Open and affirming.

In "How Christian Are Christian Churches?" you might have included the one mainline Protestant denomination that does accept gays and lesbians fully: The United Church of Christ, which has approximately 1.3 million members and 6,000 churches, became in 198.5 and remains the only denomination to adopt a policy of being "open and affirming." This means that the denomination accepts gays and lesbians in all aspects of worship and ministry.

Since UCC is a congregational denomination, meaning that individual congregations are autonomous and are therefore free to accept or reject policies of the denomination, not all UCC churches have become open and affirming. But in those churches that have, it is not uncommon to see gay ministers leading congregations, gay marriages performed and celebrated, mad gay singles and couples within the congregation participating openly in worship services.

Michelle Schohn, Washington, D.C.

In "How Christian Are Christian Churches?" you point out that "none of the largest denominations yet embraces gay lives fully." Perhaps the best-kept secret for GLBT religious and spiritual seekers in the mainstream press is that some small denominations do embrace gay lives fully, and have done so for decades. Unity, Unitarian, and Religious Science churches and centers throughout the country have had gays and lesbians as ministers and lay leaders and have performed same-sex unions for decades. Thousands of GLBT folks continue to find a spiritual home in Unity and other small denominations that embrace them with acceptance and respect, a loving and inclusive interpretation of the Bible, belief in an unconditionally loving and therefore nonjudgmental God (or Higher Power), and a powerful fundamental belief that though not every person is religions, everyone is a spiritual being with God's spark of divinity within them.

The Reverend Steve Colladay

Lawrence, Kan.