Free Republic

A Lutheran minister with Minnesota ties is one of the first two clergy to take advantage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) vote to roster gay preachers. The Rev. Darin Easler, currently working as a chaplain and grief counselor in an Atlanta hospice, served as a minister in the ELCA's Southeastern Minnesota Synod until 2003, which is when he announced that he's gay. He voluntarily removed himself from the ELCA roster -- its official list of ministers -- and was granted ministerial status by the United Church of Christ, which does not have a policy barring gays. His...

ATLANTA -- The message was clear as congregants filed out of St. John's Lutheran Church sanctuary on Sunday: The Rev. Bradley Schmeling isn't going anywhere. With hugs and cheers, members of Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church celebrated Schmeling, the pastor who has been at the center of a denomination-wide battle over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's treatment of gay clergy. The show of support came a day after the national assembly of the ELCA in Chicago urged bishops to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate a celibacy rule, but fell short of permitting ordained gays churchwide. Schmeling...

ATLANTA - The tattered cloth scraps started arriving at St. John's Lutheran Church shortly after the Rev. Bradley Schmeling took his stand against the church hierarchy, each with an embroidered or drawn message of support. "God is with you. Make fire in Atlanta," reads one of the hundreds of prayer cloths. "All love is holy," says another. Schmeling's refusal last year to resign after telling a church bishop he was in a gay relationship has earned him quite a following. More than 1,000 supporters joined an online prayer vigil to back Schmeling while a disciplinary committee was making its decision...

Orlando assembly questions revisited by Betsy Carlson, editor If ELCA members thought the questions of blessing same-sex relationships or ordaining practicing homosexuals as pastors had been decided at the 2005 churchwide assembly, and that those questions--and sexuality in general--weren't going to come up at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly because voting on a proposed social statement on sexuality was delayed until 2009, they were wrong. Whether by accident or plan, those two disputes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have recently received big pushes that likely will bring them before the 2007 assembly in Chicago in August. The 2005 churchwide...

ELCA NEWS SERVICE February 8, 2007 ELCA Discipline Hearing Committee Rules in Atlanta Case 07-019-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A discipline hearing committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) ruled Feb. 7 that the Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling be removed from the ELCA clergy roster effective Aug. 15, 2007. Schmeling, who reported to his bishop that he is in a committed relationship with another man, is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Atlanta. The committee met Jan. 18-24 in closed session in Atlanta to hear the case. Seven of the 12 members of the discipline hearing committee voted to...

ATLANTA - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said Thursday it is removing from the clergy a gay minister who announced he has a partner. The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, who has led Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church since 2000, will be removed from the roster effective Aug. 15, according to a report from the ELCA's disciplinary committee. Schmeling, who was open about his sexuality when he took the job, announced last year he had found a lifelong companion. Bishop Ronald Warren asked the 44-year-old pastor to resign, but Schmeling refused. Warren then began disciplinary proceedings last year against Schmeling for violating...

Boxing Legend Max Schmeling Dies at 99 Friday, February 04, 2005 FRANKFURT, Germany — German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling (search), whose bouts against American Joe Louis (search) set off a propaganda war between the Nazi regime and the United States on the eve of World War II, has died at age 99. The former world champion, one of Germany's biggest sports idols, died Wednesday at his home in Hollenstedt, according to his foundation in Hamburg. No cause of death was given. Schmeling's extraordinary career will be remembered for his two fights with Louis, which produced a lasting bond between the...