Norway’s Lutheran Church voted on Monday in favor of new ceremonial language that will allow its pastors to conduct same-sex marriages, bringing it into line with several other mainstream Protestant denominations abroad. Last April the annual conference of the church—to which nearly three-quarters of Norwegians said in 2015 they belonged—backed the principle of same-sex marriages, but did not agree on a wording.
Monday’s decision involved modifying the marriage text to make it gender-neutral, removing the words “bride” and “groom.” The new liturgy will come into effect on Wednesday. In 2015 the French Protestant Church allowed gay marriage blessings, while the U.S. Presbyterian Church approved a change in the wording of its constitution to include same-sex marriage. READ MORE
My line in the sand has always been “if my Pastor starts performing same-sex marriages, I will never step foot in my church again”. What are they thinking?! This is very upsetting. I am a life-long Lutheran.