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(Washington) A national umbrella group for
LGBT welcoming Protestant church programs is joining forces with the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The announcement was made Monday at a join press
conference in Washington of the NGLTF and the Institute for Welcoming Resources.
"The more than 1 million individuals
in the 1,300 congregations supported by IWR are some of our movement's most
valuable allies in the fight to reclaim 'moral values' from those who try to
justify anti-gay bigotry as 'deeply held religious beliefs,'" Task Force
Executive Director Matt Foreman told reporters.
IWR works with the welcoming church movement in
seven mainline Protestant denominations: the Presbyterian Church USA, United
Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, Community of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the
American Baptist Churches.
Through the movement, congregations decide —
through a formal vote — to offer an unconditional welcome to people of all
sexual orientations and gender identities and their families.
With new resources and expertise resulting from
the merging of operations IWR expects to place faith-based field organizers
across denominations in strategic locations around the country.
"Those of us in the welcoming church
movement see it as our job to proudly claim the witness and language of our
faith traditions," said the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, executive officer of IWR.
"Unfortunately for those of us who are
Christian, some of that language has been hijacked by the radical right and used
to attack and abuse LGBT folk. We are determined to change that." Voelkel,
a minister in the United Church of Christ, will continue to lead the IWR program
as a member of the Task Force staff.
The IWR will produce new resources for welcoming
congregations, seminaries and other settings; train clergy and lay leaders to
work for LGBT equality; and exchange lessons learned between faith-based
organizing in the mainline Protestant churches.
Working with faith leaders is not new for the
Task Force, Foreman said.
Since 1998, the Task Force has convened the
National Religious Leadership Roundtable, an interfaith collaboration of more
than 40 faith organizations from across the spectrum of American religious
traditions. National Religious Leadership Roundtable members act as
spokespeople, educators and citizen advocates in order to change the public
dialogue on religion and LGBT issues.
In addition to the denominations represented in
the IWR, the National Religious Leadership Roundtable includes Episcopal,
Metropolitan Community Church, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Missionary
Baptist, Unitarian, Quaker, Mormon, Seventh-Day Adventist, Eastern Orthodox and
spiritualist representation.
©365Gay.com 2006
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