19.10.2010
"The Church acts like a political party, workers' union or non-governmental organisation, no wonder there are consequences"

"Ilkka thinks that YLE's Homoilta panel discussion represented the opinions of the Church through one of its representatives"
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Numerous entities have appealed to the public not to resign from the Church but, in stead, to try to influence the spiritual atmosphere from inside. Therefore, it goes without saying that there will be a record number of voters deciding the faith of the next Church Councils.  

Homoilta clarified many of the discrepancies between the internal activities and discourse inside the Church. The chairwoman of the Finnish Christian Democrats Päivi Räsänen expects that the real resignation wave hasn't even arrived yet. She's right about that much, I believe.

The whole discussion on the issue of Church and gays is far from being over. For instance, Church's attitudes towards single gay parents have not been a matter of public discussion yet. Räsänen, for one, very clearly articulated her opinions on this issue, saying that single parent families lack true family roles and provide broken homes for children. This has been and will most definitely be a deciding issue for many who are thinking about leaving the church.

During the last few days, the Evangelical Lutheran Church has been trying, a bit too comprehensively perhaps, to separate its views and moral judgements from those made by the panellists. Many bishops, theologians and priests have stated that the discriminatory opinions voiced in the program do not represent the official stance of the Church. 

Homoilta presented the views of both the Church and one of its key representatives

Matti Repo, the Bishop of Tampere, represented the voice of the Church in the discussion. Since Repo is such a prominent representative, his public opinions should be in line with the official stance of the Church. If this is not the case, the Archbishop Kari Mäkinen has a huge task in trying to counter the problem of indiscipline within the Church's ranks.

Repo made his opinions clear despite not taking that active a part in the discussion. On the one hand, he said that the Church opposes both gay marriages and gays' right to abortion but, on the other hand, when matters to which the Church has a clear stance on were discussed, Repo claimed that he is not speaking on behalf of the Church. Repo at least should have pointed out that even if the Church refrains from blessing gay marriages, it does offer the possibility of arranging a prayer hour for couples. Also, the fact that Repo did not mention anything about the fundamental ideals of neighbourly love and respect when difficult issues were on the fore-front, speaks volumes about the stance of the Church. The Church should have enough backbone to carry the responsibility for the prevailing ambiguous spiritual atmosphere.

Because the public discourse by the Church has been concentrated on secular matters (such as the elections, cemetery maintenance issues, church taxes and real estate acquisitions) and because the Church acts like a political party, workers' union or an NGO, it is only normal that related problems for them occur. The current mass exodus of its members being no exception.

If the Church tries to maintain its anointed role as the spiritual leader in society, it is worrying that the Church is urging people to remain in its bosom and impact the attitudes from inside through church elections and the church councils. This is definitely a policy that is difficult to legitimise through scripture.