After SCOTUS ruling, some major faith groups still face LGBTQ battles

People march with a United Methodist Churches banner in the Capital Pride Parade 2017 in Washington, D.C. Creative Commons photo by S. Pakhrin.

(OPINION) In a closely watched case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that gay and transgender employees are now included under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars job discrimination based upon “sex.” With the high court’s prior edict legalizing same-sex marriage, that settles much of secular law except for ongoing disputes between LGBTQ rights and religious liberty, which journalists should be prepared to cover for some time to come.

The doctrines within most American religious groups are also settled. Many “mainline” and liberal Protestant churches, Jewish organizations, Unitarian Universalists and others are committed to same-sex weddings and clergy ordinations. Meanwhile, there’s no prospect sexual traditionalism will be abandoned by e.g. Islam, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Southern Baptist Convention and other evangelical groups, the Church of God in Christ (the largest African-American body), Orthodox Judaism or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But three divided Protestant denominations have showdowns ahead, all postponed from this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The media have widely reported on the impending massive split in the United Methodist Church. Legislation on this is expected from a general conference August 29–September 7, 2021 (mark your calendars).

Any day now, the venerable Reformed Church in America will receive a panel’s plan to resolve its “soul-sapping conflict” at next June’s General Synod. Proposals have included continuation of the ambiguous status quo, radical reorganization perhaps with three loosely affiliated entities or outright “graceful separation” based upon sexual belief. Watch for news breaks here.

The pacifist Church of the Brethren is further along on the schism path. There may be no way the annual conference June 30–July 4, 2021, can prevent a breakaway, since a conservative “Covenant Brethren Church” began operating last year, per these sources: Church of the Brethren General Secretary David Steele, CBC chair Grover Duling and the liberal caucus Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests.

Then there’s the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, which just released a 60-page committee report on human sexuality to come before a general assembly June 29–July 2, 2021. The committee recommends no formal legislation, proposes no basic change and assumes the historic understanding of what the Bible teaches without wrestling with contrary modern interpretations. Nonetheless, this is a newsworthy document from a denomination that does have some important, strategically located congregations across the nation.

Reporters will spot various newsworthy angles. For one, the report says candidly that even this resolutely traditionalist church faces “polarities” on LGBT matters, which may come as a surprise. Click here for some additional background via the Juicy Ecumenism weblog.

The committee’s pastoral sensitivity seems likely to arch some eyebrows. It warns against the view that gays “cannot be real Christians” unless they totally eradicate same-sex attraction and says programs like “reparative therapy” should not “over-promise” on this. Rather, Christians should be helped to gradually overcome “homosexual temptation.” The committee thinks people involved in “this sin struggle” should not be automatically barred from church leadership posts.

The most interesting section ponders how to present the traditional religious belief amid an increasingly hostile culture. The committee acknowledges that “the powerful cultural narrative that orthodox Christian belief is toxic for hurting and struggling people” can “discredit the church.”

The transgender question is still new turf for some religious bodies. This report wants the church to “minister compassionately to those who are sincerely confused and disturbed by their internal sense of gender identity” but help them “live in accordance with their biological sex.”

The denomination brought out its A team for the effort.

The committee was chaired by Bryan Chapell, longtime leader of the PCA’s Covenant Theological Seminary in Missouri, and includes Derek Halvorson, president of its Covenant College in Georgia and its most celebrated pastor, Tim Keller (currently battling pancreatic cancer), whose New York City congregation spawned a global church-planting movement. The other members were a North Carolina pastor, the dean of a Missouri day school, and Pennsylvania and Texas laymen who work with those who have unwanted same-sex attraction.

Richard Ostling is a former religion reporter for the Associated Press and former correspondent for TIME Magazine. This piece first appeared at Get Religion.