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[PCUSANEWS] Stand against gay ordination upheld


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>
Date Fri, 2 Jul 2004 21:11:41 -0500

Note #8417 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA04120
July 2, 2004

Stand against gay ordination upheld

Assembly turns back bid to set aside '78 'authoritative interpretation'

by Jerry Van Marter

RICHMOND, July 2 > The 216th General Assembly voted Friday evening to retain
an "authoritative interpretation" of the constitution of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) that forbids the ordination of "self-affirming, practicing
homosexuals" as officers of the church.

The Assembly's Committee on Church Orders and Ministry had proposed that the
interpretation, adopted in 1978 and re-affirmed several times by General
Assemblies and church courts, be declared to be no longer binding on sessions
and presbyteries.

A minority report urging that the interpretation be maintained while the
church continues in a period of "discernment" under the leadership of its
Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (TTF) was
substituted for the committee's recommendation by a vote of 259 to 255 - 50.3
percent to 49.6 percent.

The minority measure was then approved by a vote of 297 to 218.

The Assembly did not address section G-6.0106b of the Book of Order, the
constitutional standard requiring that church officers practice "fidelity
within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in
singleness."

The PC(USA)'s Advisory Committee on the Constitution has said that both
G-6.0106b and the authoritative interpretation would have to be overturned to
clear the way for the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians.

The debate turned on whether to address changes to the denomination's
ordination standards at a critical moment in the life of the TTF, which is
scheduled to make its final report to the 2006 General Assembly. The PC(USA)
ordination standards are among the key issues before the task force.

The Rev. Scott Schaefer, of San Francisco Presbytery, the committee
moderator, gave three reasons for the proposal to render the interpretation
non-binding.

"The 1978 statement was the best thinking at the time, but we felt it was
based on outdated understandings of homosexuality," he said. "And unlike the
constitutional standard (G-6.0106b) enacted in 1997, the interpretation was
not voted on by the presbyteries, so we don't believe this changes the
constitutional standard. Finally, by setting aside this antiquated policy, we
believe the task force will have greater clarity by being able to focus on
G-6.0106b."

The Rev. Kyle Otterbein, of East Iowa Presbytery, who spoke for the
proponents of the minority report, said that, after attending the TTF's
pre-Assembly conference, "I became convinced that unity is possible, but
requires the rebuilding of trust." He said action to remove the authoritative
interpretation "would be destructive of the climate of trust that is
necessary, and will consume us in a new climate of hostility, returning us to
the old ways of wrangling over words."

Youth Advisory Delegate Jennifer Coulter, of Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery, a
member of the committee, called the proposal to make the interpretation
non-binding "a compromise - it doesn't change the constitutional standard,
but takes a step toward fairness and understanding."

But YAD Meghan Price, of Mackinac Presbytery, disagreed. "There's a lot of
talk about how the authoritative interpretation isn't necessary and not very
important, but even I can recognize that if it wasn't important, we wouldn't
care about taking it out," she said. "Let's be honest; it does make a
difference."

The Rev. David Dobler, who was the General Assembly moderator when the 1993
Assembly raised the 1978 "definitive guidance" to the status of
"authoritative interpretation," pleaded for more time for the TTF to do its
work. "What you have before you is the precious work of the task force -
don't upset this effort to find a still more excellent way," he said. "This
will be seen as a battle half-won by some or half-lost by others, and the
swords will be unsheathed again. Please protect the theological task force."

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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