wfn.org | Official Tally on "Fidelity And Chastity" Amendment: 8 For, 6

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

Against 2-January-1997 
 
 
97004 Official Tally on "Fidelity And Chastity" Amendment:  
                         8 For, 6 Against 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--As of Dec. 30, the official vote tally maintained by the 
Office of the General Assembly (OGA) on Amendment B, the so-called 
"Fidelity and Chastity" amendment, is eight presbyteries voting in favor 
and six presbyteries voting against including the amendment in "The Book of 
Order." 
 
     To insure complete accuracy, the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) will 
only report those presbytery votes that have been formally filed with the 
OGA.  In upcoming issues of "News Briefs," PNS will also report the 
official tallies on the other two packages of amendments currently being 
considered by the presbyteries -- those related to commissioned lay pastors 
and those related to the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). 
 
     The eight presbyteries that have voted in favor of Amendment B are 
Central Florida, Charleston-Atlantic, Cherokee, Flint River, Holston, 
Inland Northwest, Suroeste and Yukon. 
 
     The six presbyteries that have voted against Amendment B are Eastern 
Oregon, Ohio Valley, San Jose, Utica, West Virginia and Whitewater Valley. 
 
     The full text of the amendment, which would be added to section 
G-6.0106 of "The Book of Order," is: 
 
     "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in 
obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional 
standards of the church.  Among these standards is the requirement to live 
either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a 
woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness.  Persons refusing to repent of 
any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be 
ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders or ministers of the Word and 
Sacrament." 

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