wfn.org | Recommendation pushes resolutions on Scouting back to the General

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6605 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Assembly Council
11-June-2001
GA01049

Recommendation pushes resolutions on Scouting back
to the General Assembly Council	

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE, June 11 - In a surprise move, the Assembly Committee on
Christian Education and Publishing is recommending that the 213th  General
Assembly refer two commissioners' resolutions with opposite views on the Boy
Scouts' stance on homosexuality back to the General Assembly Council
division that is already in dialogue with the Boys Scouts of America.

	The vote was 49-3.

	The Congregational Ministries Division Committee of the General Assembly
Council reaffirmed its covenant with the National Association of
Presbyterian Scouters June 6, in a meeting where it criticized The
Presbyterian Layman, a conservative  periodical that frequently criticizes
General Assembly actions and staff, for perpetrating what it called
"misconceptions."

	An earlier article on The Layman's website said the denomination was
"dissociating" itself from the Boy Scouts after the denomination's Youth
Ministry Office declined to fund a grant for the National Association of
Presbyterian Scouters, an independent organization.

The  funding decision came after two church bodies raised questions about a
possible conflict between the denomination's goals for inclusive ministry
and a U.S. Supreme Court case upholding the Boy Scouts' right to prohibit
gay men from leading troops because it is a private organization.  The
fundamental question is whether that policy can be extended to membership.

"We agree that the Supreme Court issue is an issue that impacts both
organizations and it is worthy of discussion," the Rev. Don Campbell,
director of the Congregational Ministries Division, told the Presbyterian
News Service just after the vote.  "But it is the nature of a covenant to
talk about these things.

Commissioners' Resolution 01-11 encourages churches and other judicatories
to increase support for scouting worldwide.  The other, 01-15, urges
congregations to confer with Boy Scout troops that use church facilities to
discover if the leadership expels gay people and urge them not to do so.  It
also urges congregations not to allow their facilities to be used by
organizations that discriminate.

The Boy Scouts website says that "sexual intimacy is the sole province of a
man and a woman" and that "homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the
values we wish to instill."

David Richardson, an associate director for the Boy Scouts of America, said
that ongoing dialogue is critical in any successful relationship and that is
true for upcoming conversations between the National Association of
Presbyterian Scouters, the Boy Scouts of America and the Congregational
Ministries Division.

The content of those conversations, he said, is not yet clear.

In other business, the committee answered Overture 01-41 from the Presbytery
of San Joaquin directing the General Assembly Council to offer
transformational resources to those who "struggle with sexual purity" with a
rationale the General Assembly Council developed earlier.

The response says:  "Let us say that God has the power to truly transform
lives.  Let us bring His word, and let us offer His healing."

A minority report is expected.  The vote was 34-18.

_______________________________________________
pcusaNews mailing list
pcusaNews@pcusa.org

To unsubscribe, go to this web address:
http://pcusa01.pcusa.org/mailman/listinfo/pcusanews