While Maine is set to vote on whether to preserve marriage equality a week from Tuesday, new strides are being made on the other side of the Atlantic:
The Lutheran Church of Sweden - the country's largest - is to conduct same-sex marriages from next month.While it is interesting in its own right that a church of this size -- and one which until 2000 was Sweden's state church -- would make such a move, the repercussions of this will not be limited to Swedes or even to Lutherans. Due to the Porvoo Communion, the Church of Sweden is in full communion with a large number of other European churches, including the 80-million-member Church of England. Among other things, "full communion" includes mutual recognition of sacraments, including marriage.
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Sweden's government introduced a new law in May allowing gay couples the same marriage rights as heterosexuals.
Three-quarters of Swedes are members of the Lutheran church, though church attendance is low.
This poses a dilemma for the Anglican Communion's leader, Rowan Williams. The issue of homosexuality has been splitting the Communion for years now, with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. taking a more liberal stance resisted by developing nations. Williams has tried to assuage the Communion's more conservative elements by blocking the appointment of an openly gay bishop in England and opposing ecclesiastical recognition of same-sex unions. It is unclear how he will deal with the Church of Sweden's decision. If he declines to recognize same-sex marriages performed by a full communion partner, he puts that communion in jeopardy. If he decides to recognize them, however, he both contradicts himself and pushes conservative Anglican churches closer to schism.
I do not begrudge Williams for trying to keep conservative churches within the Anglican fold, especially given that the most anti-gay churches have also seen the most growth in attendance. That said, his obligation to both his communion partners in Sweden and his LGBT members ought to take precedence over a desire to grow the church at any cost.
--Dylan Matthews
