Lutherans in Action

I’ve sent this to some of you already, but I decided to also post it here.
Pete

Has the Church of Sweden heard the Gospel? See below.

Church of Sweden OK with gay weddings

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 / 02:02 PM
SUMMARY: The Church of Sweden says it will perform gay weddings if the Swedish Parliament upgrades the country's civil unions to same-sex marriage.
The Church of Sweden has announced it will perform gay wedding ceremonies if the Swedish parliament changes the current legislation to include same-sex marriage. The church already performs blessings of civil unions. The church would join the United Churches of Christ, which already celebrates same-sex weddings, as do some Reform Jewish synagogues and the Unitarian Church and Metropolitan Community Churches in North America.
Civil unions in Sweden have been legal since 1995, conferring most of the benefits and obligations of marriage.
However, in August, a parliamentary committee concluded that the civil-union law was outdated and recommended that the government allow full same-sex marriage.

The Angus Reid Global Monitor conducted a poll regarding EU integration and social attitudes and found that Sweden had the second-largest public approval ratings for legalizing same-sex marriage.

71 percent of Swedes approve of same-sex marriage. 51 percent of Swedes approve of adoption for same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain and the state of Massachusetts, while Israel this year began recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. (Hassan Mirza, Gay.com U.K.)