Sweden’s national Lutheran church will now require new pastors to perform same-sex marriages, after its Church Assembly backed a controversial proposal on Tuesday.
The motion, introduced by Social Democrat Jesper Eneroth, passed with 141 votes in favour and 99 against, with four abstentions.
The reform means that parishes will be required to refuse admission and employment to candidates unwilling to marry same-sex couples, effectively making this a condition for ordination.
Eneroth said he was “very happy” with the result after a decade of work on the issue. “When it finally passed—and with such broad agreement—it was an incredibly good and uplifting feeling.”
Pastor Hans Weichbrodt, a leading figure in the Church of Sweden’s renewal movement Oas, urged members to reject the proposal. He pointed to the Church Assembly’s 2009 statement, issued when same-sex marriage became legal in Sweden, which said a priest’s view on the matter should not affect employment. This, he said, means that “there must be room in the Church for those who firmly believe that marriage was instituted between a man and a woman.”
Another pastor, Johanna Andersson—who had welcomed the introduction of registered partnerships in 1995 and said she had looked forward to blessing them—voiced concern about the ongoing shortage of pastors.
On the one hand, we worry about the shortage of pastors and try, on one end, to lower the requirements for admission. At the same time, we impose new requirements on the other end.
