Lutherans Go Gender-Neutral for Worship
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gave the green light to a new prayer and hymnal book that would give more options for contemporary worship and less emphasis on the masculine images of God.
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005
Posted: 5:07:42PM EST

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gave the green light to a new prayer and hymnal book that would give more options for contemporary worship and less emphasis on the masculine images of God.

During the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Fla., delegates approved 740 -250 to develop the hymnal, which is due in October 2006.

The hymnal was one of several controversial topics tackled at this year’s assembly, which ended last Sunday, but was overshadowed by the louder debate over homosexual ordinations. Nonetheless, conservatives had warned about the gender-neutral text of the hymnal, and had rallied against it even before going into the assembly.

Mark Chavez, director of Word Alone Network, explained that the hymnal could be misused in many different ways because of its elimination of the male imagery of God.

“There is a radical feminist agenda behind it,” explained Chavez. “Some of the marriage services could be used for same-sex couples because the new version never instructs a ‘man’ or ‘woman,’ but rather ‘this couple’ and ‘that couple.’ If you believe in homosexual unions, you can use this for that kind of service.”

Story