An interesting summary of the events that have led to the ELCA's current meltdown.
One of the most frustrating parts of the entire debacle was the insistence by the ELCA's leadership that the Word of God be put up for a vote. This happened in 2004, and much to the leadership's surprise 57% of the ELCA membership voted to uphold Biblical authority. Only 22% were in favor of overturning the Bible.
In 2009 the ELCA's leadership did it again. Only this time they simply rammed it through a series of steps where the deck was stacked in their favor. Unlike 2004, the membership of the ELCA had no voice - the leadership perhaps fearing yet another defeat.
There is something unseemly about the ELCA's leadership calling for discussion and participation from everyone, and then shutting down those lines of communication and engaging in back-room political log-rolling to get what they want.
The irony of this deal is that the ELCA membership will soon dwindle to the point they can get the remaining membership to go along with whatever political scheme they propose without a lot of fuss. The Bride of Christ will have been torn apart in the process, but that is not as important as "speaking truth to power".
