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The president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod expressed “great disappointment and deep sadness” over recommendations before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to ordain partnered gay and lesbian ministers.

Gerald B. Kieschnick, president of the LCMS, said in a statement February 22 that if the larger Lutheran denomination adopts such changes at its Churchwide Assembly in August, the step would be a radical departure from biblical tradition, which he said condemns same-gender sexual behavior as “intrinsically sinful.”

A blue-ribbon panel has recommended that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lift its ban on partnered gay and lesbian clergy, but only after the church agrees in principle on gay relationships and agrees to respect the consciences of those who dissent.

A majority of the 15-member Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality believes that “it is possible to devise guidelines and policies that would allow . . . some flexibility” in its ordination standards.