Tidings

DEBATE ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

The National Council of Churches, a loose alliance of 32 Protestant and Orthodox denominations, has been attacked recently for supporting leftist causes in the U.S. and abroad. Last week the N.C.C. had another explosive issue on its hands: homosexuality. Meeting in San Francisco, the 207 delegates on the N.C.C.'s governing board considered an application for membership by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, most of whose 27,000 parishioners are gay.

The widespread Christian belief that homosexual acts are sinful is based on explicit statements in the Bible, including the passage from Leviticus: "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination." But the Metropolitan Community Church teaches that homosexuality is "a gift from God" and that there is nothing immoral about gay relationships. The church also conducts rites of "holy union" for gay couples, as well as "holy matrimony" for heterosexual couples.

Last week's debate was the first full-dress N.C.C. discussion of the issue. There have been hints that some denominations might quit the council if Metropolitan was admitted. During the session, a Greek Orthodox spokesman called acceptance unthinkable. A delegate from the African Methodist Episcopal Church called homosexuality "an aberration and perversion." Although the United Methodist Church officially finds homosexual relationships "incompatible with Christian teaching," Theologian Roy Sano, representing the denomination's liberal wing, said the N.C.C. should "fear for its soul" if it spurned the gay church.

After considering the arguments, the N.C.C. delegates will reconvene in November to vote on the Metropolitan application. If that passes, a second ballot by the delegates, and then by each denomination in the N.C.C., will occur in May 1984. From the tenor of last week's debate, the homosexual church has little chance of being accepted.

CONCERN FOR GALILEO

One of the great embarrassments in Roman Catholic Church history is the condemnation of Italian Astronomer Galileo Galilei by the Holy Office as "vehemently suspected of heresy." His crime: writing in defense of Copernicus' hypothesis that the earth revolves around the sun. In 1616 the Holy Office had proclaimed the Copernican view "formally heretical, inasmuch as it expressly contradicts the doctrines of Holy Scripture in many places, both according to their literal meaning" and the common interpretation of the early Church Fathers. The head of the Holy Office, which was responsible for seeking out heresy, ordered Galileo not to disseminate his views, and the astronomer agreed. Nonetheless, his 1632 masterwork, Dialogue on the Two Great World Systems, pursued the theory. The Holy Office condemned Galileo and kept him under house arrest during his final years.

Last week John Paul II virtually admitted that the church had made a major mistake. In 1980 the Pope had set up a special commission composed of eight scientists, historians and theologians to review the evidence. He showed his sympathy for Galileo in a speech to a Rome meeting of 200 leading scientists, who were honoring the 350th anniversary of the publication of the Dialogue.

"The church's experience during the Galileo affair and after it had led to a more mature attitude toward, a more accurate grasp of, its proper authority," said the Pope. "The church learns by experience and reflection, and it now understands better the meaning that must be given to freedom of research. We recognize that [Galileo] suffered from certain bodies of the church." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.