In a document presented Wednesday 19 June,
in Berlin, the German Protestant Church calls for a broader
understanding of the concept of family, to include same sex unions not
just traditional marriage between a man and a woman. The proposal made in this document is seen as a turning point.
The 162 page text, prepared by a special commission which worked on the document for three years, says that what constitutes a family today are “the parents (one or two), with their own offspring or adopted children or children taken into foster care.”
But the concept of family also extends to so-called patchwork families formed after divorce or remarriage, to childless couples and to same-sex couples with children from a previous relationship.
Marriage is a gift of God, the document goes on to say, but as the New Testament shows, it cannot count as the only form of life. Marriage technically helps give direction but does not constitute written dogma.
In German law, the concept of family is conceived in a broader sense, so the Church and its actions should also interpret the concept of family in a broader sense, the text argues.
Christine Bergmann, who is president of the special commission that drew up these guidelines and Germany’s former minister for family and women’s affairs, said that when people have a lasting relationship and take responsibility for one another, the Church, the State and society should support them in this, regardless of how they live their relationship and family life.
The text goes on to say that throughout the Bible, faithful are called to live together in a trusting, loving and responsible relationship. If same-sex couples live their relationship by this rule, then their union should be given theological recognition and valued in the same way as heterosexual unions are.
When a same-sex couple decides to make their relationship official by entering a civil union and publicly declaring that they want to form a lasting bond and be responsible for one another, just like heterosexual couples, then their relationship deserves to be recognised as such.
When a couple reaches a certain stage of their life where they want their relationship to receive God’s blessing, the Protestant Church should not deny them this, even for theological reasons, the texts says.