Lutheran Church Leaves Over Gay Clergy

A Lutheran church in Ohio voted Monday to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the decision to allow gay clergy members. The pastor insists the vote was not against gay people but about leadership, drawing an analogy between the gay clergy decision and being told to support preemptive strikes against Iraq.

St. Paul's Lutheran church in Maumee voted to leave the ELCA and join a fledgling body of 400 churches, reports WTVG-TV in Toledo.

"The concern was about leadership, and the qualifications for leadership," said Pastor Roger Miller. "It wasn't about being opposed to the gay community or fending off the gay community."

According to Miller, who claims that one church a day has left the ELCA since the gay clergy decision in August, the issue boils down to leadership trying to enforce decisions that violate scripture.

"If the ELCA said that preemptive strikes in Iraq in 2003 was okay, we'd probably leave over that," he said.

Watch the report below.