Finnish state church sanctions prayer for gay

HELSINKI (AFP) - After years of debate, Finland's state church took a step
towards accepting gay relationships with an announcement Friday it would
create a "prayer moment" for registered partnerships.

"The proposal offers a positive opportunity to minister to church members
who are sexual minorities," the General Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church's highest administrative body, said in a statement.

The General Synod must now draw up a formula for a prayer that walks a fine
doctrinal line, observers said.

Lutheran ministers will have the choice of performing the prayer with gay
couples in a church, but it will not actually constitute a church's blessing
of the union itself, synod spokesman Marko Kailasmaa told AFP.

The decision was approved, not without conflict, by the synod's
representatives of ministers and bishops in a vote of 78 for and 30 against.

The vote can be seen as a concession of sorts to a groundswell of popular
support within the church community for Christian gays, lesbians and
bisexuals.

"A prayer moment is part of pastoral care ... It's not an official
sacrament, but you can't say that a prayer is less important," Kailasmaa
said.

The Church has been under pressure since a televised debate on gay marriage
hosted by Finland's public broadcaster YLE featured church officials arguing
that gay relationships were contrary to Biblical teachings and the values of
the Church.

Although these opinions were in line with long-held Church doctrine, the
publicity of the debate sparked a mass exodus, with more than 40,000
registered Lutherans quitting the church in the month following the debate.

"This proposal is not a reaction to the hullabaloo in the media. The Church
has debated the issue since 2002, when registered partnerships became
possible," Kailasmaa said.