The Lutheran Church of Norway, Catholic Church of Germany Both Favor Gay Marriage

Sometimes I see hope for worldwide Christianity. When a large portion of the religious people in a country are tuned in to its culture one can see positive change. Norway's Lutheran church is a good example. Polls show clergy would welcome unmarried gay colleagues and gay marriages. One Bishop in the denomination has been doing gay marriages for some years. We have talked here about Germany's Archbishop who favors clergy performing gay marriages.

We need to review the economics of churches in Europe to help understand what is going on there. The government collects a levy for churches and rebates it to the church. For the government to provide as service like this and denominations to work with the government to receive its money, both need political support. Taking positions not acceptable to a broad swath of voters make the revenue stream vulnerable. 

Even though churches in the U.S. do not have this sweetheart money deal, I would think in the long term the same forces are at play. When enough people think a denomination is being cruel and mean some money will stop flowing.

In the discussion after the link article someone made the point that Christianity will do better if it fits the contemporary culture. Predictably, another poster quoted a piece from the Bible claiming this clearly put gay marriage in the sin category. Putting out a piece of scripture used to be the end of an argument. Today it is only the beginning. 

There is no agreement as to what the Bible says about gay marriage. Literalists can scream to the skies they are right it is condemned but they will never win over others who hold equal credentials. In a country like Norway, screaming literalists apparently have been buried in an avalanche of rational discussion and rationality has carried the day.

Hats off to those in the Church of Norway who express support for gay marriage.