wfn.org | UCC Adopts "Fidelity And Integrity" Resolution

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

16-July-1997 
97281 
 
    United Church of Christ Adopts 
    "Fidelity And Integrity" Resolution 
 
    by Hans Holznagel 
    UCC Office of Communication 
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio--United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod delegates voted 
overwhelmingly July 7 to "reaffirm that the standard for sexual and 
relational behavior for members of the United Church of Christ is fidelity 
and integrity in marriage and in other covenanted relationships, or 
singleness, and in all relationships of life." 
 
    The resolution is similar to a proposed constitutional amendment 
approved last month by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly 
and sent to its presbyteries for ratification. 
 
    The UCC resolution said such values need to be emphasized because "we 
live in a world often characterized by adultery, promiscuity, sexual 
violence and pornography that have compromised our journey toward human 
wholeness and human responsibility." 
 
    Delegates voted to take no action on another resolution that would have 
encouraged "fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness" as a standard 
for ordained ministers in the denomination. 
 
    They also asked four national church agencies to "develop a churchwide 
dialogue on these matters" over the next two years. 
 
    "As we know from our own struggle as a church with issues of covenant, 
moral standards and sexual identity, and as we see from the divisive 
engagement of similar issues within other communions, these are not easy 
topics," said the Rev. Jana Norman-Richardson of Winter Park, Fla., who led 
a committee of delegates in studying and making recommendations on both 
resolutions during the meeting. 
 
    In commending to delegates the "fidelity and integrity" resolution, 
Norman-Richardson said it signified a reiteration of existing standards of 
behavior and a "celebration" of diverse relationships "in which covenant, 
commitment, fidelity and integrity are essential and foundational." 
 
    Existing UCC documents include a code in which ordained ministers 
pledge to "live a life which honors my commitments to my family" and 
pledges of faithfulness that are part of the Order for Marriage in the 
UCC's "Book of Worship." 
 
    But the Rev. David Runnion-Bareford of Candia, N.H., director of the 
UCC's Biblical Witness Fellowship (BWF), said the Synod was straying from 
"fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness," which he saw as a clear 
and absolute New Testament standard that the church should uphold.  He 
called the Synod resolution an "arrogant" attempt to "redefine alternative 
relationships" to be on a par with heterosexual marriage. 
 
    The debate was the latest manifestation of 20 years of tension between 
the Synod and the BWF over matters of human sexuality.  The BWF, a small 
group that sees itself as upholding "the historic Christian faith" over and 
against the wider UCC, was formed after the 1977 Synod adopted "Human 
Sexuality: A Preliminary Report." 
 
    The BWF believes the Bible sets clear, absolute rules in human 
sexuality and many other areas and wants the church to exhort members to 
follow those rules.  The Synod, in its 1977 document and others since, has 
preferred to trust individuals, families and local churches to consider 
matters of sexuality in the context of faith and to provide them with 
resources for studying the Bible as well as principles such as mutual 
responsibility, honesty, justice, health and age-level appropriateness. 
 
    The Synod has also encouraged the denomination to be "open and 
affirming" to gay and lesbian people. 
 
    And yet there was a conciliatory note in the debate.  Norman-Richardson 
and other delegates said they hoped the Synod's choice to take "no action" 
-- instead of voting "no" on the "fidelity and chastity" resolution -- 
would be a strong signal that a variety of viewpoints, including those of 
the BWF and others who disagree with the Synod, are welcome in the UCC. 
 
 

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