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Issues of sexuality, spirituality and their place in the church to be subject of April conference

By Amy Gage
March 11, 2003

The St. Olaf College Knutson Conference on Sexuality, Spirituality and the Church will be hosted on the St. Olaf campus April 4 to 6. The three-day event, made possible by a grant from the Philip N. Knutson Endowment for Lutheran Campus Ministry, will feature speakers, dialogues and panel discussions on what conference organizers acknowledge is one of the most divisive issues in the Christian church today.

Workshops include: "The Church and Human Sexuality: Taking a New Look," "Putting Our Bodies on the Line: Conversations among Lesbians and Gay Men in Religious Professions" and "Sexuality 101: Developing an Inclusive Vocabulary."

The conference is open to the public. For registration information, go to www.stolaf.edu/services/conferences/knutson or call 507-646-3031.

"St. Olaf College is and always has been a place for deep thinking, debate and committed engagement in the world," says Christopher M. Thomforde, an ordained Lutheran minister and president of St. Olaf College, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

"I hope that men and women of faith will feel welcome to come here and enter into these important discussions of issues that the church as a whole is addressing. Through this dialogue, we can work together to strengthen that effort."

Some of the most eminent thinkers and reformers on the topic of homosexuality and the church are scheduled to speak. The Rev. Dr. James M. Childs Jr., director for ELCA Studies on Sexuality and the Joseph A. Sittler Professor of Theology and Ethics at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, will talk Saturday, April 5, at 3 p.m. about the task force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality.

In addition, Bishop Herbert Chilstrom and Bishop Lowell Erdahl, co-authors of the 2001 book Sexual Fulfillment: For Single and Married, Straight and Gay, Young and Old, will speak Friday, April 4, at 12:30 p.m. during a section of the conference titled "Expanding the Comfort Zone."

The documentary This Obedience, which chronicles the events leading to and resulting from the ordination of Rev. Anita Hill at St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., will be screened twice on Friday. Hill will deliver the conference keynote address, "This Obedience: Responding to God's Call," at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Hill also will preach at a worship service Sunday, April 6, at 10:30 a.m. at Boe Memorial Chapel on campus. Both talks are free and open to the public.

Conference agenda
In keeping with the conference's goals to educate and inspire, numerous discussion groups and informational sessions will be held. These include "Creating Change in Your Faith Community" and "What Can We Do Now?," a panel presentation by parents, students and church leaders, moderated by David Wee, a longtime professor of English at the college. Both events will be Saturday afternoon.

The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus will perform "Simply Sondheim" on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are included for conference participants, or the public may purchase concert tickets separately.

The "Sexuality, Spirituality and the Church" conference already has sparked questions about why "both sides" of the issue aren't being presented. George Holt, a conference organizer, ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and associate professor of family social service at St. Olaf, says the conference is, indeed, offering balance - because it's giving voice to a side of the debate that too seldom is heard.

"The conference is an attempt to create a forum in which gays and lesbians can have a face and a voice in the dialogue concerning the relationship between sexuality and spirituality," Holt says.

"Many Christians are ambivalent and conflicted over gays' and lesbians' struggle for civil liberties and for their desire to be visible participants within the church," Holt continues. "By providing such a forum, the St. Olaf College Knutson Conference is a necessary first step in bringing equal time to the possibility that sexuality is not confined to orientation - nor is spirituality confined to exclusivity."

Setting a precedent
Rev. Philip N. Knutson, a St. Olaf graduate for whom the conference is named, was a Lutheran pastor and a leader in the ELCA's Division of Higher Education. Knutson died in 1994 after a struggle with AIDS. His vision for an inclusive church is carried forward by the endowment he created through St. Olaf College, which stipulates that conferences on human sexuality incorporate both heterosexual and homosexual perspectives.

Other conferences that the Philip N. Knutson Endowment has sponsored include "Gay and Christian: Bringing the Conversation Home to Rural America," held in 1999 at the University of Montana at Missoula, and "Holy Wilderness: Religious Work on Campus," held in 1998 at Yale University.

"As the leader of a college of the church, I am inspired to provide a safe forum for a variety of views to be expressed with intelligence, accuracy and respect for others who may hold differing positions," Thomforde says. "My responsibility as president, in the words of a former college president I admire, 'is to sustain the conditions under which faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the college are themselves encouraged to think and act on the basis of their own moral principles - principles which they themselves can articulate and defend.' "

St. Olaf College is a liberal arts institution that fosters the development of mind, body and spirit. It is a residential college in Northfield, Minn., and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college provides personalized instruction and diverse learning environments, with nearly two-thirds of its students participating in international studies.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.