List of Christian Denominational Positions On Homosexuality - Summary of Denominational Positions in North America and Europe

Summary of Denominational Positions in North America and Europe

The following table summarizes various denominational practices concerning members who are currently in a homosexual relationship. See also: Blessing of same-sex unions in Christian churches.

Denomination Allows as members Ordains Blesses unions Marries
Adventist No No No No
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church/African Methodist Episcopal Church Varies No No No
Anglican Varies Varies Varies Varies
American Baptist Varies No No (official denominational position; local congregational practices may differ) No (official denominational position; local congregational practices may differ)
National Baptist Convention Varies No Varies Varies
Southern Baptist Convention No No No No
Calvary Chapel N/A – CC has no 'church membership' per se, but attendance is permitted N/A – Does not ordain No No
Canadian and American Reformed Churches No No No No
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Yes Varies Varies Varies
Christian Reformed Church in North America No No No No
Reformed Church in America Yes No No No
Churches of Christ N/A – Congregations have no 'church membership' per se, but attendance would generally be permitted N/A – Congregations do not ordain. Ministers are considered the same as lay-persons No No
Church of the Nazarene No No No No
Church of Scotland Yes Yes Varies No
Eastern Orthodox Yes (But are denied Holy Sacraments until full repentance) No No No
Oriental Orthodox Yes No No No
Episcopal Yes Yes (All dioceses ordain candidates regardless of orientation. A minority of bishops require celibacy; others have shown an expectation that homosexual clergy should take advantage of what legal and ecclesiastical recognition is available for their unions). Varies Varies
Jehovah's Witnesses No No No No
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) No No No No
Community of Christ Yes No No No
Church of Denmark Yes Yes Yes Yes
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Yes Yes Varies (by discernment of congregation and pastor) Varies (in civil jurisdictions where allowable and by discernment of congregation and pastor)
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod No No No No
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Yes Yes Yes Yes
German Lutheran and United Churches in Evangelical Church in Germany Yes Yes Varies No
Mennonite Varies No No No
United Methodist Church Varies No No No
Metropolitan Community Church Yes Yes Yes Yes
Moravian Church Yes No No No
New Apostolic Yes No No No
Church of Norway Yes Yes Yes Yes
Old Order Amish No No No No
Assemblies of God No No No No
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) N/A - Congregations have no 'church membership' per se, but attendance would generally be permitted No No No
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) No No No No
Pentecostal Varies Varies Varies Varies
Protestant Church in the Netherlands Yes Yes Yes No
United Pentecostal Church International No No No No
Evangelical Presbyterian Church No No No No
Orthodox Presbyterian Church No No No No
Presbyterian Church (USA) Yes Yes Varies No
Presbyterian Church in America No No No No
Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) Yes Varies Varies Varies
Roman Catholic Church Yes No (men with "deep homosexual tendencies" not to be ordained) No No
Old Catholic Yes Yes Yes (Europe) in Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland No
Swedenborgian Yes Varies Varies Varies
Church of Sweden Yes Yes Yes Yes
Swiss Reformed Churches in Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches Yes Yes Varies No
Unification Church Yes No No No
United Church of Canada Yes Yes Not applicable Yes
United Church of Christ Yes Yes Yes Varies
Unity School of Christianity Yes Yes Yes Yes
Waldensian Yes Yes Varies Yes
Rosicrucian Fellowship (Esoteric Christians) Undefined (members are expected to eventually abstain from any sexual practice other than for procreation, performed as a sacramental act) No (the Fellowship does not ordain; however, access to Discipleship requires Generative Purity) No No (marriage is seen as a sacrament binding man and woman; the marriage service requires the presence of an ordained Minister of a Christian church)

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