversial proposal, those members do not have the opportunity to directly elect either the presiding bishop or the national church council that theoretically runs the ELCA. No one represents all the laity.

What should ELCA members do?

• Think about our youth. The ELCA decision is a travesty upon our youth.

• Hold a congregational vote on whether the ELCA should permit noncelibate homosexuals to be ordained as pastors.

• Stop all funding to the ELCA.

•Contact Lutheran CORE (www. lutherancore.org).

It’s up to us lay people.

BOB LEE, STAPLES, MINN.,

and Al Quie, Minnetonka