Finnish state church creates a 'prayer moment' for gay marriages

After years of debate, Finland's state church took a step towards accepting gay relationships with an announcement Friday it would create a "prayer moment" for registered partnerships. "The proposal offers a positive opportunity to minister to church members who are sexual minorities," the General Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church's highest administrative body, said in a statement.

The General Synod must now draw up a formula for a prayer that walks a fine doctrinal line, observers said. Lutheran ministers will now have the choice of performing the prayer with gay couples in a church, but it will not actually constitute a church's blessing of the union itself, synod spokesman Marko Kailasmaa told AFP.

The decision was approved, not without conflict, by the synod's representatives of ministers and bishops in a vote of 78 for and 30 against. The vote can be seen as a concession of sorts to a groundswell of popular support within the church community for Christian gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

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