wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] No 'Family' squabbles this time

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8351 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

No 'Family' squabbles this time
GA04059
June 29, 2004

No 'Family' squabbles this time

Committee stays cool about paper that was white-hot last year

by Evan Silverstein

RICHMOND, June 29 - Without the fireworks of last year's debate, the National
Issues Committee on Monday voted to recommend approval of a policy paper on
the changing American family. "Families in Transition," which provoked
spirited debate at last year's Assembly, was approved with amendments - by a
60-0 vote (with two abstentions) - after a notably serene public hearing.

The report was produced by the denomination's Advisory Committee on Social
Witness Policy (ACSWP) in response to an order from the 1997 Assembly. The
first version was assailed during last year's Assembly by critics who said it
was flawed theologically and placed families headed by same-sex couples on
the same moral plane with those headed by married heterosexual couples, in
violation of scripture and Christian morality.

One supporter of this year's version was Alan Wisdom, an elder at Georgetown
Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, who was a leading critic last year.
Wisdom, a representative of a Presbyterian "think tank" related to the
Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, was the author of the
affirmations and recommendations section of the new version.

"I appreciate the discussion of searching for new patterns of mutuality in
marriage," he said during the hearing. "...I like the parts that talk about
moving beyond the ties of blood and marriage, by talking about adoption and
other kinds of families that can demonstrate and nurture."

Not so happy was Donna Riley, a co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians, an
organization that favors the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people in the life of the church.

"Last year I spoke against the report ... because it excluded the families in
our community," she said. "... This year I despair in this report because it
twists the knife in the wounds of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people in our
church. If what the church is going to say to our community is a
condescending, condemning, and ultimately irrelevant to our community as the
language that's in this report, it would be better to say nothing."

The committee considered an overture that sought an endorsement of "A
Christian Declaration of Marriage," but approved a substitute motion calling
the PC(USA)to a year of prayer for marriage, renewal and reconciliation.

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216/.

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