wfn.org | [PCUSAnews] General Assembly Backgrounder: same sex unions

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

Note #5911 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

00209	General Assembly Backgrounder

	Same sex unions

	by Jerry L. Van Marter

	Three overtures (resolutions) have been submitted to the 212th General
Assembly seeking to amend the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Order
(constitution) by explicitly prohibiting same sex unions in the
denomination's churches.

	The overtures are 00-12 from the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, 00-26 from the
Presbytery of San Joaquin, and 00-54 from the Presbytery of Charlotte.  If
the Assembly approves such a proposed amendment, it will go to the
presbyteries for their ratification votes during the coming year.

	The Book of Order is silent on the specific topic of same sex unions,
though it defines marriage as between a man and a woman (W-4.9000).  Church
policy, dating back to 1991, prohibits Presbyterian ministers from
conducting and Presbyterian churches from hosting same sex union ceremonies
"if they consider them to be the same as a marriage ceremony."

	The implication that same sex union ceremonies are permissible if they're
not considered the same as a marriage ceremony led to a church court case in
Hudson River Presbytery in New York State that is now under appeal to the
church's highest court, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission.

	When the Dobbs Ferry (N.Y.) church conducted a number of same sex union
ceremonies recently, other members of Hudson River Presbytery filed a
complaint, charging that such ceremonies are a violation of the Book of
Order.  Lower courts -- in the Presbytery of Hudson River and the Synod of
the Northeast -- have ruled that amending the church's constitution to
flatly prohibit same sex unions is a better way of resolving the issue than
depending on court cases.

	Hence, the three overtures to this year's Assembly.  Meanwhile, the General
Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission was scheduled to hear arguments in
the Dobbs Ferry case in late May, with a final decision probable before the
General Assembly convenes.

	A similar attempt to amend the Book of Order failed in 1995.  The 1994
General Assembly approved a proposed amendment to flatly prohibit same sex
unions in the PC(USA) but the amendment failed to gain ratification by the
required majority of the denomination's 171 presbyteries -- 73 voted in
favor, 62 voted against, and 27 voted "no action."

	The prevailing argument seemed to be that flatly prohibiting same sex
unions was an undue impingement on the pastoral responsibilities of
ministers and church sessions (governing bodies of congregations) to care
for their members.

	The same sex union issue has been referred to the Assembly Committee on
Physical and Spiritual Well Being.

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