wfn.org | National issues committee discusses family paper

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

Note #7722 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-May-2003
GA03032

National issues committee discusses family paper

by Evan Silverstein

DENVER, May 26  The General Assembly Committee on National Issues held an
open hearing Monday on a controversial policy paper about the changing nature
of families in U.S. society.

The paper, Living Faithfully with Families in Transition, developed by the
Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP), is expected to spark
debate during the Assembly. It documents the changing structure of family
life  which now includes single-parent households, children raised by
grandparents or other non-parent relatives and domestic partnerships other
than marriage, for example  and discusses how various kinds of families (and
the church) can raise children faithfully and responsibly in a variety of
family circumstances.

Speaking in favor of the report was the Rev. Erin Swenson, of the Atlanta
area, who described herself as a transgendered woman.

I pray you will adopt this report as a way for this church to keep the doors
open to those who need to join this diverse family, our Presbyterian church,
she said.

Some critics of the paper claimed during the hearing that it diminishes the
importance of traditional two-parent families and elevates non-traditional
families to moral equivalence. They also charged that it appears to validate
unmarried and same-sex relationships, in violation of scripture and Christian
morality.

Keep the family intact, said June Newman, who spoke in opposition to the
paper. Let the family be what God intended it to be.

The report, compiled in response to actions by General Assemblies in 1997 and
1998, asks the church to commit itself to being an inclusive and caring
community of faith in which many forms of family are valued, including
families with members of homosexual orientation. 

It says families of all kinds can do a good job of raising children, and
urges the PC(USA) to oppose principles or policies that would stigmatize any
persons ... based on family form.

The committee also received a PowerPoint presentation on the paper prepared
by ACSWP committee member Sue Dickson, of El Paso, TX.
In other business, the committee:

l Disapproved a resolution expressing concern to the Chevrolet division of
General Motors Corp. for a marketing strategy that that seeks to use religion
for corporate economic gain; 

l Approved an ACSWP recommendation that the 215th GA commend to individuals,
congregations and presbyteries for study and advocacy When Hate Comes To
Town: A Handbook of Effective Community Responses. The publication explores
the meaning of hate crimes and racism with a particular attention to racism
and white supremacy, anti-Semitism, homophobia and violence against women.
The action also urges the General Assembly Council through its ministry
divisions and program areas to continue working on these issues and promote
the document for churchwide study and use.

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