Gay Clergy, Female Clergy, and Divorced Clergy

There was a lot of complaints about the confirmation of the election of a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. Many of those who were upset were also upset when the Episcopalians decided to allow women to become members of the clergy. One interesting issue lost in all of this is the status of divorced clergy. Should a man be able to divorce and remarry but still be a bishop?

This appears to be one of the few rules about who can and cannot be a bishop that is set down in the Bible. A couple of years ago, Rev. Allen H. Brill wrote:

Divorce and remarriage have presented no barrier to serving as clergy in the ECUSA even though 1 Timothy limits the office of the ministry to those who are the “husband of one wife.” While it has been argued that this means “one wife at a time,” reading this verse with Jesus’ prohibition against divorce and remarriage in Mark, Luke, and even the qualified one in Matthew makes that interpretation highly unlikely. A strict interpretation of scripture would classify most if not all of those dozen or so divorced and remarried ECUSA bishops as adulterers.

What I find most interesting is how even conservative denominations that do not ordain women allow for male clergy to divorce, remarry and continue to serve. The Christian Episcopal Church of Canada, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Southern Baptist Convention are but three examples. Is the real issue preserving the authority of scripture or the patriarchy?

This is a very interesting point. Men can divorce and remarry without a problem, but women and gay men are not allowed? Admitting divorced men to the clergy requires creative re-interpretation of the Bible, but such re-interpretation is rejected by the conservatives who object to female and gay clergy. So why don't they also object to divorced clergy?

As Brill suggests, perhaps the reason is to maintain a patriarchal dominance of the clergy. Remarried and divorced men are still "real" men who can maintain male control of clerical authority. Women and gay men, however, threaten traditional gender and sex roles. If that's what conservatives really opposing, it would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

 

Gay Rights & Gay Marriage:

• Marriage: Religious Rite or Civil Right?
• Gay Rights & Marriage News
• Gay Rights Polls
• Books On Gays, Homosexuality
• Gay Rights & Marriage Timeline
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality
• Catholicism & Homosexuality

 

Arguments Against Gay Marriage:

• What's The Point of Marriage, Gay or Straight?
• Definition of Marriage in 1886
• What is a Marriage Between a Man and a Woman?
• Marriage is for Raising Children?
• Will Gay Marriage Undermine the Institution of Marriage?
• Are Gay Couples are Unnatural?
• Marriage is Sacred and a Sacrament?