JERI WESTERSON

For The Californian

In retrospect, a local pastor admitted, homosexuality in churches is an emotionally-charged issue.

"Unfortunately, it can cause division," said the Rev. Larry Koger, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church ELCA in Temecula. "We like to focus on things that bring us together. It's a more effective way of doing ministry."

But unlike national surveys, which call homosexuality the No. 1 issue churches will struggle with, nobody in a poll of Southwest County houses of worship cited it as a matter their congregations must accept or battle.

The Californian survey, which was conducted in May, included open-ended questions asking local faith officials what issues mattered to their churches and synagogues. Choices were not offered. Answers ranged from traffic -- a negative -- to growing population -- a benefit.

Two faith leaders mentioned diversity, but when asked to expand on that opinion did not mention such items as gay clergy, salvation for homosexuals, same-sex marriages, etc., which national church survey participants cite.

According to an August 2000 survey conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research, of 549 congregations, respondents said the most volatile issue concerning churches today are gay and lesbian issues. In a similar April 2001 survey, half the respondents put it as the biggest problem facing their denominations.

"It's not that we fail to recognize it," said the Rev. Randy Leisey, pastor of the United Church of the Valley in Murrieta. "But there's a certain amount of tip-toeing around the issue, especially when you are in an area that promotes biblical literalism. But when you have some people that have done some actual biblical scholarship, you begin to understand a different point of view.

"How a congregation perceives authorship of Scriptures has a lot to do with it. If Old Testament is the only basis, then it's open-and-shut. It's more theological than biblical.

"If you're open to the spirit of God, then you come to a different conclusion."

The Old and New Testaments offer differing perspectives, he added.

"Biblical scholarship, like law, is based on precedence," Leisey said. "The Christian perspective has respect for the law. But when you look at the Ten Commandments and the rules in Leviticus, it's easy to come to certain conclusions. When you throw in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you come to different conclusions."

The Rev. James Bischoff of the Church of All Saints in San Marcos said he found it interesting, but not surprising, that homosexuality wasn't cited in the Southwest County survey. Bischoff is a homosexual pastor to an open congregation, and formerly served as a pastor with Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

ELCA policy states that homosexuals can be ordained, provided they remain celibate. When he resigned from ELCA in the fall of 1998, about 80 members of his former congregation joined the Church of All Saints.

"(These are) the kinds of issues that people are aware of but don't want to think about because it makes them uncomfortable," Bischoff said. "They choose not to focus on emotional issues. It doesn't matter how progressive we are. We don't like to be challenged in our thinking."

Bischoff said this issue as something congregations prefer to keep at arm's length and leave it to the denominational level.

"My experience in Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, in the whole Temecula Valley is that it doesn't get discussed," Leisey said. "Nobody has brought it up before them. What a church usually does to deal with it -- though this is not a hard, fast rule -- is condemn it. Then always there is a parent who says 'My child is gay. What about that?' Then we see some back-pedaling."

Leisey said his congregation is more liberal than most in this region.

"There is a recognition in some congregations that there are people prone to homosexual behavior and they are accepted as long as they are celibate," Leisey said. "We're probably at the other end of the spectrum. We stopped worrying about that. We don't have homophobia (in our congregation.)"

Bischoff said he still finds some church attitudes toward homosexuals frustrating.

"I hear, 'The Bible says, the Bible says.' I tell them what I know and they tell me that it's my interpretation," Bischoff said. "Well of course it is. All of Scripture is interpretation. You can read the TV Guide or Reader's Digest and make your own interpretation on what you read."

The Catholic Church takes a similar stance to that of the ELCA, though the Rev. Santos Ortega of St. Martha's Catholic Church in Murrieta said that he knows of no specific ministries to gay and lesbians or parents of homosexuals in this vicariate. He did say that there are many ministries in the San Bernardino Diocese -- which includes Southwest County Catholics -- that deal with these issues, both the gays and families of gays.

"We give moral and spiritual support to men and women even if they have a different understanding of their sexuality," Ortega said. "We embrace them with love. The only thing the Catholic Church is not in favor of is acting out. We have to remember we are God's community and must live a life of purity and holiness."

Ortega said that Catholics harbor misunderstandings about the issue, especially where the church stands on homosexuality. He said the catechism of the church recognizes that homosexuality is an innate orientation, but cautions that the church's stance on sexuality applies not only to homosexual behavior but all sexual behavior outside of marriage.

6/22/01