Sète, France, May 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The United Protestant Church of France approved the benediction of homosexual “marriages” at its synod last weekend, after several years of intense discussions. The issue sparked much controversy but the final vote was a landslide in favor of the “welcoming” of homosexual couples. Ninety-four delegates voted for the motion, and three voted against, out of a potential total of 105 voters amongst the 200 representatives at the meeting in Sète, on the south coast of France.
The vote obtained extensive media coverage in France despite the relatively small community represented by the “Eglise protestante unie de France” (EPUdF): about 270,000 souls. France’s total population is over 65 million, of whom 2 to 3 million present themselves as Protestants of various denominations, the overwhelming majority of the population being at least sociologically Catholic.
But the EPUdF is a major institution among French Protestants insofar as it represents the Reformed Church of France and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of France, which formed the United Protestant Church in 2013. Since then three national synods have taken place in which the issue of homosexuality was a point of friction from the start. Opposition to a formal Church recognition appears to have evaporated: this year, most of the discussions weren’t about the principle of a “benediction” but about the liturgical ceremony that will be offered to same-sex couples. The EPUdF expects to publish a framework for the benediction by September.
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Pastors will remain free not to bless “married” same-sex couples on the grounds of conscientious objection.
The resolution states: “The synod opens the possibility, for pastors and women pastors who consider this to be a proper way to give witness to the Gospel, to extend a liturgical blessing to married couples of the same sex who wish to place their covenant before God.” The only provision is that they be civilly “married.”
While the motion was adopted by a near unanimous vote, many French pastors rejected the decision, voicing their concerns in a number of interviews in the mainstream press. A woman pastor of Tours, Valérie Mitranie, remarked: “It is not because a father and a mother love their child that they say yes to everything. God does not give us a blank check and our will is not God’s will.”
But the mainstream media welcomed the decision, touting it as a sign of modernity and progress among Christians in France.
Critics in France have underlined the decision’s potential dangers for the Catholic Church, which remains steadfastly opposed to the recognition and blessing of homosexual unions. If a Christian denomination opens itself to the LGBT agenda, why should the Catholics remain behind? The fact that provision has been made for conscientious objection should be enough, the LGBT lobby might well argue, in the same way that opponents to “gay marriage” are expected to remain silent because no-one is obliging them to marry a same-sex partner themselves.
But whatever the future may hold, gay groups in France have welcomed the measure as a major breakthrough in favor of their “rights.”