Word: barriers
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...they be tempted by another, freer life -- the Berlin Wall, that hideous, 28-mile-long scar through the heart of a once proud European capital, not to mention the soul of a people. And then -- poof! -- it was gone. Not physically, at least yet, but gone as an effective barrier between East and West, opened in one unthinkable, stunning stroke to people it had kept apart for more than a generation. It was one of those rare times when the tectonic plates of history shift beneath men's feet, and nothing after is quite the same...
...really in the West's best interest, however, to see it reduced to rubble? On a symbolic level, certainly. The Wall's designer and chief defender, former East German President Erich Honecker, called his creation the "Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier." In this era of glasnost, such rhetoric has about as much standing as the deposed Honecker himself, who was ousted by the East German Politburo three weeks ago after 18 years at the helm...
Some Protestant denominations have landed on the liberationist side. The Unitarian Universalists openly welcome gay clergy. The United Church of Christ, which in 1972 became the first major denomination to ordain an avowedly homosexual clergyman, subsequently stated that homosexual orientation is no barrier to ordination, leaving open the matter of ministers' active sexual behavior. The United Church of Canada is in an uproar over a similar policy issued last year...
Catholic teaching holds that all homosexual acts are sinful, though a homosexual orientation is not. There are U.S. Catholic bishops willing to ordain priests with homosexual proclivities as long as they promise to remain celibate and support church teaching on the topic. But in practice, the barrier between homosexual orientation and homosexual activity is difficult to maintain. No doubt aware of that, the Vatican issued a sharp decree in October 1986 that is known among enraged gay Catholics as the "Halloween letter." The text warned that homosexual inclination tends "toward an intrinsic moral evil" and "must be seen...
...Lutherans brace for the ordination of a lesbian couple, Catholics face new reports indicating widespread homosexuality among priests. Can -- and should -- the age-old barrier be dropped...