Comments on: Church of Finland votes to welcome DPs after Finns leave in protest of anti-gay rhetoric

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:53:48 +0000

This is neither a change nor a step forward. This is a clear NO to change and a clear YES to discriminiation.

Licking boots for a small piece of dry bread while all the others are having cake? Sorry, i have an aesthetical problem with this.

The only good news here is that so many Finns are finally leaving this medieval institution.

By: darkmoonman

darkmoonman — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 19:15:26 +0000

Sad that we’ll never see a protest of equal magnitude within the USA. Too many NAALT’s (Not All Are Like That, who sit by and do nothing while the extremists bellow).

By: k.f.

k.f. — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:52:59 +0000

this church is still an opponent of gay equality, not its friend.

the message of the voting was not that now prayers are allowed (there were already priests who did this before), but that blessings are still _forbidden_. even now it is still depending on the goodwill of the priest if he agrees to the prayer or if he denies even this minimal gesture. in fact, nothing has changed in the situation.

the finnish church gives blessings to pets and supermarkets, but explicitly denies them to loving couples – i don’t see why this is “good news”.

this church is not more than one little step up the dark cellar stairs – while the rest of the society is already chatting in the living room.

By: Ben in Oakland

Ben in Oakland — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:41:36 +0000

Nothing like losing 41000 donations to remind a church of ambrose Bierce’s definiton of morality…

convenience.

By: hb

hb — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:34:27 +0000

I may be wrong – frequently am – but I think this is not so much a half-step as something rather huge. For a church to respond that quickly in a positive direction, well, I don’t see the Catholic church doing it, do you?

By: Soren456

Soren456 — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:41:31 +0000

I hate to be a churl, but why must a “prayer moment” (even one “carefully drafted”) be set aside for us? Separate but equal, more or less?

I don’t know Lutheran liturgy, especially the Finnish, but if there’s already a special prayer for the married, why not “carefully draft” a rewrite of IT, so as to include all who fall within it?

Yes, it’s a step: a tiresome half-step which will remain the rule for a very long time. And if these resignation numbers are accurate, they suggest that Finns are wanting more than half-steps; maybe if these 41,000 were actual pledging members, the result would be different.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:01:01 +0000

How I wish I could be Finnish.